Conditions Governing Use

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Custodial History

Acc. 1994.05 was an addition to the Civil War Collection, Mss. 39.1 C76, until November 2017. The former citation was Civil War Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Scope and Contents

A letter from Mollie Smart, Petersburg, Va., to her fiance George, away on a sea voyage. She received his letter dated July 12th from Bavaria as well as the one from Melbourne. Her uncle and the rest of the family (black and white) have been ill. Her friends think she will make a Yankee a poor wife. She relates the events of April 2, 1865, when General Lee's troops withdrew from Petersburg. She describes visits of Yankees to the house. She mentions Dollie [Smart?], who was held prisoner at Johnson's Island, and speaks poorly of Henry [Smart?]. Money is scarce and she is tired of the seafaring business (George has been away five years). His cousin Dr. Wilbur Litch from Philadelphia and the Army of the Potomac visited.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Petersburg (Va.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865