A letter from the President of the VHS

The Civil War was a turning point in American history, indeed, in world history. On its outcome hinged the perpetuation of the nation, the maintenance of majority rule, and the success of the ongoing American experiment in liberty and equality. The war originated in the issue of slavery, and because of the war, slavery was extinguished, setting in motion profound social, political, and economic changes that affect us even today. The cost of the war was horrific. More than 600,000 Americans lost their lives in the conflict. Were we to erect an equivalent to the Vietnam Memorial Wall for those who died from 1861 to 1865, it would stand sixty-seven times higher than the monument honoring those who fell from 1964 to 1973. Of all states, none was as profoundly affected by the war as Virginia. Described by many people as the "Mother State of the Nation," the Old Dominion had played a leading role in the birth and infancy of the American republic. Then in 1861, Virginia was caught in the middle of approaching conflict between the North and South. As the states of the Deep South seceded and formed the Confederate States of America, Virginia sympathized with them, but its attachment to the Union was strong.

After Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter and President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers to put down the southern insurrection, however, Virginia finally joined the Confederacy. As a result, nowhere in the nation was the full fury of the Civil War felt as it was in the Old Dominion. Its geography, its wealth, and its role as the capital of the Confederacy doomed it to the fate it suffered. For four years, Virginia was the main target of the Union war effort. Its farms and communities, its fathers and sons, and its women and children suffered a terrible toll of death and devastation. More battles and skirmishes were fought on Virginia soil than any other state. As Civil War historian James I. Robertson, Jr., has noted, "the Confederacy experienced defeat [only] after Virginia experienced destruction."

The generation that experienced the war firsthand and those that followed have realized its great historical significance. For more than a century, the Virginia Historical Society has made a concerted effort to collect materials related to our country's greatest conflict. As a result, the Society has under its roof one of the largest and richest collections of Civil War material to be found anywhere. Its collection of Confederate weaponry and accoutrements is unsurpassed. Its graphic materials, including photographs, prints, maps, drawings, paintings, and portraits, are unusually strong. It has a large and fine holding of printed materials, including an exceptional collection of Confederate imprints. But the centerpiece of the Society's Civil War collection is its manuscripts. This collection is a gold mine of information for anyone conducting research in almost any aspect of Civil War history. It is very strong in military history, from key documents of Lee and his lieutenants to the letters of lowly privates in the ranks. Just as rich, however, is the large body of material that tells the story of life behind the lines and on the home front. Thousands of letters describe the unraveling of the institution of slavery, the destruction of property, the shortage of staples, the terror of enemy foraging parties, and the numbing sadness of the death of loved ones.

The Society's Civil War collections have attracted large numbers of scholars for decades. Although these researchers have been aware of the significance of these holdings, our staff realized that the publication of a collections guide would provide enhanced descriptions based on the most recent scholarship of the period. I have no doubt that this guide will stimulate additional research and provide fresh perspectives on the Civil War experience in Virginia.

This important project would not have been possible without the help of many people. First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the generous financial support of the Roller-Bottimore Foundation. Mrs. Elizabeth Roller Bottimore was a dedicated supporter of the Society during her lifetime, and the foundation set up after her death has continued the tradition of her beneficence. We are most grateful to the foundation for making this project possible.

Charles F. Bryan, Jr.      
President and CEO