Augusta County: William White to Francis McFarland,
July 6, 1864
Summary:
White sends McFarland church news and describes the recent raid of the Union Army
in Lexington.
July 6, 1864
Lexington, Virginia
My Dear Brother
I embrace the first opportunity of sending you the printed minutes of our Synod, approved by the General Assembly. The meeting was small but pleasant. You have doubtless seen the published proceedings.
You are aware that we have had a visit from our Yankee Brethren. Our community
has suffered greatly. Many were robbed of almost every mouthful of food and
every piece of apparel. My house & its contents
escaped, but they robbed me of 36 bushels of corn, a ton of Hay and my favorite
riding horse. Besides this they destroyed my grass, [unclear: consumed]
a great deal of my ice, ruined my carriage harness, cut the curtains from my
carriage & endeavored to steal the carriage. One of their Generals made
his head quarters in my yard. This was some protection to me. On the whole they
appeared to me like a great mob of [unclear: licensed] robbers and house
burners. They did immense damage to the college. They utterly destroyed or carried off the college library & did the same
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to about half of the two society Libraries & destroyed
or gave to the negroes all the furniture of the two society Halls. They broke
every piece of the philosophical apparatus &
would have burned the buildings if it had not been for Captain Moore. They burned the Institute, Mess Hall, two professors
houses, sparing Smiths on account of the illness of his daughter [deleted: & all]
From the way in which I am told many of their officers spoke of our "cruel treatment to Dr. Junkin," I have no doubt that his [unclear: representation] didn't lead to much of their cruelty here. It is curious, that his daughter, Mrs Col. Preston was the only lady here who was treated with personal rudeness [deleted: here]. Of course the party who did it, did not know that she was his daughter. One of their officers stated that both he & Dr. Junkin were with Averill on his raid last fall.
I am thankful to learn that they did not reach your house. May a kind providence shield us from their presence & deliver us from their power. I trust your health is comfortable. My wife joins me in kindest remembrances to you, Mrs McFarland & Mary.
Yours truly & affectionately,
William. J. White
