Summary:
John W. Overman, arrested as a unionist, writes to Jefferson Davis to protest his
innocence before being moved to the Staunton jail in September, 1861.
M. JEFFERSON DAVIS.
MONTEREY, HIGHLAND COUNTY, VA.,
September 15, 1861.
HON. SIR:
I will say to you that I am held as a prisoner in this place. I was taken near Petersburg, Hardy County, Va. I live in Preston County, Va., and was on my way to Moorefield, Hardy County, on business and I had to go some thirty-five miles out of my way to get there in order to get around the Yankee camps, and then was taken by the Rockbridge Cavalry and brought here. I am charged with being a Union man, and I am not, and can prove that I have taken strong grounds in favor of the Confederacy, and was taken prisoner by the Yankee. This I can prove by the best of men in Tucker and Preston Counties if I could get any word to them. But I am cut off from any communication with them and I ask of you my release, for I am kept on the streets at work and digging graves Sundays as well as any other day. They have also taken a fine horse and saddle from me. I was taken on the 22d August, and I am at this time 130 or 140 miles from home, with the Yankees between me and my home. Therefore I can't get any assistance from there-not as much as a change of clothes. I ask your honor for my release, and also for my horse or his value. I understand that I am to be moved up to Staunton to-morrow; but as to this I cannot say whether they will or not. Sir, I am a Virginian, and am proud to say that I have always been loyal to my native State, and am still willing to remain so.
Your humble servant,
JOHN W. OVERMAN.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 2, Volume 2, Serial No. 115, Pages 1382, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
