Wilderness Road Scholar Lecture with William C. Jack Davis, Wharton Letters
Venue: Wilderness Road Regional Museum, Newbern
Directions: Google Map Link
Date: Sunday, November 10, 2019
Time: 2:30 - 4:30 PM
Event Types: Speaking Engagements
Cost: Free

Description:
The Wilderness Road Regional Museum presents the November Wilderness Road Scholar Lecture Series featuring historian William C. Jack Davis discussing the Wharton Letters on Sunday, November 10, 2019.

Historian William C. Jack Davis will share a fascinating talk of the Wharton letters.

"Between March 1863 when they became engaged, and July 1865 when he came home from the war, Brigadier General Gabriel C. Wharton and Ann "Nannie" Radford wrote a total of 524 letters to each other, one of the largest, if not the largest, series of wartime letters in existence between a soldier and his wife.

The story of how those letters sat unknown in the attic at the Wharton home "Glencoe" until their discovery in 1988 is itself remarkable, as is their subsequent survival in a humid Florida garage for another two decades. But far more remarkable is their content now that they have been saved, transcribed, and prepared for publication.

"Gabe" and "Nannie" wrote to each other about everything: the war, generals, politics, literature, America's future, but most of all about their love for each other. They were remarkably frank, even about their somewhat conditional loyalty to the Confederacy and their thoughts of leaving the war-torn South and going abroad to leave the war behind them. They also wrote often of friends and family back in Central Depot [Radford] and Pulaski and Montgomery Counties. The window they provide on Southwest Virginia, the war in the Shenandoah in 1864-65, and the Confederate experience on a personal level is unparalleled."

A short quarterly meeting of the New River Historical Society starts at 2:30 pm followed by the talk.

Everyone is welcome, free event, but donations are always appreciated.

For more information, visit: http://www.wildernessroadregionalmuseum.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/WildernessRRM or call 540-674-4835.

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