Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16644,Gabriel C. Wharton survey notebooks, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was a gift from Nathan Burlingame to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on October 12, 2018.

Biographical / Historical

Gabriel Colvin Wharton, was born July 23, 1824, in Culpeper, Virginia. He enrolled at Virginia Military Institute on September 1, 1845 and graduated on July 5, 1847, with a standing of 2nd in a class of 12 (distinguished graduate). He married Anne Rebecca (Nannie) Radford in 1863, and they had one son, William. Prior to the Civil War he was a Civil Engineer in the western part of the country (Arizona and elsewhere).

During the War he was a Colonel in the 51st Virginia Infantry Regiment and served in Floyd's western Virginia campaign. He was appointed Brigadier General September 1863 and commanded "Wharton's Brigade" which fought mostly in the forgotten western front of Virginia, defending the vital railroads and materials which supplied the troops. He fought at Fort Donelson, New Market, Cold Harbor, and in Valley campaigns. He was the Division Commander of Thomas' Legion of Cherokees and Highlanders,(or the 69th North Carolina Regiment).

After the War he went back to his profession as a Civil Engineer in southwestern Virginia and was instrumental in building railroads in New River Valley. He became a businessman in the New River area with interest in land and railroads. He served in the Virginia Legislature and while there aided in obtaining Morrill Land-Grant Act script to establish Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He served on the V.P.I. board and as Rector. Wharton died May 11, 1906 at Radford, Virginia, where he is buried.

Source: SNAC. accessed January 13, 2022 https://snaccooperative.org/view/67676501

"Thomas' Legion." Wikepedia. Accessed January 14, 2021 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas%27_Legion

Content Description

Fifteen leatherbound manuscript survey notebooks for lands in southwestern Virginia belonging to Confederate General Gabriel Colvin Wharton.There is also a Time Book of General Wharton's House kept by J. P. Thorn, dated October 1873 and five printed volumes relating to southwestern Virginia.