Conditions Governing Use

The materials from Washington and Lee University Special Collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used should be fully credited with the source.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to research use.

Existence and Location of Copies

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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Blain Family Papers (WLU Coll. 0066), Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of personal papers of the Blain family of Albemarle County and Williamsburg, Virginia, including the Civil War period diary (1861-63) of school teacher Mary Randolph Blain. The diary, written near the York River in Gloucester County, Va. provides a picture of civilian life both in that area and in Williamsburg, Va. where her parents lived during the period. Also included are two letters written from Randolph Harrison Blain, brother of the diarist and a member of the Confederate Kanawha Horse Artillery commanded by Captain Thomas E. Jackson, to their mother Susan H. Blain, describing the military situation in and around Lewisburg, West Virginia in the fall of 1863; a letter written from Mrs. Susan Blain to her daughter dated May 23rd 1864 sharing local news and mentioning the Battle of New Market; an unidentified multipage account of Confederate actions in the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864 possibly authored by Daniel Blain, brother of Margaret and Randolph and an Ordinance Officer in the 1st Virginia Artillery at the time, written on May 18, 1864 documenting the previous two weeks ; a typescript letter from Charlottesville, Va. lawyer and Civil War veteran Micajah Woods to Randolph H. Blain on their shared war service; a typescript muster record for Thomas E. Jackson's Battery of Horse Artillery compiled at the end of the war, and an unidentified manuscript war period list of captured Confederate prisoners after the "Battle of Williamsburg" (Va.) presumably in 1862. The list includes name, unit information, rank, and whether "exchanged" or "died".

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Blain, Daniel, 1838-1906
• Blain, Mary Randolph, 1840-1939
• Blain, Randolph H. (Randolph Harrison), 1842-1929
• Blain, Susan Harrison, 1806-1891
• Confederate States of America. Army of Northern Virginia
• Diaries
• Jackson, Thomas E.
• Spotsylvania Court House, Battle of (Virginia : 1864)
• Virginia -- Gloucester County
• Virginia -- Williamsburg
• Virginia -- York River
• West Virginia -- Lewisburg
• Williamsburg, Battle of (Virginia : 1862)
• Woods, Micajah, 1844-1911