Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Daniel Bedinger Lucas. Papers, 1859-1893 (bulk 1862-1864). Accession 42000. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA 23219.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Lilian B. Hagan, Roanoke, Virginia, through Ann F. H. Gladstone, Doswell, Virginia, 16 June 2005.

Biographical Information

Daniel Bedinger Lucas was born 16 March 1836 at "Rion Hall" in Charleston, West Virginia. He attended the University of Virginia and earned his law degree from Washington College in 1858. In 1861 he joined the staff of General Henry A. Wise and took part in the Kanawha Valley campaign, but a physical disability from a childhood spine injury kept him from active service in the last years of the war. Toward the end of the war he ran the blockade to defend his friend John Yates Beall, accused of being a Confederate spy. In 1867 he resumed his law practice in Charleston and married Evelina L. Brooke of Richmond in 1869. Lucas served as co-editor of the Baltimore Southern Metropolis and published many of his poems in the magazine. He became involved in Democratic party politics of West Virginia, serving in the West Virginia legislature from 1884 to 1887 and as a member of the Supreme Court of Appeals from 1889 to 1893. Lucas also wrote several volumes of poetry and was known as the "poet of the Shenandoah Valley." He died at Rion Hall on 24 June 1909.

Henry Alexander Wise was born 3 December 1806 in Accomack County, Virginia, to Major John Wise (d. 1812) and Sallie Cropper Wise (d. 1813). Wise attended Washington College in Pennsylvania, graduating in 1825. He then studied law under Henry St. George Tucker in Winchester, Virginia. Admitted to the Virginia bar in 1828, Wise followed his future wife and family to Nashville, Tennessee. He practiced law in Nashville for two years before returning to Accomack in 1830. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1833, Wise served until 1844. Wise was appointed Minister to Brazil in 1844, and served in that position until 1847. He represented the Eastern Shore counties of Accomack and Northampton in the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851, and represented Princess Anne County in the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861. Wise was elected governor of Virginia in 1855 and served from 1856 to 1860, during which time he met with John Brown (1800-1859) after the latter's failed raid in Harper's Ferry, (West) Virginia. During the Civil War, Wise raised troops and was appointed a brigadier general. After the war, he practiced law in Richmond, Virginia. Wise married three times: first, to Ann Elizabeth Jennings (1808-1837) of Nashville, Tennessee, 8 October 1828; second, to Sarah Sergeant (d. 1850) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 1840; and third, to Mary Elizabeth Lyons (1817-1901) of Richmond, Virginia, 1 November 1853. He fathered fourteen children, only seven of whom reached maturity. Wise died 12 September 1876, and was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1859-1893 (bulk 1862-1864), of Daniel Bedinger Lucas while serving on the staff of General Henry A. Wise. Includes correspondence, deserters reports, guard reports, maps, monthly and morning reports, muster rolls, orders, surgeons' reports and report of sick, and tri-monthly reports documenting the various regiments that served with the Wise Legion (or Wise Brigade).

Includes correspondence, 1861-1864, relating to the establishment of companies for Wise's Legion; and troop movements around Roanoke Island, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia. Of note are letters, 1864, relating to the movements and history of the Stono Scouts of South Carolina. Also included are General and Special Orders, 1861-1862, from Headquarters, Wise Brigade, Kanawha Court House and White Sulphur Springs, addressing the disposition of troops in Wise's Legion. Also of note is a letter, 9 June 1893, from Marcus J. Wright, War Records Office, Agent for the Collection of Confederate Records, to Daniel B. Lucas, regarding his loan of records for copying to the War Department in Washington, D.C.

The Wise Legion was organized during the summer of 1861 to serve with the Army of the Kanawha and was comprised of the 46th, 59th, and 60th Virginia Infantry Regiments, 10th Virginia Cavalry Regiment, and the Wise Legion Artillery. Throughout the war numerous companies were combined and reorganized in Wise's Legion, therefore included are records from several other military regiments. From 1862-1864 Wise's Legion served in South Carolina with the 6th Military District of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Also included are records from the Confederate Light Artillery, Stark's Battalion; 4th Virginia Heavy Artillery Regiment; 15th Regiment and 32nd Battalion Virginia Cavalry; 2nd Regiment, 5th Regiment, 20th Regiment, and 26th Regiment Virginia Infantry; 2nd Regiment, 3rd Regiment, and Marion's Regiment South Carolina Artillery; 5th Regiment, 6th Regiment, and Stono Scouts Regiment South Carolina Cavalry; and Holcombe's South Carolina Legion.

Arrangement

Due to the varied sizes of the documents several Series may be in the same box. Each folder and box location is noted in the Guide.

This collection is arranged into the following series:

Series I: Confederate Light Artillery, Stark's Battalion (Battalion B, 1st Corps Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia) Series II: Virginia Heavy Artillery Regiment, 4th Series III: Virginia Cavalry, 10th Regiment, 15th Regiment, and 32nd Battalion Series IV: Virginia Infantry Regiment, 2nd Series V: Virginia Infantry Regiment, 5th Series VI: Virginia Infantry Regiment, 20th Series VII: Virginia Infantry Regiment, 26th Series VIII: Virginia Infantry Regiment, 46th Series IX: Virginia Infantry Regiment, 59th (2nd Regiment, Wise Legion) Series X: Virginia Infantry Regiment, 60th Series XI: Wise's Legion and 6th Military District of South Carolina (Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) Series XII: South Carolina Artillery and Cavalry Regiments Series XIII: Correspondence, Orders, and Miscellaneous