A Collection in Special Collections Collection Number Ms1995-012
Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University
Contact Information: University Libraries P.O. Box 90001 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, Virginia 24062-9001 USA Phone: (540) 231-6308 Fax: (540) 231-3694 Email: specref@vt.edu URL: http://spec.lib.vt.edu/
Processed by: Laura Katz Smith, Manuscripts Curator, and Gina Ellis,
Student Assistant,
Special Collections
2009 By
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. All rights reserved.
Repository
Special Collections, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.
Collection Number
Ms1995-012
Title
Daniel Bedinger Lucas Papers,
1812-1924, n.d.
Physical Characteristics
4 boxes; 1.8 cu.
ft.
Creator
Daniel Bedinger Lucas
Language
English
Abstract
The Daniel Bedinger Lucas papers consist of scrapbooks,
correspondence, poems and essays, newspapers, and other materials collected and
created by Lucas, including several items created by his daughter, Virginia Lucas,
also a poet.
Permission to publish from the Daniel Bedinger Lucas Papers, must be obtained
from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following
information: Daniel Bedinger Lucas Papers, Ms1995-012, Special Collections,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.
Acquisition Information
The Daniel Bedinger Lucas Papers were donated to Special Collections in May 1995.
Additional materials were donated in September 1995.
Processing Information
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Daniel Bedinger Lucas Papers,
commenced and was completed in July 1995. Additional materials were processed in
October 1997.
Daniel Bedinger Lucas, lawyer and poet, was born March 16, 1836, at "Rion
Hall" in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia). He attended the
University of Virginia, and then studied law under Judge John W. Brockenbrough of
Lexington, Virginia. In 1859 he began practicing law at Charleston but moved the
next year to Richmond. At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 he joined the staff
of General Henry A. Wise and took part in the Kanawha Valley campaign, but his
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, but was unable to
defend him against the charges. Beall was executed on Governors Island, New
York.
In 1869, Lucas married Lena Tucker Brooke, of Richmond. Their only child, Virginia,
was born in 1873. Barred from the practice of law until 1871, due to restrictions on
the service of ex-Confederates, Lucas turned to literature and became co-editor of
the Baltimore Southern Metropolis. Many of his poems
were published in this magazine. He reentered the practice of law in 1871 and took a
prominent role in the Democratic party politics of West Virginia, acting as
Democratic elector in the elections of 1872 and 1876, to the legislature in 1884 and
1886, and as a member of the supreme court of appeals from 1889 to 1893.
Lucas's volumes of poetry include The Wreath of
Eglantine (1869) and Ballads and
Madrigals (1884). He wrote three plays about the Civil War. His books
include The Memoir of John Yates Beall (1865) and
Nicaragua, War of the Filibusters (1896). He was
known as the "poet of the Shenandoah Valley." He died at Rion Hall
on June 24, 1909.
The Daniel Bedinger Lucas papers consist of scrapbooks, correspondence, poems and
essays, newspapers, and other materials collected and created by Lucas, including
several items created by his daughter, Virginia Lucas, also a poet. Topics include
Lucas's defense of John Yates Beall, the exploits of adventurer William Walker, the
origin of General Robert E. Lee's horse Traveler; and West Virginia politics. There
are examples of Lucas's poetry scattered throughout the papers. The 1860 scrapbook
includes several interesting pressed flower designs.
Issue of the National Intelligencer of
Washington City (Washington, D.C.), March 4,
1812.
1:2
Manuscript copy (made in 1880) of "The Cossack Celebration
at Shephardstown, Jefferson County, Virginia" (now West Virginia),
July 28, 1814.
1:3
"A Study of the Literature of West Virginia"
written by Mary Meek Atkeson, Ph.D. 1822-1922.
1:4
Article, "A Blister Plaster, for the Cure of Cacoethes
Scribendi" by John S. Gallaher, April 1,
1828.
1:5
One page of The Register, of
Shephardstown, West Virginia. Article written by Dr. Harry T. McDonald about
the Armory and Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, March
1, 1828.
1:6
Issue of The Hagerstown Mail of
Hagerstown, Maryland. May 1, 1829.
1:7
Appendix to the Congressional Globe,
February 1844, pp. 337-352, 1844.
1:8
Two letters to William Lucas in Charleston, Virginia, (now West
Virginia), 1844.
1:9
Issue of Spirit of Jefferson,
newspaper of Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia), July 23, 1850.
1:10
Article from Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia) newspaper,
written by Lucas,k March 4, 1856.
1:11
Poem written to Lucas, author is an unidentified sibling of Lucas
(probably his sister Virginia), January 10,
1859.
1:12
Scrapbook of poetry, newspaper clippings, and pressed flowers,
1860?
1:13
Manuscript copy of an article from the New
York Heraldabout the September 1860 court martial and execution
of William Walker, whose military and political expeditions in Central
America gained him the reputation as the "greatest American
filibuster," October 4, 1860.
1:14
Letter from Daniel B. Lucas, writing from the Quarter Master
General's Office in Richmond, Virginia, to his brother, April 30, 1861.
1:15
One page from the Daily Enquirer of
Richmond, Virginia, 1862.
1:16
Photographs of General Turner Ashby and Daniel Lucas, 1862, n.d.
1:17
Issue of American and Commercial
Advertising of Baltimore, Maryland, December 1, 1863.
1:18
Letter from Daniel B. Lucas in Canada, to his cousin Virginia.
Mentions death of John Yates Beall, March 12,
1865.
1:19
Receipt from Gibb Company, Merchants Tailors, in Montreal to Lucas,
August 22, 1865.
1:20
One page from the Winchester Times,
with an article about the dedication of the Stonewall Cemetery, October 31, 1866.
1:21
-Two issues of the National
Intelligencer, August 1 and August
22, 1867.
1:22
Letters from R. N. Engle at Elston Bank to Lucas about the tract of
land he received, May 13 and May 21,
1869.
1:23
A statement of Daniel Lucas' account after the addition of Edward
Lucas' estate, 1868.
1:24
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings. Topics include the death of John
Yates Beall, politics, the Civil War, and speaking engagements of Daniel
Lucas, 1869-1876.
1:25
Issue of The Saturday Review of Politics,
Literature, Science, and Art, April
10, 1869.
1:26
Check written by Lucas to Charles J. Faulkner for $200.00, August 17, 1869.
1:27
One page from the Winchester Times, in
which Lucas wrote an article, 1869.
1:28
Issue of Virginia Free Press-The Old Family
Journal, 1871.
1:29
January issue of the Westminister
Review, 1872
1:30
Letter and statement of account from P. H. Kennedy to Daniel Lucas
about Edward Lucas' estate, January 22,
1872.
1:31
Essay (or speech) in praise of the Democratic Party, 1876(?).
1:32
Scrapbook with newspaper clippings about William Lucas, Daniel Lucas,
politics, and the Civil War, 1876-1893.
1:33
Robert Lucas' Survivor's Pension from the U.S. Department of Interior
for serving in the Virginia Militia, 1878.
1:34
Issue of The Morgan Mercury, from
Berkley Springs, West Virginia, December 7,
1878.
1:35
Issue of the Weekly New Mexican,
July 19, 1880.
1:36
Letter from A.W. Kerchival to Daniel Lucas, January 25, 1882.
1:37
"Ballads and Madrigals," a book of poems written by
Daniel Lucas, 1884.
1:38
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings of poetry, songs, witticisms,
essays, etc., compiled by Virginia Lucas, 1888(?).
1:39
Issue of Spirit of Jefferson, a
Charleston, West Virginia, newspaper, June 12,
1888.
1:40
Ribbon from a Memorial Day celebration and Confederate reunion in
Norfolk, Virginia, 1889.
1:41
Letter from Okey Johnson to Lucas, December 24, 1889.
1:42
Letter from Marcus Wright, War of Records Office, War Department of
Washington, to Lucas, April 7, 1893.
1:43
Notebook of household accounts and poetry in manuscript by Lena Lucas
from Rion Hall, October 31, 1894.
1:44
"Walker in Nicaragua," a typescript essay by Daniel
B. Lucas, 1895.
1:45
Letters between Joseph M. Broun and J. Johnston about how General
Robert E. Lee obtained his horse Traveler, 1895-1899.
1:46
Issue of The Winchester Times,
February 17, 1897.
1:47
"The Last Confederate Pay-roll" by Joseph M. Broun
of Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia. Manuscript essay, 1897.
1:48
"The Last Confederate Pay-roll" by Joseph M. Broun.
Typescript copy of essay, [1897].
1:49
Letter from Marcus J. Wright to Lucas, July 22, 1898.
1:50
Program of the Eleventh Annual Reunion of the Charlestown Society,
song written by Lucas, January 6,
1900.
1:51
"Dramatic Works of Daniel Bedinger Lucas," a book
of plays by Lucas, 1913.
2:1
"The Land Where We Were Dreaming," a book of poems
by Daniel Lucas, 1913.
2:2
Issue of The Washington Post,
July 13, 1921.
2:3
Pages from a scrapbook with topics about forestry and trees; includes
miscellaneous poetry. Compiled by Virginia Lucas, 1923-1930.
2:4
Life of John Brown, by Michael Gold,
1924/
2:5
Newspaper account of the 1865 death of John Wilkes Booth.
2:6
Drawing of the Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina colonies
(1745-56) with a line showing Washington's journey in 1751.
2:7
Notebook of manuscript poems written by Daniel B. Lucas, with an
index to the poems.
2:8
Argument as to why Jefferson County, West Virginia, should have been
considered part of the Union under the act of July 4th, 1864. Author
unknown, though probably Daniel B. Lucas.
2:9
Account in an unidentified newspaper about the "Last Days of
the War" (Confederate view).
3:1
Miscellaneous papers.
3:2
Miscellaneous correspondence.
3:3
Miscellaneous poetry.
3:4
Notebook of miscellaneous poetry.
3:5
Miscellaneous papers about John Yates Beall.
3:6
Framed photograph of Daniel Lucas.
4:1
Notebook of manuscript notes, presumably written by Lucas.
4:2
Newspaper article about General Robert E. Lee's description of
Traveller, his horse, newspaper unknown.
4:3
"List of Relics Contributed to the World's Fair Exposition" by Daniel Lucas.
4:4
A notebook of poems written in manuscript by an unidentified person.
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