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Preferred Citation:

William H. Seawell Letter,Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Biographical Information:

Lietenant Colonel, 21st Virginia Militia, Confederate States of America.

Scope and Contents

Letter from William H. Seawell, Lieutenant Colonel of the 21st Virginia Militia based in Gloucester, Va, at Ware Camp to Colonel Charles A. Crump, dated November 21, 1861.  Seawell discusses the relative quiet in the area, no report of enslaved persons escaping, and writes to ask for more instruction regarding the mustering of additionall officers and troops.  He also relates that he has instructed his men off duty to act as policemen in order to arrest any of the enslaved who may have escaped, and also to force work upon insubordinate enslaved persons as many residents have written with requests for assistance with this issue.

Related Material

This letter is related to the Warner T. Jones Papers Mss. 39.1 J 75, Series I, Subseries 2, Box 1, Folder 40.  A letter from Will Seawell to his father, William H. Seawell dated 6 April 1865.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Confederate States of America. 21st Virginia Militia
• Slavery--Virginia--19th century
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--African Americans