Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 11283, George Julian Pratt papers addition 3 Civil War military order, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was purchased from Cal Packard, Museum Quality Americana by the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 13 March 2018.

Biographical / Historical

George Julian Pratt (1843-1924) was the son of the first superintendent of the buildings and grounds of the University of Virgina and a noted architect, William Abott Pratt (1818-1879). Julian Pratt attended the University of Virginia from 1858 to 1861 before joining the Sons of Liberty. He served as a Captain of a marine battery on Roanoke Island, and was taken prisoner and exchanged in Feburary of 1862. Pratt served in the 1st Virginia Partisan Rangers under John D. Imboden, and then transferred to Company H of the 18th Virginia Cavalry raising a Company behind enemy lines.

General William Lowther Jackson (1825-1890) was an American politician, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Circuit Judge of the 19th District, and proponent of enslavery. He served in the Confederate Army was and was recommended to General Robert E. Lee. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 31st Virginia Infantry Regiment and assigned to the command of General Robert S. Garnett. He participated in the Western Virginia Campaign and the battles of Rich Mountain and Cheat Mountain. In July 1861 he was promoted to rank of Colonel. In early 1862 he became a Volunteer Aide-de-camp to his cousin, Maj.Gen. Thomas J. Jackson; and participated in his campaigns during the year.

In February 1863 William Jackson was authorized to organize a mounted regiment for service behind the enemy lines and he raised the 19th Virginia Cavalry. His regiment immediately joined the Jones-Imboden Raid, first under command of Albert G. Jenkins, then under John D. Imboden. Jackson stayed in western Virginia, being assigned to command a cavalry brigade; fighting in the battles of Bulltown and Cloyd's Mountain. In 1864 he joined Lieutenant General Jubal Early in the Valley Campaigns from May to October. He received his promotion to Brigadier General on December 19, 1864.

On April 15, 1865, six days after Gen. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, he disbanded his brigade. Refusing to surrender he headed westwards, finally getting a parole in Brownsville, Texas, on July 26, 1865.

Content Description

Original offensive military order given on April 9, 1865 from Brigadier General William L. "Mudwall" Jackson ordering 18th Virginia Cavalry Lieutenant George Julian Pratt to burn the railroad bridges near Lynchburg.There is a photocopy of this military order in the existing collection but this is the original order which is a note scrawled on a scrap of paper by General Jackson. It is accompanied by a letter from L. L. Lomax in the War department thanking Pratt for a copy of the order for their records in 1894. This item is now with the original papers of George Julian Pratt.

Curator David Whitesell writes, "If Pratt had succeeded, this desperate move might have bought time despite cutting off Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces from their only supply source. But it was too late, for Lee was already negotiating surrender terms at Appomattox... I was happy to bring this evocative document 'home."

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• United States History Civil War 1861-1865