Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Richard Beto, Collector, Civil War Letter of William Bowen Gallaher of Company E, Virginia 1st Cavalry, A&M 3730, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

William Bowen Gallaher enlisted 2 May 1861 at Waynesboro, Virginia as a 3rd Lieutenant, and was commissioned into Company E, Virginia 1st Cavalry on same day. He resigned due to ill health on 11 August 1861.

Charles Gamble Dalhouse enlisted 19 April 1861 at Waynesboro, Virginia as a Private, and was mustered into Company B, Virginia 1st Cavalry on same day. He died on 24 December 1861 from wounds inflicted on 26 June 1861 at Williamsport, Maryland.

Scope and Contents

Color copy of three page Civil War letter dated 30 June 1861 authored by William Bowen Gallaher of Company E, Virginia 1st Cavalry, from a "camp near Hainesville, Berkeley County". It touches on a number of subjects, most pertaining to the Berkeley County and Martinsburg, West Virginia area.

Subjects of content include soldier wounded in battle at Williamsport (Charles Gamble Dalhouse); number and types of Confederate units at his location; provenance of fellow soldiers; aftermath of Williamsport battle; vignette of Union prisoner; his interest in acquiring and reading newspapers; his interest in having his photograph taken in Martinsburg for "Sallie"; recruits from Augusta County and Washington College; rain and lack of tents; successful wheat crop at home; and war sentiment (including hope for peace, and a believe that they have "providence on their side").

Also includes one additional page with brief histories of William Gallaher and Charles Dalhouse.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Augusta County (Va.)
• Berkeley County (W. Va.)
• Civil War - Virginia 1st Cavalry, Company E.
• Civil War - soldier's letters, Confederate.
• Civil War battles - Williamsport, MD.
• Gallaher, William Bowen