Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434)Adrienne Serra, Archives Assistant
Permission to publish material from Nancy (Nannie) G. Figgat Correspondence must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Collection is open for research.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Nancy (Nannie) G. Figgat Correspondence, Ms2012-080, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Nancy (Nannie) G. Figgat Correspondence was purchased by Special Collections in September 2012.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Nancy (Nannie) G. Figgat Correspondence was completed in December 2012.
Private Charles Figgat, served in the 1st Regiment, Virginia Cavalry, Company C in the Civil War. He had earlier served as a clerk at Stonewall Jackson's headquarters.
Two letters from Nancy (Nannie) G. Figgat addressed to her husband, Private Charles Figgat, of the 1st Regiment, Virginia Cavalry, Company C.
The first letter (8 pages), dated November 27, 1863, from Fincastle, Virginia, is written on two identical pages of captured Union patriotic stationary with an engraving of an Antietam scene. In the letter, Mrs. Figgat recounts reuniting with a 'dear bro' after 4 months of imprisonment as well as the failing health of their young son, Meade. Nannie also tells her husband "Your Pa told me to tell you to 'go to a camp of instruction before you accepted a Lieutenancy.'"
In the second letter (4 pages), dated December 5, 1863, and written on captured Union patriotic stationery with an engraving of Marshall House proprietor James Jackson shooting Col. Elmer Ellsworth, is an update of their son's worsening condition. "I cannot see that there is any hope for his recovery." The child would die two days later.
Transcriptions for both letters are included.
The collection is arranged chronologically.
Ms2000-092, Southwest Virginia Counties Collection. A finding aid is available online. This collection includes accounting and memoranda books, receipts, correspondence, poetry, and recipes from a number of related families including the Godwins (Nancy Figgat's maiden name). At least one of the recipe books was compiled by Nancy Figgat in the late 1860s.