Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Thomas W. Colley Collection must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Thomas W. Colley Collection, Ms2003-017, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated to Special Collections before 2003.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Thomas W. Colley Collection was completed in October 2013.

Biographical Note

Thomas W. Colley (1837-1919) served in the Confederate army during the American Civil War. He enlisted in May 1861 as a private in the 1st Virginia Cavalry, Company D (2nd), referred to also as the Washington Mounted Rifles, as this company hailed from Washington County, VA. Colley was wounded multiple times during the course of the war. Most seriously, at Kelly's Ford in 1863, he was shot near the stomach on the left side; the ball passed clean through his body and emerged near his spine. He recovered and returned to his division. He finished the war with the rank of 2nd Corporal. Thomas Colley's brother, William Lewis Colley, who appears in correspondence within the collection, also served in the same cavalry division. Following the war, Colley returned to Abingdon, VA and held the following positions for Washington County, VA: Deputy Sheriff, Commissioner of Revenue, and Overseer for the Poor. He died in 1919.

Sources Consulted:

Driver, Robert J., Jr. 1st Virginia Cavalry. Lynchburg, VA: H. E. Howard, Inc., 1991.

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains both material related to Thomas W. Colley's daily life in Abingdon, VA, and to Colley's service as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. Materials include correspondence, financial documents, such as ledgers, receipts, and deeds, temperance society sermons, electoral cards, a Veteran's Meeting minute book, Civil War reminiscences, and a roll for the First Virginia Company D Volunteer Cavalry's wounded and dead for 1861. The majority of the collection dates from 1860 to 1920.

Much of the correspondence occurs between Thomas Colley and his extended family, except for Colley's business correspondence. The letters dating to the Civil War are typed transcriptions rather than the original. Later letters, however, that make reference to and reminisce about the Civil War are original.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into three series: Series 1: Correspondence; Series 2: Financial Documents; and Series 3: Subject Files. The folders within each series are organized in chronological order.

Related Material

Other materials relating to Thomas W. Colley can be found within the L. C. Angle, Jr. Collection, Ms 2001-043. available online.

Index Terms

Persons:

• Colley, Thomas W., 1837-1919

Subjects:

• Abingdon (Va.)
• Civil War
• Local/Regional History and Appalachian South
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865

Geographical Names:

• Washington County (Va.)

Adjunct Descriptive Data