Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -
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Sale 2708 - Lot 80

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
(CIVIL WAR--WEST VIRGINIA.) Family letters of Judge George W. Summers, a noted Charleston Unionist. 49 items (0.2 linear feet) in 6 folders; generally minor wear; many with original stamped and postmarked envelopes. Various places, bulk 1860-1865
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George William Summers (1804-1868) was a leading Unionist political figure in what became West Virginia. He served in the United States Congress from 1841 to 1845, ran for governor in 1851, served as a judge for several years, and was elected to the Virginia Session Convention in 1861, where he argued vehemently against leaving the Union. In 1857, he acquired the Glenwood plantation estate, which remains an historic home in Charleston. Also represented here are his wife Amacetta Laidley (1818-1867) and son Lewis Summers (1843-1928). The collection includes:

8 letters from George W. Summers, mostly to his wife and son, 1860-1866. His 8 May 1860 letter is written from Baltimore, where he was a delegate to the first and only convention of the Constitutional Union Party that would begin the next day: "We are going to have a fine convention. Bell, Crittenden, Houston and McLane are talked of. . . . The various delegates met separately tonight to confer." He notes the launch of the Virginia Secession Convention and the Peace Conference held in Washington on 15 February 1860: "I went over to Richmond on Tuesday, helped organize the convention, and returned Wednesday night. . . . It is a good body, in whose hands the roll is safe. . . . We have a proposition now before us (the Peace Congress) which I trust may be adopted, and which may give quiet and safety to the country." By the time of his 18 March 1861 letter from Richmond, the Virginians were closer to secession: "We have a majority against secession, but then there are so many phases they seek to give our adjustment that may lead to secession, that we have to be continually in the alert. . . . The speech has done great good. It was the first which has been made, except Trail. I gave them something to think about. . . . Many letters from all quarters crowd on me and most of them I take no notice of at all." One of these fan letters was enclosed: "Hon. G.W. Summers, posterity will bless you! The God of our fathers will smile upon you! A Maryland Unionist, Baltimore, 14th March 1861." A clipping on Summers' speech is attached. Summers has annotated it: "Specimen of better kind" (illustrated). His 15 November 1863 letter describes the recent Battle of Droop Mountain, the last to take place in West Virginia. He adds that an aunt's estate was sold: "The Negroes I suppose will go to Ohio. They are left $25 each, and have an interest in the tobacco. . . . We still hear of horse stealing and some instances of Negro stealing in Putnam & the valley."

6 letters from Amecetta Summers to her son, 1861-1865 and undated. Her 30 January 1861 letter notes the peace conference: "I hope they may be successful in their enterprise. It seems that if something is not done soon, there will be desolation & ruin all over the land." Her 23 April 1865 letter describes Charleston services for Lincoln: "The church was draped in mourning and everyone felt awe-stricken. I do not believe many rebels approved it. Bob Snyder & Dr. Dew were put in the guard house for saying they were glad of it."

8 letters from Lewis Summers to his parents while a student at Washington College in Lexington, VA (now Washington and Lee University), 1860-1861. On 7 October 1860 he describes a canal being built near Lexington: "The workmen are all Negro convicts. Some have committed murder, some theft. . . . There is one little fellow . . . who was put in when he was 10 years old & for life, for burning a house. . . . They have plenty of hard work, but they would have that anyhow. There are several overseers standing around with loaded rifles." As Virginia debated secession on 7 April 1861, he describes militia drills among the students, and asks his mother "Have you turned disunionist? One would think so to hear you talk of the Convention & Peace Congress. I thought you were too strong for Union." On 28 April he describes his service as a lieutenant in the student militia company at length: "If the war hangs on long . . . I know you would rather have me go with the students than the set of men that generally compose the militia. . . . The town is full of military, drums beating, fife playing most of the time." On 19 May, he expects the student militia to be called up any day, most likely in defense of Harpers Ferry.

8 more letters are written by Lewis as a student at Marietta College, in nearby southeastern Ohio, 1864-1865. He remained a mild Unionist. Writing to his father on 8 March 1864: "Even if I were drafted, I thought perhaps you might get me a position. I shouldn't care to go in as a private, but if I held a commission, I would not object." He describes at length a speech by Ohio Copperhead leader Clement Vallandigham on 2 October 1864: "This brought out the Democrats on one side & the Republicans on the other & armed, ready for the signal, but it was quieted down & nothing more serious than a few bloody noses & broken heads received in private fracas resulted. A brick was thrown at him one time, but missed him." On 9 April 1865 he reports on the day's celebrations in Marietta over Lee's surrender: "Every house in town had a flag on it. I felt so patriotic that I immediately invested 35 cts in an American flag myself. . . . All the bells in town rang, everybody hallooed, the boys quit college & armed themselves with tin horns." The 23 April 1865 letter contains a long rumination on the Lincoln assassination.

8 letters from William Sydney "Syd" Laidley (1839-1917) to Lewis Summers, 1864-1865. Syd was the much younger brother of Lewis's mother; he came to Charleston in 1863 to practice law, and was later a state legislator and prominent lawyer. His February 1864 letter describes a major fire which swept through Charleston; his 4 September 1864 letter comments on politics: "Hurrah for McClellan. Everybody here has turned Democrat. None or very few for Lincoln."

11 miscellaneous Summers family letters. The earliest are two from R.W. Washington of Highlands, WV near Wheeling, dated 1838; he complains that Summers has bilked him in a land purchase. J. Laidley writes to George Summers from early in the war, when West Virginia was unsettled: "If you have received any reliable intelligence, please give me enough to enable me to escape the penalty of treason. Have we any officers civil or militia in the county? As there has not been any new oaths of fidelity taken by any, except those who have been arrested by guyrillas."

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