1861 June 14 Carrs Hill [University of Virginia]

[from the autograph album of Randolph Harrison McKim]

My dear Ran,

I never could by word or
deed express the friendship for those I
really loved. I will not attempt it in
your case; but my parting with you
& the university awakens in me the deepest
regret. May the war in which we are
engaged be of short duration; and may
our many friends be especially protected
by a kind providence. Above all, Ran,
may the love of Christ constrain us
to do all that is good, and pleasing
in the eyes of our maker.

Most sincerely your friend
David R. Barton
Winchester, Virginia

David Rittenhouse Barton, 1827-1862, a Lieutenant in Cutshaw's Company, (Jackson Artillery), Virginia Light Artillery, fell in the fight for Fredericksburg, December 1862.
Randolph Harrison McKim, 1842-1920,served on the staff of General George Hume Steuart and as a chaplain in the Virginia Cavalry. Postwar he was an Episcopal rector in churches in New York City, Washington, New Orleans, and several Virginia localities and wrote "A Soldier's Recollections: Leaves from the Diary of a Young Confederate in which he confessed to being one of the students who raised the Confederate flag over the Rotunda."
RG-30/17/1.064