1862 March 13 James River

[on stationery with red and blue Confederate flag with 10 stars]

Packet Boat March 13th 1862

Dear Grandpa; [General John Hartwell Cocke]

Having remained in Richmond only
one day on account of the recent unheard of procla-
mation of our Governor, I was was[sic] not able to fill the
whole of your memorandum

1. The office of the Agric[ulturall Society has been broken up &
I was unable to find Mr. Williams-
w. I called at Farmers Bank of Va: & found the balance
to your credit $91.05. (Did I go to the right place?)
3. I called to see Mr Kenna about the bacon but he
was not in nor any one in his store.
4 I send the pound of Arsenic as requested--price
$2. Enclosed is the change
5. Uncle Charles [Cary Cocke] promised to attend to the other
items in which I failed--

I saw Mr. Skipwith just about to start

[page 2]
southward with the corpse of his wife--He told
me he had written you of her death--
The recent Proclamation has closed or will
close up all business for a time at least
in Richmond--It is the opinion of most
persons that the call for the whole military
force of the State cannot remain unmodified--
I am returning home a boat sooner than
I expected & Pink is with me she will
probably return to her Father's in a few days.
She joins me in love to All--From
Your Affectionate Grandson
P[hilip] B[arraud] Cabell

There were rumors on the street yesterday
of a Manassas victory in Missouri
and that we had taken Newport's News--
the latter is possible tho not probable
There was also believed to have been a
heavy skirmish at Fairfax C.H.

Philip Barraud Cabell, 1836-1904, nephew of General Philip St. George Cocke and grandson of General John Harwell Cocke, was one of the few antebellum students at the University of Virginia to obtain a master's degree. After the war he was a professor at Urbana University in Ohio, and later a minister of a Swedenborgian church in Wilmington Delaware. His wife Julia Calvert Bolling Cabell known as "Pinkie", had been a popular Virginia belle before her marriage the previous year.
MSS 640