1862 March 28 Orange Court House, Va.

Orange C. H. March 28th 1862.
My Dear Father –
You letter written par-
tially in Richmond and partially in Lynch-
burg, and bearing the postmark of yesterday
has just been received, and I thank you
most sincerely for the kind and earnest
efforts you have been and are still making
to secure the success of my enterprise.

Viewing the matter as calmly and
with as little bias as possible I can but
regard the War Department, as bound to
sustain me in every step I have taken.
Anything but a full, and unequivocal
approval of my conduct I would regard
as the grossest, and most outrageous
injustice, and I am confident, that Genl.
Randolph will act with due respect to the
obligations of his predecessor.

As I informed you in my hasty note
of yesterday I mustered my Company
into service having received a paper vesting
me with that authority from Secretary Benja-
min. Col. Garland refused to superintend
the organization or to allow Lt. Col. Funsten
to do so, and acted in a very unbecoming

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manner when I informed him of my
intention to form the Company. He has
opposed me violently from the beginning
from the very palpable reason that
my men are taken from his ranks.

While you are in Richmond and ac-
cessible to the Department, I would be
glad if you Could inquire where I am
expected to rendezvous the Company, and
if I am at liberty to order them to report,
at the appointed place To [two ?] days before their
term of service begins, as provided by Enactment.
I desire also to learn whether or not it
is necessary that a Field Officer should
be present, at the election of officers in
Companies directly tendered to the C.S.

Such is the case I know in the Va. troops
but I am not informed in regard to those
mustered immediately in the Confederate
Service.

I hope I receive from you a full
letter by tomorrow’s mail.

I was very much pained to read
in Yesterday’s paper that my old regmt.,
the 27th Va. suffered severely in the
recent battle at Barting Hill, and
that a number of my old comrades
are amongst the killed, & wounded.

Capt. Hollowary as brave and true a man

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as ever fought I am distressed to see is
severely injured, and unfortunately in the hands
of the Enemy; Nobler blood than his has
not been spilt, in this war although many
of our most gallant men have fallen, and
I am satisfied that he fell with his back
to the field & his feet to the foe!

But a few days since I received a letter from
him expressing a desire for me to accept the
1st Lt. cy in his company and I would have
gladly responded favorably had I not deemed
myself pledged to carry out the Enterprise
in which I was engaged. Capt’s Hollo-
ways letter is a sufficient eulogy on his
character as a nobleman of nature, and
I can but weep when I read his earnest
words, and reflect that their writer is now
mangled – it may be dead on inhospitable
soil. God grant that he is yet alive,
and that he may long be preserved to
his country. She has need of men like he.

It is a “ joy forever” to me to have known
and to have associated with such a man.

Warm in his impulses, & attachments,
brave, generous & highminded he is above
all others the man to retain my respect
& affection, and one up whom I shall
ever remember as a single hearted
patriot.

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I enclose his letter. It will give you pleas-
ure to see that there are such men in our
army.

There are indications that there will be
an early movement, embracing at least
a division in this army. Five trains are now
in readiness for their conveyance at Orange
C. H. some 2 miles from this camp.
Numberless objections conjectures are rife in regard
to the probable direction but I know no-
thing whatever about it, and refrain
from presenting an opinion.

I can get as many good men as I want
for my Company, & hope to get some intelli-
gence in regard to it by tomorrow’s train.

I am anxious to get in the field with it
and Contribute my mite to roll back the
tide of the invasion. It is a time when
property & all earthly affairs should be
sacrificed to prevent our degradations.
With your consent, & approval, I desire to devote
Every Cent of my pay to my men’s Equip-
ment. I had rather be beggared & in rags
than to see our grand old state over run
by a ruthless horde, her ancient & honored
institutions obliterated, and her noble people
the degraded slaves of a vulgar tyrant.
If my life could divert such a fate, God knows it
would be gladly sacrificed.
Most affectionately Your Son
John W. Daniel

[Capt. Lewis P. Holloway, Co. C, 27th Va. Infantry. Captured at Kernstown 3/23/62. Sent to Fort Delaware, Died 4/9/62.]

[transcription by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]


1st Lieutenant John Warwick Daniel, 1842-1910, Co. C. 27th Virginia and later Co. C. 11th Virginia Infantry, attained the rank of major before being permanently disabled in the Battle of the Wilderness. Studied law at the University of Virginia, entered politics and served in the Virginia House of Delegates, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Called the "Lame Lion of Lynchburg" he was a noted orator who gave speeches on many memorial occasions and was especially known for his address on Robert E. Lee

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