1862 August 12 near Gordonsville, Va.

[from the diary of Lt. John Tyler of Letcher's Artillery as recorded at a somewhat later date]


So there we
stayed until next morning (Aug 12th) when we left
for Gordonsville.  Lt Tanner & I rode on ahead
of the train and about 2 o’c stopped for dinner at
an acquaintances of his. (Widow Bell’s) which
also sheltered us from a heavy storm which
came up at this time.  At 4 o’c we went on to Gor-
-donsville (3 miles off) and after finding there were
no letters for us at the office went to the Provost
Marshalls office where we saw Lt Duxbury & heard
that Longstreets “Corps d’armie” was in and

around there having just arrived from Richmond.
Having tried unsuccessfully to find a lodging
place for the night in Gordonsville & our wagons
not having come in, we retraced our steps to
the widow Bell’s, but getting there [ two letters lined through] late they
had all retired, so in order not to disturb them
we put our horses in the stable and slept in the
loft on the hay.

[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 6150