Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: Sunday Night, December 7, 1862

My turn came, but did not last long. I was able to see the others at their worst, and came out of it before the others were able to take much notice. Some are as sick as ever, but most of them are getting over it, and cleaning house is the order of the day. The sea is very rough, though not as bad as in the night. It seemed sometimes as if the Arago was rolling over. Lieutenant Sterling of Company D died a few hours ago. He had some sort of fever. We have a variety of diseases abroad [sic] if reports are true. I am getting careful about putting down what I cannot see for myself. It takes but little to start a story and by the time it has gone around the original teller would not believe it himself. For myself, I am all the better for my seasickness, and think those that are over it feel the same way. Rockets are going up from the different vessels in sight. I suppose someone knows what for, but I do not.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, pp. 68-9

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: Monday, December 8, 1862

The storm is over and it is warm and pleasant. Lieutenant Sterling's funeral sermon was preached this morning on the quarter-deck. On account of lack of room only his company and the commissioned officers attended. His body will be sent home when we land.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 69

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: Tuesday, December 9, 1862

Land ho! I was on deck by the crack of dawn, saw the sun come up from the water; a beautiful sight. Saw two vessels going towards home and wished I was on board. Wm. Haight of our company is very sick. He is a general favorite and we all feel badly at the possibility of losing him.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 69

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: December 10, 1862

Off the coast of Florida. We must be going to New Orleans as has been reported. I did not believe it at first, as there was a report that Charleston was our destination.

Haight died about sunrise, and his death has cast a gloom over Company B. He was one of the best fellows I have met with in the army. He was a little wild at first but later seemed to change. Talked of the trouble his habits had caused his parents and seemed determined to atone for it by a right about face change. We shall miss his cheery voice. Such is war. It is over thirty-six days since the 128th and two companies of the 114th New York came aboard this vessel. It is a wonder so many are alive to-day. We get on deck now and the nights are so warm some of us sleep there. We suffer for good water to drink. What we have may be good, but it is distilled water, and there are so many of us we use it before it has time to get cold. On the quarter-deck, where we are not allowed to go, are barrels which contain real water, for officers' use only. I was let into a secret last night, how to get some of it, and I drank all I could hold. With a long rubber tube I crawled up behind a barrel and let the end down the bunghole, which is left open for ventilation, and sucked away as long as I could swallow. This will go on until someone is caught at it, and then the game will be up.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, pp. 69-70

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: December 11, 1862

In the Gulf of Mexico. Flying fish and porpoises are in sight. The sailors say the porpoises are after the flying fish, and they skip out of the water and go as far as they can and then drop in again. It is a beautiful morning, and the water is smooth as glass on top. Under it, however, there seems to be a commotion, for the surface is up and down like hills and hollows on land. Ground swells, the sailors call it. In spite of the nice weather a great many are yet seasick. Three cases of measles are reported this morning. Every one who has never had them seems to be having them now. Only a few new cases of fever were reported. A big shark is following the vessel, after anything that is thrown overboard. It keeps up easily and as far as I can discover makes very little effort to do so.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 70

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: December 12, 1862

At daylight Company B was called on deck and made to form in a three-sided square, the open side towards the rail. Poor Haight was then brought up in a rough box, which was set across the rail, the most of it projecting over the water, the end towards us being fastened down by a rope fastened to an iron on the deck. The chaplain made a prayer, and just as the sun rose out of the water the rope was slipped off, and the box plunged down into the water. I should have said that the engines were stopped and except for the chaplain's words the utmost silence prevailed. I shall never forget this, my first sight of a burial at sea. It has all been so sudden, and so unexpected. He was only sick a few days. Never complained no matter what came, but always was foremost in any fun that can be got out of a life like this. It was at his father's house I took tea when home on my five day furlough, and I am glad I could give his mother such a good account of him. It is hard for us to understand why Lieutenant Sterling's body can be kept for shipment home, while that of Haight could not.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 71

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: December 13, 1862

Yet in the Gulf of Mexico. Company C lost a man last night. Company G has been turned out of their quarters and a hospital made of it. That crowds the others still more, but at the rate we go on the whole ship will soon be a hospital. 10 a. m. We have stopped at a sandy island, which they say is Ship Island. The man who died last night has been taken off and they are digging a hole in the sand to put him in.

Ship Island so far as I can discover is only a sand bar with a small fort on it, and with some soldiers about it the only live thing in sight. We weighed anchor about 4 P. M. and the next morning, Dec. 14th, stopped off the mouth of the Mississippi for a pilot. I am told this is called the South West Pass, being one of several outlets to the great Mississippi river. It looks like a mud flat that had been pushed out into the Gulf farther in some places than others. As far as the eye can reach the land is covered with a low down growth of grass or weeds that are but little above the water. We passed a little village of huts near the outlet, where the pilots with their families live and which is called "Pilot Town." What they live on I did not learn. The huts are perched on piles driven in the mud, with board walks from one to the other and water under and about the whole.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, pp. 71-2

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: December 15, 1862

Went on up the river until hard ground appeared. Passed two forts, Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip they call them, and say Butler's men had hard fighting to get past them when they came up. The secret is out. Banks is to relieve Butler in the Department of the Gulf. I wonder what harm it would have done had we been told this long ago. Chaplain Parker went ashore and brought off some oranges. A small limb had twenty-four nice oranges on it and this the Dominie said he would send home to show our friends what sumptuous fare we have. Some one suggested his putting in a few wormy hard-tack with the oranges.

We have anchored opposite a large brick building with a few small wood buildings near it.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 72

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: December 16, 1862

The U. S. surgeon from the Marine Hospital has been on board looking us over. Found only four diseases, measles, scurvy, typhoid fever and jaundice. He did not put down the graybacks that keep us scratching all the time. For a long time after they appeared they left me alone, but one morning as I lay on my back in bed writing in my diary one came crawling up over my knee and looked me straight in the face; from that on they have seemed to like me as well as anyone.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 72

In The Review Queue: Brothers of the Gun

Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and aReckoning in Tombstone

By Mark Lee Gardner

Release Date: November 11, 2025

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday: Legendary gunfighters and friends who gained immortality because of a thirty-second shootout near a livery stable called the O.K. Corral. Their friendship actually began three years before that iconic 1881 gunfight, in the rollicking cattle town of Dodge City. Wyatt, an assistant city marshal, was surrounded by armed, belligerent cowboys. Doc saw Wyatt’s predicament from a monte table in the Long Branch saloon and burst out the door with two leveled revolvers shouting, “Throw up your hands!” The startled cowboys did, and Wyatt and Doc led them off to jail. Wyatt credited Doc with saving his life, and thus began their lasting—and curious—friendship.

In this illuminating dual biography, the first about Earp and Holliday, the lives of these two men, one a sometime lawman and the other a sometime dentist, are chronicled in a swirling tableau of saloons, brothels, gambling dens, stage holdups, arrests, manhunts, and revenge killings. And while there’s plenty of gunsmoke in this saga, hero-worshipping won’t be found. Wyatt and Doc, just like anyone else then and now, had their flaws and failings, and the unsavory parts of their lives are here, too.

In Brothers of the Gun, Old West authority Mark Lee Gardner reveals fresh information about Wyatt’s and Doc’s early lives, their famous friendship, the O.K. Corral gunfight, and Wyatt’s controversial “vendetta ride” following the assassination of his brother Morgan. Drawing upon new research into diaries, letters, court records, and contemporary newspaper reports, as well as firsthand observation at several historic sites, this is the definitive book on Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and their enduring bond. Brothers of the Gun is edge-of-your-saddle nonfiction storytelling at its best.

About the Author

Mark Lee Gardner is a recipient of the Frank Waters Award for Literary Excellence. His bestselling books, many of them award winners, include The Earth Is All That Lasts, Rough Riders, Shot All To Hell, and To Hell on a Fast Horse. An authority on the American West, Mark has appeared on numerous television programs and other media, including the hit Netflix docuseries Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War. His YouTube video for WIRED’s Tech Support, where Mark answers questions from the Internet about the Wild West, has received several million views. A native of Missouri, he holds an MA in American studies from the University of Wyoming and lives with his family at the foot of Pikes Peak.

ISBN 978-0593471890, Dutton, © 2025, Hardcover, 336 Pages, Photographs & Illustrations, Resources, End Notes & Index. $35.00.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Diary of Gideon Welles, Monday, June 18, 1866

Senator Doolittle brought me last evening the rough draft of a proposed call for a national Union convention which he had prepared. Some of the points were well put, but there was too much restriction, too much fear that we should have men we did not care to fellowship with, although we might agree on present issues. To this I excepted, but my strongest point was the omission to meet and present the real issue, our objections to the proposed change of the Constitution which has passed the two houses of Congress.

"What," said I, "are the reasons for calling a convention at this time? Is it not because the faction in Congress, assisted by schemers out of Congress, have concocted a scheme under party excitement and by party machinery to change the Constitution in important particulars, and that by a snap judgment Governor Curtin has addressed a circular letter to the Governors of the several States, inviting an immediate convening of the State legislatures to adopt the proposed change, before the people can have an opportunity to express an opinion? An alarm should be sounded, warning the people of the movements that are being made to alter the organic law, and insidiously change the government."

These and other suggestions I saw made an impression on Doolittle, but still he hesitated and was embarrassed. Pressing him on this point, he admitted he wanted Raymond to sign the call, he being Chairman of the National Republican Committee, and Doolittle wanted others of that committee also to sign it. This I thought of less importance than to have a proper call; certainly I would not suppress the great essential for such a trimming, unreliable man as Raymond. As I urged the matter, he admitted that Raymond had seen the call and approved it; further that the President had read it, and I have no doubt that Seward had also seen it, although that was not distinctly stated. The call, if not the convention itself, is, I think, perverted to an intrigue in behalf of the old Whig Party, on which Weed and Seward rely.

I proposed that we should go and see Mr. McCulloch. It was raining intensely hard, but he at once accorded. He had been to Silver Spring and submitted the document to Mr. Blair and his son, who, he said, approved it.

Mr. McCulloch was not at home, and we parted, but the paper which D. presented, the convention, and the aspect of affairs gave me infinite concern. There is no doubt that Seward and Stanton have a personal understanding to act together. Stanton is in concert with the Radicals, and, at the same time, Seward is prompting Doolittle. The public is ripe for a convention, but this call is an artful contrivance to weaken it. The President is being subordinated by the intriguers, and the design is obviously to weaken the Administration and give the Radical Party the ascendant. Seward, beguiled by Stanton, expects to control the convention by the aid of Weed and Raymond. The fruition of seven months' intrigue means that and nothing else. They intend to rule the President, and I fear he will let them.

I stopped early this morning at Judge Blair's and inquired what he thought of the call. He said he had not been in any mood or mind to think of anything, having been without sleep the previous night, but it had appeared to him to have a too narrow basis. I then told him my view and the conversation Doolittle and myself had. Blair most earnestly agreed with me, said my views corresponded with his own, and promised to see the President if he could.

I called on McCulloch, who agreed to come to my house this evening and go with me to the President. When he called, I detailed the conversation with Doolittle, told him of my apprehensions, and dwelt emphatically on the subject of the Constitutional changes as the true basis of action, and our sounding the bugle-note of warning to arouse the people. My earnestness and the facts excited him, and we went to the President.

We spent an hour in a free and unrestricted conversation with the President. McCulloch, full of the views which I had urged, advised that the President should at once issue a proclamation after the manner of Jackson in regard to nullification, appealing to the people.

I inquired of the President if he had seen Doolittle since Sunday, and told him what I thought of the proposed form of call, and that the just alarm on the proposed change of the Constitution ought not on any account to be omitted. The people ought not to be deluded and cheated by trash. He concurred with me. I inquired if he had noticed that important omission in the proposed call. He did not answer direct, but said the call was too much in detail.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, pp. 529-31

Diary of Gideon Welles, Tuesday, June 19, 1866

After current business at the Cabinet was closed, I inquired of Seward if it was true that he had sent out a special official certificate of the Constitutional Amendment to Governor Hawley of Connecticut. I saw notice to this effect in the papers. Seward said yes, and his manner indicated that he wished I had not put to him the question.

Stanton at this moment, without any design perhaps, drew off the President's attention and they went to one of the windows, conversing audibly. In the mean time Seward and myself got into an animated conversation on the subject of these proposed changes, or, as they are called, amendments of the Constitution. I thought the President should pass upon them. At all events, that they should not have been sent out officially by the Secretary of State, obviously to be used for electioneering purposes, without the knowledge of the President. McCulloch agreed with me most decidedly. Seward said that had not always been the practice. Dennison made some undecisive remarks, evincing indifference. But all this time Stanton and the President were engaged on other matters, and as the President himself had proposed last evening to bring up this subject in Cabinet, I was surprised that he remained away during the conversation, the purport of which he must have known. I became painfully impressed with the apprehension that Seward had an influence which he should not have, and that under that influence the President did not care to be engaged in our conversation.

On leaving the council chamber I went into the Secretary's room adjoining. McCulloch was already there, and we had a free talk with Colonel Cooper, the Private Secretary of the President and his special confidant in relation to public matters, about the necessity there was for prompt and decisive action on the part of the President. Colonel C. fully agreed with us.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, pp. 531-2

Diary of Gideon Welles, Wednesday, June 20, 1866

Went with G. W. Blunt to see the President this morning. Blunt wants to be Naval Officer and has been a true and earnest friend of the Navy Department during the War and boldly met our opponents when friends were needed. Of course I feel a personal regard for him and have two or three times told the President that, personally, Blunt was my choice. If other than personal consideration governed I had nothing to say.

After Blunt left, the President and myself had a little conversation. I expressed my apprehension that there were some persons acting in bad faith with him. Some men of position were declaring that he and Congress were assimilating and especially on the Constitutional change. He interrupted me to repeat what he said to McCulloch and me,—that he was opposed to them and opposed to any change while any portion of the States were excluded. I assured him I well knew his views, but that others near and who professed to speak for him held out other opinions. I instanced the New York Times, the well-known organ of a particular set, which was constantly giving out that the President and Congress were almost agreed, and that the Republican Party must and would be united. The fact that every Republican Representative had voted for the changes, that the State Department had hastened off authenticated copies to the State Executives before submitting to him, the idea promulgated that special sessions of the legislatures in the States were to be called to immediately ratify the amendments, or innovations, showed concert and energy of action in a particular direction, but that it was not on the road which he was traveling.

He answered by referring to yesterday's conversation with Seward; said he had sent early yesterday morning to stop action at the State Department, but found the circulars had been sent off. He seemed not aware that there was design in this hasty, surreptitious movement.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, pp. 532-3

Last Will and Testament of John Wayles, April 15, 1760

In the Name of God, Amen. I, John Wayles of Charles City County, make this my last Will and Testament.

Imprimis, I give unto my dear wife Elizabeth all and singular the slaves with their offspring that were devised unto her by the last will and testament of Reuben Skelton, deceased, to her and her Heirs forever she paying all my just debts out of the same.

Item, I give unto my said wife the Land and Plantation whereon I now dwell and twenty slaves also the Stocks of Horses, Hogs &c the Eqipage, and Household Furniture to her, during her natural life, in lieu of her dower, and after her decese to my children as underneath Directed.

Whereas my Daughter is amply Provided for by a Settlement made by myself and her mother, and the Slaves contained in the Settlement have been devised to me by her mother, Now I hereby give and confirm unto my said Daughter Martha all and singular the slaves mentioned in the said settlement to her and her heirs forever, except Betty Hennings and Jenney the cook, which I desire may be part of Twenty-five slaves Devised as above to my Dear wife, to continue with her during her Natural life, and after her death to my said Daughter Martha.

Item, I give and bequeath unto my three Daughters Elizabeth, Tabitha and Anne all & singular my Lands Tenements & Hereditaments, and also all my slaves and all other my Estate both real and personal unto them and their Heirs forever, to be equally devided among them.

Item. It is my desire that, if my Daughter Martha thinks her portion not Equal to her Sisters, that her Portion may be thrown into Hotchpotch with her three sisters above and the same Equally Divided among them. And lastly I do hereby appoint and request it as a favour that Francis Eppes and my children as they respectively attain to Lawful age would be Executors to this my last will and Guardians to my Children under age; this I declare to be my last will wholly written with my own hand this 15th day of April, 1760.

J. Wayles. (Seal)

Published and Executors altered this 5th March, 1772. I appoint Thomas Jefferson, my son-in-law, likewise to be a joint Executor hereof.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Editor, Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Volume 6, pp. 268-9

Codicil of John Wayles, February 12, 1773

Feb. 12, 1773.

Whereas I, John Wayles of the County of Charles City and Parish of Westover, have before made my will, which by this codicil I would confirm and enlarge untill I have more leisure and better health to adjust so important a piece of business; Messieurs Farrell and Jones have on every occasion acted in a most generous manner to me I shall therefore make them every grateful return in my Power. I therefore direct that my estate be kept together, and the whole Tobacco made thereon be shiped unto the said Farrel and Jones, of Bristol, until his debt and interest shall be lawfully and completely paid and satisfied, unless my children should find it to their interest to pay and satisfie the same in a manner that may be agreeable to the said Farrel and Jones. I would have new quarters settled at Saml James's and in Bedford to increase the crops. I give to Robert Skipwith, Esqr., two hundred and fifty pounds, to be paid as soon as the same can be conveniently collected. I desire that my Executors may purchase for my three grand-children, viz: Richard Eppes, John Wayles Eppes and Patty Jefferson, each, a female slave between twelve & fifteen and they are to be adjudged in a Court as their property, the same to be purchased any time within five years after my death. And I now, as I have done heretofore, appoint my children my Executors as they respectively come of age.

J. Wayles (Seal)

This Codicil was published and declared in our presence.

Anderson Bryan

Henry Skipwith

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Editor, Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Volume 6, pp. 269-70

Last Will and Testament of Peter Jefferson, October 13, 1757

In the Name of God Amen I Peter Jefferson of the County of Abemarle being of perfect and sound memory (for which I bless God) Do make and Publish this my Last Will and Testament revoking & annulling all former or other Wills by me heretofore made in manner & form following that is to say Imprima I Give and devise to my Dear & Well beloved Wife Jane Jefferson for and During her Natural Life or Widdowhood the use and profits of the House & plantation wherein I now live comprehending four hundred acres of Land being the same I purchased from the Late William Randolph of Tuckahoe Esq^r the Water mill only Excepted Item I Give and bequeath unto my Dear Wife the sixth part of my Slaves During her Natural Life which slaves I hereby impower her by a Deed Executed in her Lifetime or by her Last Will and Testament to dispose of amongst & to such & so many of my Children as she shall think fit but if she shall fail or omitt to make such Disposition then my Will is that such as shall be undisposed of by her be Equally Divided between my two sons Thomas & Randolph in the same manner as I have Directed my other slaves to be Divided Item my Will is that my Wife shall have & Enjoy all my Hous hold stuff (my Cherry Tree Desk and Bookcase only Excepted) dureing her Natural Life or Widowhood with full power and liberty to Disposing of¹ the same amongst my Children according to her discretion & if any part thereof shall remain undisposed of at the time of her Death or Marriage then my Will is that the same be Disposed of by my Exec^rs as to them shall seem most to the Interest & Benefit of my Children Item I Give and bequeath to my Daughter Jane one of my two Negro Girls Chloe or Patt, which she shall Chuse and her futur Increase to her and her Heirs forever and the sum of two hundred pounds to be paid unto her in one year after she shall Attain the age of twenty one years or shall marry which ever shall first Happen Item I Give and bequeath to my Daughter Mary my Negro Girl nan salls Daughter & her future Increase to her and her Heirs forever & the sum of two hundred pounds to be paid unto her in the like manner as is appointed for the Payment of her sister Janes Fortune Item I give & bequeath unto my Daughter Elizabeth my Negro Girl Cate & her futer Increas to her and her Heirs forever & the sum of two hundred Pounds to be paid in Like manner as is appointed for the Payment of her sister Janes Fortune Item I Give & bequeath unto my Daughter Martha my mulattoe Girl named Rachel & her future Increase to her & her Heirs forever & the sum of Two hundred Pounds to be paid unto her in the like manner as is appointed for the Payment of her sister Janes Fortune Item I Give & bequeath unto my Daughter Lucy my Negro Wench Cutchina & her Child Phebe together with their Future Increase to her and her Heirs forever and the sum of two hundred Pounds to be paid unto her in the like manner as is appointed for the Payment of her sister Janes Fortune Item I Give and bequeath unto my Daughter Anne Scoot my Negro Girl Eve and her future increase to her and her Heirs forever and the sum of two hundred Pounds to be paid in as is appointed for the payment of her other sisters Fortunes that is to say in one year after she shall attain the age of twenty one years or shall Marry whichsoever shall first happen: and if it shall happen that any of the slaves bequeathed to my Daughters as afores^d die before they come to the Possession of my said Daughters respectively then it is my Will that such & so many Female slaves of near the same age be set apart out of my Estate & Given to such Daughter or Daughters whose slaves shall be so Dead in the list thereof and if any of my said daughters die before they attain the age of twenty one years or marry then it is my Will that the Portion or Legacys bequeathed to such Daughter Immerge into my Estate & that no Distribution thereof be made: and it is my Will & Desire that what ready money I may have & Debts owing to me at the time of my Death together with the clear Profits of my Estate (after the maintainance of my Family & Education of my Children is provided for) shall be appropriated to the Paying off my Daughters Portions at the respective times they become due & if these should prove insufficient for that purpose I then & in that case Empower & authorise my Exec^rs to sell & Convey my Lands in the Countys of Cumberland & Bedford in such manner & in such proportions as shall make Good the Deficiency the Lands in Cumberland being to be first sold Item I Give & Bequeath to my son Thomas my mulattoe Fellow sawney my Books mathematical Instruments & my Cherry Tree Desk and Book case Item I Give unto my son Randolph [. . .] My Negro Boy Peter Mytillas Son to him and his Heirs forever Item I give and bequeath all my Slaves not herein otherwise disposed of to be equally divided between my two Sons Thomas and Randolph, at such Time as my son Thomas shall attain the Age of twenty one years each of my said Sons to have and to hold the Slaves allotted to them on such Division to them and their Heirs forever, but Subject nevertheless to this Condition, that the Estate bequeathed to my son Thomas, as to the clear Profits thereof, be and remain equally liable with my other Estates to provide for the Maintenance and Support of my Family, the Education of my younger Children, and the Payment of my Daughters Portions. Item I give and devise unto my Son Thomas either my Lands on the Rivanna River and it’s Branches, or my Lands on the Fluvanna in Albemarle County which I purchased from John & Noble Ladds, together with all my other Lands adjacent thereto which I have taken up by Virtue of an Order of Council which of the two he shall choose he being to make his Election within one year after he shall attain to the age of Twenty one years if he be at that time in this colony but if he be out of the same then he shall make his Election in six months after his Return therto Item I Give and devise to my son Randolph & his Heirs forever either my Land on the Rivanna and its branches or my Land on the Fluvannah in Albemarle County which I purchased of John & Noble Ladds together my other Lands thereto adjacent which I have taken up & surveyed by Virtue of an order of Council after my son thomas has made his Election & Choice which of the two he will take Item I Give & Devise unto which soever of my said sons shall be possest of my Lands on the Fluvanna River to them and their Heirs forever the Land I hold on Hard ware River in partnership with Authur Hopkins and others called the Limestone Land and wheareas I have Bought of one Joseph Smith two hundred acres of Land Joyning to my Lands on the Rivanna River being part of a Tract of Land Granted to Edwin Hickman by Pattent & others for which I have no Deed my Desire is that my Exec^rs procure from the said Joseph Smith a Conveyance to them in Trust for the use of such one of my sons Thomas or Randolph as shall Take my other Lands on the Rivanna River & its branches which is left to the Election of my said son Thomas in the Devise of the said Lands Item whereas I have a right to and Interest in Certain Lands, on the branches of missisippi River in Partnership with Doctor Thomas Walker & others & to two hundred acres on Rocky Run in albemarle County in parthership with John Harvie & others whereon it is immagined to be a Vein of Copper Oar my Desire is that my Exec^rs sell & Convey or Otherwise dispose of the same in such manner as shall to them seem to be the most for the benefit of my Famely & any money that may arise from the sale or Profits thereof to be equally Divided amongst my Children Item whereof I have surveyed and laid of for James Spears one hundred acres of Land on Carrols Creek adjoining the Land he lives upon which is not yet Conveyed to him I therefore Impower my Exec^rs to Convey it to him in Fee simple whenever he shall require the same

Item it is my Will and desire that all my Family live & be maintained & my Children Educated out of the Profits of my Estate until such time as they shall severly Attain to the age of Twenty one years or marry and at what time soever my Wife shall require a Division of my Estate & to have her part ascertained & laid out for her (which on her Request my Exec^rs are hereby Authorised to do without any Judgment or Decree of the Court for that Purpose) I Order & appoint that my Exec^rs shall pay and deliver unto her for her only use and behoof one full & Equal third part of all my real Cattle Hoggs & sheep that shall be at any or all my plantations together with two Good serviceable Work Horses and further it is my Will & I Do hereby Appoint & direct that if any Diffirence or dispute shall hereafter arise amongst my Children about the distribution of my Estate that the same shall be finally determined by my Exec^rs or such of them as shall remain & be alive at the time & if they should all be dead that then such Difference or Dispute shall be finally Determined by the three first Justices in the Commission of the peace for that County where the matter or thing shall Lye, and if any of my Children shall refuse to abide by such Determination then it is my Will that such Child or Children shall foever forfit all manner of Claim and right either in Law or Equity to the thing in Dispute

Item I Give & bequeath to my Executors herein after mentioned all my stocks of Horses Cattle Hoggs & sheep (excepting the part already bequeathed to my Wife) to be disposed of by their discretion for the support & Maintainance of my Famely & for the benifit of my two sons equally & for no other use or purpose whatsoever

Item I do Give & bequeath unto my son Thomas all the residue of my Estate whether real or Personal of what kind soever and finally I do appoint Constitu[t]e & Ordain The Honorable Peter Randolph Esq^r Thomas Turpin the Elder John Nicholas Doctor Thomas Walker & John Harvie Exec^rs of this my last will & Testament & Guardian to all my children In Testimony whereof I have signed sealed & Published this as my Last Will and Testament on the thirteenth Day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty seven

Note the Words (& Guardians to all my Children) were Interlined before signed In Presence of

John Bell	Peter Jefferson (Ls)
Edwin Hickman
Samuel Cobbs

At a Court Held for Albemarle County the thirteenth Day of October 1757 This Last Will and Testament of Peter Jefferson Gent. decd was presented to Court by one of the Exors therein named proved by the Oaths of John Bell Edwin Hickman & Samuel Cobbs the Witnesses thereto & Ordered to be record and At another, Court Held for the said County the tenth Day of November 1757 On the Motion of John Harvie Thomas Walker & John Nicholas three of the Exors therein named who made Oath According to Law Certificate was Granted them for Obtaining a Probat thereof in due Form giveing securety

SOURCE: https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/1797 accessed August 28, 2025 which sites its source as MS (Albemarle Co. Will Book, 2:32-4).

Diary of Edward Bates, April 27, 1859

Dined with F. P. Blair Jr²⁵ — the first [t]ime I was ever in his house — invited specially with Judge Jno. C. Richardson²⁶ and C Gibson,²⁷ to meet Mr. Schuyler Colfax²⁸ M.[ember of] C.[ongress] of Indiana.

The object of Messrs. Blair and Colfax, no doubt, was to have a confidential conference with me and a few of my known friends, so as to approximate the terms upon which the Republican party might adopt me as its candidate for the Presidency, and I and my friends might co-act with them, in federal politics, upon honorable relations.

Both those gentlemen are influential leaders of their party, and both declare that I am their first choice. They both say that Mr. Seward²⁹ cannot get the nomination of his party, perhaps not because he is not the acknowledged head of the party and entitled to the lead, but because the party is not quite strong enough to triumph alone; and his nomination therefore would ensure defeat.³⁰ Mr. Colfax is very anxious to consolidate the whole N.[orth] W.[est] so as to ensure what he considers the main point for which, as he understands it, his party contends — i. e. — that the U. S. shall not extend slavery into any country where they do not find it already established.

< To that I have no objection >

Mr. C.[olfax] is also a very warm friend of Mr. Blair, and is anxious to consolidate in Missouri, so as to put Mr. B.[lair] on a good footing with a majority in the State.

And, working for that end, Mr. Blair is eager to form a combination within the State, upon the precise question of slavery or no slavery in Missouri. This, undoubtedly, would be good policy for Mr. Blair personally, because it would strengthen the local free soil party (of which he is the acknowledged local head) with all the forces that I and my friends could influence. But I doubt whether it would be good policy for us to be come parties to such an organization. Such a course supposes affirmative action, i. e. the passage of a law for the prospective abolition of slavery; and it can hardly be necessary to incur the labor and encounter the prejudice incident to that course now, when it is plain to be seen that, by the irresistable [sic] force of circumstances, without any statute to help on the work, slavery will soon cease to exist in Missouri, for all practical and important purposes. This latter view, I think ought to be constantly inculcated, and kept before the public mind, by the press — It ought to be habitually mixed up (as it properly belongs to the subjects) with all our views and arguments on public economy — [,] Manufactures, mining, Commerce, handicraft-arts, and grain and cattle farming. This line of policy would aid and accelerate the drain of slaves from the State, which is, even now, rapidly going on, to supply the growing demand in the South.

Mr. Colfax, concurring with a good many Republican papers, is much put out by the first paragraph of my N.[ew] Y.[ork] letter,³¹ denouncing the agitation of the negro question. He seemed to think that it was a denunciation of the Rep[ublica]n. party, and would turn many against me.

I think otherwise; and that its effects will be good. It is chiefly the friends of Mr. Seward who make the objection, and they of course, would be astute in finding or making any plausible objection, to get a rival out of the way. If my letter had been universally acceptable to the Republicans, that fact alone might have destroyed my prospects in two frontier slave states, Md. and Mo., and so I would have no streng[t]h at all but the Republican party. As it is, all sensible Republicans know that it is the Southern democracy which was and is the first and chief and constant agitators [sic] of the question. And even now, such men as Blair and Colfax are fully satisfied of my true position, and the true meaning of the paragraph. And such papers as the Tribune³² of N. Y. and the Advertiser³³ of Boston, tho' they might wish it otherwise, are content with it as it is. While the Baltimore papers (Clipper³⁴ and Patriot) warmly accept it. Being true, I of course stand by it, as I must stand by all truth — Moreover, in cool policy, I am satisfied that it is best as it is.

_______________

²⁵ Francis P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri: an ardent Freesoiler, congressman, 1857-1859 and 1861-1862; major-general in the Civil War; U. S. senator, 1871-1873; supporter of Bates for the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1860; advocate of Johnsonian moderation in Reconstruction.

²⁶ A close personal friend of Bates; judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri; opponent in 1860 of the sectionalism of both Lincoln and Breckinridge and advocate of Bell and Everett.

²⁷ Charles Gibson: a Virginia-born Whig leader of Missouri who had studied law under Bates; an ardent unionist in 1861; solicitor of the U. S. Court of Claims, 1861-1864; a loyal Lincoln man until 1864 when he broke with the President, resigned in a public letter of protest, and supported McClellan; later a Johnson Democrat. At this time he was Bates's political manager.

²⁸ Republican member of the House of Representatives from Indiana, 1855—1869; speaker of the House, 1863-1869; a Radical in Reconstruction politics; vice-president, 1869-1873. At this time he was apparently working for Bates's nomination for the Presidency.

²⁹ Infra, March 5, 1861, note 26.

³⁰ Conservatives who feared extremism on slavery would not have voted for Seward, and he had won the implacable hatred of the large Know-Nothing group, and of Greeley and the Tribune. See infra, Aug. 19, 1859.

³¹ See supra, 1-9.

³² New York Tribune, April 16, 1859.

³³ Boston Daily Advertiser, April 18, 1859.

³⁴ Baltimore Clipper, April 19, 1859.

SOURCE: Howard K. Beale, Editor, Annual Report of The American Historical Association For The Year 1930, Vol. 4, The Diary Of Edward Bates, pp. 11-12

Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, Saturday, March 1, 1862

This has been another fine dry and bright day. The roads are geting quite good. The dust is thick on Pa. Av^e today. There has probably been no fighting over the River as yet but the next week is expected to be an important time in the history of the War. M^cClellan has got a “good ready” and is now about to act. Nothing is now allowed to be published in reference to the troops or the War, consequently the papers are quite uninteresting. I have been in the office today as usual, have been at home all the evening, reading &c.

SOURCE: Horatio Nelson Taft, The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865. Volume 1, January 1,1861-April 11, 1862, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington D. C.

Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, Sunday, March 2, 1862

Pleasant morning but the ground is covered with snow tonight. Snowed very hard the middle of the day. It has thawed all the time. Went to church with family. Chaplin Marks of the Pa. 42^nd Reg^t held forth, quite an interesting man. The military on both sides of the River are under marching orders and all ready to move. Doct Barnes of the 27^th came over yesterday & brought his wife. The 27^th is all packed up and ready, stirring times looked for now. The Sick in the camps have been placed in Hospitals. Artillery has been moveing for two or three days past. There is an abundance of it on the Potomac. M^cClellan depends much upon that arm. There is much excitement in the City and much satisfaction expressed now that the immense army here is to move at last. The force must be crushing to “Secesh.” There cannot be less than 250 thousand men on & near the Potomac in the Union Armies under Genl M^cClellan.

SOURCE: Horatio Nelson Taft, The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865. Volume 1, January 1,1861-April 11, 1862, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington D. C.

Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, Monday, March 3, 1862

It has rained all day. Snow all gone and mud again much to the disappointment of all. We heard this morning of the death of the gallant Genl Lander. He was one of the bravest of the Brave and we could have spared almost any of our Brigadiers better than him. He died of wounds rc^d at the fight at “Edwards Ferry,” up the river, last fall. The Evacuation of Collumbus K.Y. is officialy anounced. It was the last rebel Strong Hold in K.Y. The papers say nothing about army movements, they are not allowed to. I have been at home all the evening and the boys have staid in the house all day studying their lessons some and amusing themselves drawing &c. “Bud” shows quite a talent for drawing & painting in water colors, but his practice is confined to Houses, Steamboats, Soldiers &c.

SOURCE: Horatio Nelson Taft, The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865. Volume 1, January 1,1861-April 11, 1862, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington D. C.