The following letter was written by Richard Coke Marshall (1844-1914), the son of Fielding Lewis Marshall (1819-1902) and Rebecca Frances Coke (1824-1862) of Oak Hill, Fauquier county, Virginia. He was but sixteen years of age at the outbreak of the civil war, and entered the Confederate service as a member of Co. H, 6th Virginia Cavalry when he turned 18. At the battle of Trevillian’s Station between the forces of General Phil H. Sheridan and General Wade Hampton, June 11, 1864, he was shot through the lung, which so disabled him that he was unable to again enter service until near the close of the struggle. In 1865 he became aide-de-camp on the staff of General Thomas L. Rosser, and was at Appomattox Court House, but did not surrender with General Lee and his army for the reason that Rosser’s command was then surrounded and cut off from Lee’s forces. 

After the Civil War, Richard attended the Virginia Military Institute and became a prominent civil engineer and politician.

[Note: This letter comes from the private collection of Greg Herr and was made available for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Camp near Culpeper Court House
August 9th 1863

My dear Sister,

I received Peggie’s letter of the 20th inst. day before yesterday which I was very glad to get and you do not know how much pleasure it would give me to hear from you every week. I have written four or five times to you & have only received three letters, all of which were from Peggie. All of those were two or three weeks old.

We had a fight near Brandy [Station] about a week ago but neither Uncle William nor myself was hurt. We are now so close to the Yankees that we can hear their drums and bugles as distinctly as our own. Our brigade is in the advance and our pickets are about one hundred and fifty yards from the Yanks. They have also a very heavy infantry force on this side of the Rappahannock so before this will have reached you, we will, I expect, be driven back to the Rapidan. But as Uncle William says, we will fight & cry a little before they do. The Yanks are behaving most outrageously in Loudoun and Fauquier [counties]. As a general thing, they have taken away everything—even the clothing—and some people are forced to draw rations from the Yankee commissary. Charles, up to the latest accounts, had managed to save Zetta although they had taken several of his horses.

We have had the warmest weather I ever felt for the last week & rain almost every evening so I get pretty well washed off everyday. You know “variety is the spice of life.” I have not seen cousin Marshall for some time as his battery is the other side of the Rapidan. I have the greatest difficulty in getting my clothes washed. This country is so deserted that you can get nothing done. You ought to see me washing. I think as a general thing that I ground the dirt in my clothes instesad of getting them clean.

The cavalry has had very hard service ever since I joined it. To give you an idea of what we have to do, we were in Maryland about thirteen days and had nine fights, which I think was rather too much of a good thing.

Give my love to Aunt & L Ann, the children, and all at Mr. Harrison’s. Write every week to your affectionate brother, — R. C. Marshall

My dear Father,

This is the fourth time that I have written to you and [ ] letter. If you knew how much pleasure it gives me to hear from you, you would write oftener. I am ay the present not very well but expect to be so in a day or two. I am now much better than I have been. This hot sun and Culpeper water does not agree with me but I have stood it much better than I expected.

The Yankees have built the bridge across the Rappahannock and their cars running every day. Meade’s Headquarters are in Warrenton and he has a very heavy force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery on this side of the river. They drove on our pickets in the dirctio of Beverly’s Ford yesterday evening but did nothing more. My boots are worn out and I wish you would send me a pair by the first opportunity. I will send you the money for them.

Our mess is entirely without a servant. Please send for William at once and send him to me. We have to do our own cooking, washing. Uncle William wants to hire a servant very much and will be very glad to take him with me. I cannot leave to go for him.