Augusta County: Henry A. Wise to Alexander H. H. Stuart, February 3, 1869

%ISOpub; ]> Augusta County: Henry A. Wise to Alexander H. H. Stuart, February 3, 1869 [electronic resource] augusta county henry a wise to alexander h h stuart, february 3 1869 Wise, Henry A. Creation of machine-readable version: Philip Herrington Conversion to TEI.2-conformant markup: Philip Herrington ca. 6kilobytes Virginia Center for Digital History Charlottesville, Virginia A9710

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2002 uva-lib:502821

The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War

University of Virginia Library, Valley of the Shadow collection UVA-LIB-ValleyOfTheShadow Augusta County: Henry A. Wise to Alexander H. H. Stuart, February 3, 1869 <title type="sort">augusta county henry a wise to alexander h h stuart, february 3 1869 Henry A. Wise

2 pages Source copy consulted: Alexander H. H. Stuart Papers, Manuscript Collection 228-a, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library

Used with permission from Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia

1869-02-03 English Race Relations, State Government American Civil War January - July 2008 Scholarly Resources migration staff, University of Virginia Library Markup conversion Converted markup (originally TEI Lite) to comply with the UVa Library TEI DTD (uva-dl-tei).

Henry A. Wise, former Governor of Virginia (1856-1860) and Confederate brigadier general, writes to Alexander H. H. Stuart, requesting that Stuart confirm the report of a speech recently given by Stuart in Staunton (see the Valley Virginian, January 28, 1869). Stuart supported the "New Movement" seeking to accept black suffrage in order to restore peace in Virginia. His comments appeared to be critical of Governor Wise. For more information, see Stuart's response (February 5, 1869) and Wise's reply (February 8, 1869).

Feby 3rd 1869 Richmond Va Dear Sir

The Richmond Enquirer of yesterday called my attention to a report, in the Valley Virginian, of the 28th ult., of your address, on Monday the 25th ult., to the Citizens of Augusta County, at Staunton, "on the New Movement."

The Editor expressly states he had obtained no notes from you, "to aid him in making a fair report of the substance of your speech, and that he had ascertained that you had spoken entirely "extemporaneously." He, therefore, was "compelled to rely on memory and very imperfect memoranda, in reproducing the substance of your remarks."

Thus, not pretending to give your words or phrases, he publishes as a part of the substance of your remarks, on the occasion named, the following passage: -

"Mr Stuart referred to the opposition which had been made to the mission and action of the "Nine," and to the unjust reflections which had been made on their proceedings. He adverted to the opposite sources from which criticism came. Governors Wells and Wise were pulling together in the same team, and the Richmond Enquirer and the Radical Journal were in full accord in opposing the "Movement," and George Pye, Yankee Allen and Dr. Bayne found coadjutors in Augusta! It was an alliance of the Carpet-baggers and the fire-eaters from which no good could come! Gov. Wise had written five letters he understood in opposition, but he thought the history of the last eight years proved that Gov. Wise was not a safe counselor."

The allusions, personal to me, contained in this report, published in a paper friendly to you in the town of your residence, authorize me to ask you whether it is in substance correct? or, whether it is approved and sanctioned by you?

I have the honor to be - Yours respectfully Henry A. Wise Hon. Alexr. H. H. Stuart Staunton Va.