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Collection Number: 03931

Collection Title: George Loyall Gordon Papers, 1852-1900.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the FAQ section for more information.

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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Size 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 160 items)
Abstract George Loyall Gordon (1829-1862) was a lawyer and planter of Alexandria, Va., and Louisa County, Va., who served with the Confederate Army, 15th North Carolina Regiment. The collection includes family correspondence of Gordon and correspondence, 1874-1900, and a commonplace book, 1888-1889, of his daughter, Mary Long Gordon (1861-1895). About one-third of the collection consists of letters from Gordon, 1861-1862, to his wife, Mary Long Daniel Gordon, and to his mother, Elizabeth Gordon, written while he was serving with the 15th North Carolina Regiment on the Virginia Peninsula prior to his death at Malvern Hill. These letters discuss Gordon's thoughts and feelings about the war, his daily activities, and his concern for his relatives at home. Postwar items, 1874-1900, are primarily personal correspondence of Gordon's daughter, Mary Long Gordon, of Loudoun County, Va., and Raleigh, N.C., with relatives in Charlottesville, Va., and others, chiefly concerning family and social affairs, including life in Raleigh, N.C., 1890-1900.
Creator Gordon, George Loyall, 1829-1862.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
No usage restrictions.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the George Loyall Gordon Papers, #3931, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mrs. Edward S. Orgain of Durham, N.C., June 1969.
Additional Descriptive Resources
A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

George Loyall Gordon (1829-1862) was a lawyer and planter of Alexandria and Louisa County, Va. He was married to Mary Long Daniel, daughter of Judge Joseph J. Daniel, in 1854 and they had five children. In June 1861, Gordon entered the Confederate Army in North Carolina and served with the 15th North Carolina Regiment until he was killed at Malvern Hill, Va., in July 1862.

One of George Loyall Gordon's children was Mary Long Gordon (1861-1895). She became the second wife of Dr. Richard H. Lewis (1850-1926) in 1890, and was the mother of one child, Nell Battle Lewis. Mary Long Gordon's siblings were Armistead Churchill Gordon of Staunton, Va., and James Lindsay Gordon of Charlottesville, Va., and New York, and two sisters who died young.

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The collection includes family correspondence of George Loyall Gordon and correspondence, 1874-1900, and a commonplace book, 1888-1889, of his daughter, Mary Long Gordon Lewis. About one-third of the collection consists of letters from George Loyall Gordon, 1861-1862, to his wife, Mary Long Daniel Gordon, and to his mother, Elizabeth Gordon, written while he was serving with the 15th North Carolina Regiment on the Virginia Peninsula. These letters discuss Gordon's thoughts and feelings about the war, his daily activities, and his concern for his relatives at home. Postwar items, 1874-1900, are primarily personal correspondence of Gordon's daughter, Mary Long Gordon Lewis, of Loudoun County, Va., and Raleigh, N.C., with relatives in Charlottesville, Va., and others, chiefly concerning family and social affairs, including life in Raleigh, N.C., 1890-1900.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse George Loyall Gordon Papers, 1852-1900 and undated.

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Processing Information

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, December 2009

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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