Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

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 William Beverley Pettit Papers, #2866-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of Originals

Originals returned to private owner in 1952.

Additional Descriptive Resources

Original detailed finding aid to microfilmed materials in folder 1.

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.

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.

• Columbia (Va.)--Social conditions--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
• Confederate States of America. Army. Fluvanna Light Artillery.
• Families--Virginia--Social life and customs.
• Fluvanna County (Va.)--History.
• Pettit, Arabella Speairs.
• Pettit, William Beverley, b. 1825.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Women--Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
• Women--Virginia--Social conditions.

William Beverley Pettit (1825-1905) was a lawyer of Fluvanna County, Va. In 1851, he married Arabella (Bella) E. Speairs of Columbia, Va., with whom he had six children. During the Civil War, he served in the Fluvanna Light Artillery, enlisting as a private and later becoming a lieutenant.

The collection is chiefly Civil War letters, exchanged by William Beverley Pettit, serving in Virginia, with his wife, Arabella Speairs Pettit, who was at her father's house in Columbia, Va. Letters concern their feelings for one another; activities in and near Columbia, Va.; camp life; battles and other military activities; and other matters. Papers before 1862 are chiefly to Arabella Speairs Pettit from relatives and friends. Post-war items include information about Confederate veterans' activities and letters from the Pettits' son Pembroke, a student in Ashland, Va. All original materials are on microfilm; there is also one transcribed letter.