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No restrictions. Open for research.

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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 Toomer Family Papers #5501-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Edward O. Pierce of Chapel Hill, N.C., in June 2011 (Acc. 101462).

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.

• Antietam, Battle of, Md., 1862.
• Bull Run, 2nd Battle of, Va., 1862.
• Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
• Confederate States of America. Army. Georgia Infantry Regiment, 3rd.
• Courtship--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Fair Oaks, Battle of, Va., 1862.
• Families--Virginia--Social life and customs.
• Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863.
• Malvern Hill, Battle of, Va., 1862.
• Portsmouth (Va.)--History.
• Portsmouth (Va.)--Social life and customs.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
• Tenny, Samuel Fisher, 1840-1926.
• Toomer family.
• Toomer, Alice Virginia, b. 1841.
• Toomer, Fanny Wortley, 1845-1868.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Women--Confederate States of America--Social life and customs.

The Toomer family of Portsmouth, Va., included Alice Virginia Toomer (b. 1841) and Fanny Wortley Toomer (1845-1868), daughters of James Gaskins Toomer (1801-1849) and Fanny Hodges Toomer (1808-1870). Samuel Fisher Tenney (1840-1926) was a soldier in Company K of the Third Georgia Infantry Regiment (known as Wright's Brigade or Athens' Guard). Tenney met Alice in Portsmouth in mid-1861, shortly after the Third Georgia Infantry Regiment was quartered at Portsmouth Navy Yard.

The collection consists of letters received by Alice Virginia Toomer and Fanny Wortley Toomer.

The collection consists of letters received by Alice Virginia Toomer and Fanny Wortley Toomer. Letters received by Alice Virginia Toomer include a series of Civil War-era courtship letters from Samuel Fisher Tenney during and immediately following his wartime service. Tenney's letters often comment on battles in which he participated, including Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run (Manassas), Sharpsburg (Antietam), and Gettysburg (where he was wounded). There are also several letters to Alice Virginia Toomer from unidentified correspondents. Letters received by Fanny Wortley Toomer are chiefly from "Angie" and "Annie" of Baltimore, Md., who appear to be Toomer's cousins. Letters focus primarily on family news and daily musings and were sent to Fanny Wortley Toomer when she was a college student in Alabama and when she resided in Portsmouth, Va.

Also included is a photocopy of a 1973 article by E.B. Duffee Jr. published in the Georgia Historical Quarterly concerning the correspondence of Samuel Fisher Tenney and Alice Virginia Toomer. The article provides additional contextual information and transcriptions of many of the letters in this collection.