Charles Minor Blackford,Susan Leigh Blackford,Gordon C. Rhea
Charles Minor Blackford was a Virginia aristocrat who fought for the Confederacy asÂ much out of obligation to his class and region as for political reasons. ,Letters from Leeâ€™s Army, presents the correspondence between Captain Blackford and his wife, Susan Leigh Blackford, during the war. While Captain Blackford writes of the rigors of campaigningâ€”the dramatically bad food, the constant dysentery, the cold and wetâ€”we see the stoic Susan Blackford gradually relying less and less on her husband to make decisions. During the course of the war Susan Blackford lost her home, three children, and her belongings to the struggle, all without the camaraderie and sustaining sense of purpose known to the soldier. These letters emphasize the stresses that war and separation can place on a marriage.Blackford enlisted in the Second Virginia Cavalry at the outset of the war and in 1863 was posted to Longstreetâ€™s Corps. Most of his service was in northern Virginia around the Rappahannock and the Rapidan Rivers, in the Shenandoah Valley, and with Leeâ€™s army at Gettysburg. In 1864 Blackford went west with Longstreetâ€™s army to Chattanooga, and he returned with Longstreet for the warâ€™s final days.
War
Letters from Lee's Army