Hanover Junction Hospital Invoices and Guilford County Court Docket Book 1862-1864

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This bound volume served two purposes, first as a hospital invoice book maintained by Samuel H. Moffett, a Confederate surgeon at Hanover Junction, Virginia, 1862-1864, and as a record of court fees paid ("Settlement Docket IV") in Guilford County, North Carolina from 1866 to 1868.

Surgeon Moffett utilized the first part of the volume to record invoices of supplies and property, clothing, money and personal effects of deceased patients, and for quarterly returns of hospitals for which he was responsible from June 20, 1862 to October 19, 1864. The patients were members of North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, and Florida Confederate regiments; a separate list of their names, ranks, and unit designations has been appended to this guide.

The bulk of Moffett's entries pertain to the Hanover Junction Hospital and the Gordonsville Quarantine Hospital but there are occasional accounts for hospitals at Orange Court House, Louisa Court House, Winchester, Charlottesville, Petersburg, and Richmond. Surgeons W. A. Carswell (Hanover), Z. B. Herndon (Gordonsville, Richmond), Joseph E. Claggett (Winchester), James L. Cabell (Charlottesville) and J. W. Sears(?) are cited. Quartermasters and assistant quartermasters of whom Moffett submitted or received reports and supplies were Captains T. Hunter and G. G. Osgoin(?), and Majors W. B. Richards, Jr. and William G. Ber[?] ; among the medical purveyors were Z. B. Herndon, A. G. Fry, W. John, W. H. Geddings, and J. W. Hines.

According to the Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume XV, 1887, Moffett and Claggett were paroled with the Amy of Northern Virginia at Appomattox on April 9, 1865 (page 2). For further information on these and other Confederate surgeons and hospitals in Virginia consult Wyndham B. Blanton's Medicine In Virginia In the Nineteenth Century, 1933; a copy of this study is available in Alderman Library.

The Guilford County Court docket book entries (pages 1 to 66) comprise most the latter part of the volume. These were maintained by county court clerks and provide a register of transactions for court terms of November, 1866 and from February, 1867 to May, 1868. The names of litigants and their payment of miscellaneous fees for marriage licenses, tax stamps, administration of estates, and other legal documents are represented; "Office" [clerks's office], "State," and "County Court" infrequently appear as litigants. Several 1867-1868 bastardy suits are indicated beginning on page 17 as well as the amount of payments received and distributed to mothers on behalf of their children.

Abram Clapp and Lyndon Swain are listed as county clerks, and R. M. Stafford as sheriff. The signatures of numerous Guilford County residents [some of whom have been identified in the published index to the 1850 North Carolina census] are also present. Of passing interest is an August 8, 1867 entry for a black man named William(?) Jones [listed as a freedman] who apparently filed suit against the Natural Express & Transportation Company. Business organizations such as Gilmer and Gilmer (a law firm?) and the Guilford Copper & Mining Company are frequently mentioned; others include Kirtland & Bronson, Berrett & Higgins, the Gardner Hill Mining Company, North Carolina Petroleum and Mining Company, and the Piedmont Railroad.

Acquisition information:
This volume was purchased from James L. Hook of Bala-Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, on July 8, 1941 for the Tracy W. McGregor Library.
Physical description:
This collection consists of 1 v.