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Preferred citation: [Identification of item], Michael Reid Hanger Diary, WLU Coll. 0173, Special Collections, Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.
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Gift of Col. Robert Driver, 1994.
Original owned by Ray and Cindy Ledgerwood of Pullman, Wash. Copy sent to Harold Howard of Lynchburg, who passed the copy along to Col. Robert Driver.
Michael Reid Hanger was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1840. He enlisted in the Rockbridge Rifles, C.S.A in 1861 and deserted to Union forces in 1864.
This typescript of a diary by Private Michael Reid Hanger of the Rockbridge Rifles, which was part of the 4th, 5th, and 27th Virginia Infantry regiments at different times during the American Civil War, includes descriptions of military action within the Shenandoah Valley and Fairfax County, as well as the First Battle of Bull Run. Stonewall Jackson, Rockbridge County citizen and soldier James K. Edmondson, and several Washington College alumni are mentioned. Text of the diary is supplemented by extensive annotated footnotes by Robert Driver.