Charles Minor Blackford (October 17, 1833 – March 10, 1903) was a Virginia lawyer and an author of

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

stories. His wartime correspondence with his wife, since published, remains a valuable resource for facts about life in the Confederate Army. Blackford's war experiences ranged from Manassas to Gettysburg to Appomattox.

Biography

"Blackford enlisted in the

2nd Virginia Cavalry The 2nd Virginia Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. The unit was organized by Colonel Jubal E ...

at the outset of the war and in 1863 was posted to Longstreet's Corps. Most of his service was in northern Virginia around the Rappahannock and the Rapidan Rivers, in the Shenandoah Valley, and with Lee's army at Gettysburg. In 1864 Blackford went west with Longstreet's army to Chattanooga, and he returned with Longstreet for the war's final days." After the War, Blackford practiced law, and served as president of the People's National Bank of Lynchburg. Blackford was a charter member of The

Virginia Bar Association The Virginia Bar Association (VBA) is a voluntary organization of lawyers, judges and law school faculty and students in Virginia, with offices in Richmond, Virginia. Key elements are advocacy, professionalism, service and collegiality. It provi ...

, and served as its president for 1894–1895. Blackford was a director and counsel for the Virginia Midland Railroad, which became part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In 1881, Blackford wrote a legal history of the Virginia Midland Railroad. In 1894, Blackford and his wife Susan Leigh Blackford of Lynchburg, Virginia privately published their ''Memoirs of Life in and Out of the Army in Virginia During the War Between the States''. A seller of reprints of these volumes boasts that "Douglas Southall Freeman called Blackford's account of Appomattox one of the most important in existence." Beginning in 1947, another, much-abridged version of Blackford's letters was sold publicly, under the name of ''Letters from Lee's Army'', about which the reviewer in

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

wrote: "20th Century readers will be grateful for the sharp little anecdotes and graphic glimpses on almost every page." A new edition of this book became available in 1998.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackford, Charles 1833 births 1903 deaths American bank presidents Virginia lawyers Writers from Lynchburg, Virginia Confederate States Army officers 19th-century American businesspeople