Ledger of J.T.W. Hairston, Commander of the first Confederate POW Prison established at Ligon's (or Liggon's) Tobacco Warehouse in Richmond, Virginia (September, 1861 to March, 1862)

Hardcover

1861 · (Richmond, Virginia

by HAIRSTON, James Thomas Watt

(Richmond, Virginia, 1861. Hardcover. Very Good. Octavo. Bound in contemporary paneled calf and dark red morocco over boards, gilt spine with raised bands and two black leather labels, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled. Rubbing and wear to the board edges and corners, the hinges have been neatly reinforced with thin strips of black cloth, modest soiling on a few text pages at the front and back, very good. The register is complete with three fly leaves at the front and back, and 272 text pages (number-stamped: 1-288 with errors in the pagination), and thumb-indexed along the foredge. One leaf at the back has been neatly sewn back in place along the (truncated) gutter.

A remarkable ledger from Liggon's Prison, the first Confederate Prison for Union POWs, kept and Inscribed twice by the prison's commander, Lieutenant James Thomas Watt Hairston, and including a salted paper portrait photograph of Hairston laid-down on the front free endpaper. The book contains a detailed 257 page roster of 3,159 Union prisoners of war, including 19 "Negroes," who were confined in the prison from September 1861 through March 1862. Each entry gives the prisoner's name, rank, company, and regiment, and ultimate disposition: e.g, whether exchanged, transferred, or released; paroled or dead. There are also 10 pages of autograph signatures and inscriptions by prominent Union officers and soldiers, including New York Congressman Alfred Ely, who was captured at the First Battle of Bull Run; two beautifully executed poems ("The Prisoners' Song" and another tribute written in shorthand); a pen and ink sketch of Richmond spymaster Elizabeth Van Lew; and several manuscript tributes to Lt. Hairston. Among the prisoners listed in the roster are the Irish-American General Michael Corcoran, then Colonel of the 69th New York Regiment and a close confidant of President Abraham Lincoln; and Robert Holloway, a free African-American from Virginia and personal servant to General Ambrose Burnside who made extraordinary efforts to secure his release.

The Confederacy, having taken a number of Union prisoners in the first months of the war, leased John L. Ligon's Richmond tobacco warehouse for use as a military prison in June of 1861. Known as "Liggon's" and "Prison No. 1," it was soon filled to capacity with prisoners from Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, and other early battles. As is made evident in the ledger during the early phase of the war, gentlemanly respect still prevailed between soldiers and officers of the North and South. Hairston later recalled proudly that he "circulated among the prisoners at all hours of the day and night, unarmed and without a guard" and that, "while I was in charge not an escape was made, nor a prisoner shot." The prison was closed soon after Lt. Hairston's departure in March 1862, when the prisoners were transferred to the newly established Libby Prison. Hairston had originally been assigned to head Liggon's prison because he suffered from a severe and sometimes disabling rheumatism. After his departure Hairston served as a staff officer to his cousin the legendary Rebel cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart, and attained the rank of major in the Confederate army. After the war he returned to Mississippi to manage a plantation in partnership with his friend Nathan Fellows, who later obtained the ledger from Hairston, and who added a few later explanatory notes in pencil. In 1888 Fellows gave the ledger to Boston journalist William H. Jeffrey, who published an in-depth six-column front-page illustrated article about the ledger in *The Boston Weekly Globe* on December 12, 1888, including the names of 600 New England prisoners.

Laid-down on the marbled front free endpaper is a photograph of Lt. Hairston (a salted paper print measuring 7" x 4. 25") wearing the uniform of the 11th Mississippi Infantry, the "Prairie Guards" (mustered into service in May 1861). The print has been lightly highlighted in black and white, and the first front fly leaf has been glued to the back of the marbled endpaper for additional support. Hairston inscribed the ledger in ink on two fly leaves (at the front and back): "Richmond Jany 1862 / J.T.W. Hairston C.S.A. / Lieut Comdg C.S. Prison / Richmond, Va. | Henry Co. Va. / Lowndes Co. Miss." The second inscription at the back includes the dates of Hairston's tenure as commander from September 4th, 1861 to March 16th, 1862. There follows on the recto of the second front flyleaf a full-page pen and ink drawing depicting two crossed Confederate flags bearing Hairston's name; and a shield of the United States with two crossed American flags with "Union" written above. Across the shield is written a presentation to Hairston: "From Charles L. Chapman, A Federal Prisoner of War. Captured at the Battle of Cross Lanes, Western Virginia, Aug. 27th 1861."

Appearing at the back of the volume, after the prisoners' roster, are 10 pages of autograph signatures and notes, including those of Congressman Alfred Ely of Rochester, New York (captured while observing the battle of Bull Run); three well-known Union Colonels: Alfred M. Wood of the 14th New York Regiment (and future mayor of Brooklyn), Milton Cogswell of the 42nd New York (and Reconstruction Mayor of Charleston), and William Raymond Lee of the 20th Massachusetts (which he later led during the Battle of Antietam); and of the surgeon Edward H.R. Revere (a grandson of Paul Revere), who was later killed at Antietam.

Also appearing at the back are two full-page poems: "The Prisoners' Song" by Union Captain Isaac W. Hart, neatly written out in a calligraphic hand with a comic manuscript seal and motto: "Richmond Prison Association 1861 - Bite and Be Damned," illustrated with a ring of lice or bed bugs; and another poem beautifully written in shorthand. A transcription indicates that the poem is: "An extract from a poem delivered at the departure of the senior class of Yale College in 1827" written by "A.J. McCleary, a Yankee prisoner of war captured at the Battle of Leesburg on the 21st of October." Elsewhere McCleary (of Co. C, 1st California) writes a note thanking "the owner of this book" [Lt. Hairston] for "the many little acts of kindness that have been done them during their confinement in Richmond, Va. as prisoners of war." Also of importance is a pen and ink sketch of Elizabeth Van Lew made by another California prisoner "W.H. Sloanaker, Yankee artist." Van Lew (a.k.a. "Crazy Bett") was a Richmond abolitionist and philanthropist who built and operated an extensive spy ring for the Union during the war. A later pencil note made by Nathan Fellows identifies the sketch: "Mrs. Van Lew, afterwards Postmistress of Richmond, & a great friend of the prisoners."

An historically important, scarce survival from the Confederacy's first prison, rich in detail and resonance.

References:

[William H. Jeffrey]. "Libby Prison. Hitherto Unpublished Original Records from September, 1861, to March 1862." *The Boston Weekly Globe*. December 12, 1888. Note: Jeffrey deliberately misidentified the name of the prison in the title, most likely because the notorious Libby Prison loomed larger in the public imagination.

William H. Jeffrey. *Richmond Prisons 1861-1862 compiled from The Original Records kept by The Confederate Government*. St. Johnsbury: The Republican Press, (1893).

Ronald S. Coddington. "The Capture of Ambrose Burnside's Valet." *The New York Times*. July 21, 2011. (Inventory #: 417837)

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