BLAND COUNTY, Va. - John Preston Sheffey served as a cavalry captain of the Smyth Dragoons during the Civil War. He wrote more than 90 letters during his service, many of which detailed the inescapable horrors, strategies and suspense that war brought to this region. Many of his penned writings captured another inescapable fact. The Marion native was lovesick for Josephine "Josie" Spiller, an 18-year-old Wytheville woman.
Renowned Civil War scholar Dr. James I. Robertson edited Sheffey's letters and compiled them into his new book Soldier of Southwestern Virginia: The Civil War Letters of Captain John Preston Sheffey.
Robertson, the chief historical consultant for the movie "Gods and Generals," referred to Sheffey's romantic pursuit of his future wife as "one of the most intriguing love affairs I've ever seen take place." From the beginning, Robertson said, Sheffey is pressuring for marriage, while Spiller is constantly attempting to delay the union. It isn't until Spiller hears Sheffey musing about the women of another county that Spiller agrees to marriage, Robertson said with a laugh.
The efforts of three women, Martha Hull Copenhaver, Caroline Parrish Seager and Betty Blair Stewart, deserve credit for turning more eyes toward Southwest Virginia's role in the Civil War.
"They were the custodians of an extremely unusual collection of letters," said Robertson.
Marion's local historian Don Francis linked the ladies and their letters to Robertson.
In early November Robertson premiered the book at the Lincoln Theatre during a lecture and book signing. To say the least, it was a hit with all 100 copies of the book on hand selling out and orders being taken for more.
Now, the Wythe County Historical Society is hosting an evening with Virginia Tech's distinguished professor of history on Friday, Dec. 10. Robertson will discuss the book and Captain Sheffey's letters during the 7:30 p.m. event at Wytheville Community College's Grayson Hall Commons. A book sale and signing will be held after the lecture and light refreshments will be served.
The society, according to member Frisby Smith, knows there are likely to be many people in Wythe County who are interested in Robertson's work and who may be related to the people cited in the book. Therefore, he said, the organization has decided not to charge an admission fee and move the meeting to the college to accommodate a bigger audience.
"We're hoping to make it a really neat evening," said Smith, who also acknowledged the role of Joe Gillespie in organizing the event. Gillespie frequently participates in Robertson's Civil War events.
Robertson is not accepting any profits from the book sales. Proceeds are helping fund the John Preston Sheffey Scholarship at Virginia Tech.
Through the 90-letter collection, which is now housed at Virginia Tech, Sheffey gives a unique look not only into the Civil War, but into the "ignored quadrant" of the war in Southwest Virginia, Robertson said.
"He was not with Lee's army," he said. "You don't hear about Gettysburg, you hear about Southwest Virginia."
The region was a theater of combat that played a vital part in the War Between the States, Robertson said, for its salt, iron, coal and at the time was home to the longest railroad in the world, the Virginia Tennessee Railroad. The railroad, Robertson said, was the "umbilical cord" for the Confederacy, the only link between Richmond and the west.
The letters make it explicit, he said, that the railroad was the main reason the battle of Cloyd's Mountain was fought. The union was determined to break the South's connection to the West, but the Confederates were bound and determined to preserve it, Robertson said.
"[Sheffey] was a spectacular witness," Robertson said, with "great power of observation."
The firsthand account, he said, may draw more attention to the region's role in the Civil War, and might see Southwest Virginia receive more due.
"[The] letters throw a light on Southwest Virginia I've never seen," Robertson said.
The region truly is the "forgotten theater of operations" of the Civil war, he said.
