Dated “Brentsville [VA], Dec. 25^th 1849.” Addressed to “Jas. H. Reid Esq.” Reverse address, folded w/red .5” seal—“Brentsville, Va./ 5/ Dec. 25///Jas. H. Reid Esq./Alexr/ Va.” One page, 9.875 x7.75”, in ink. Exhibits fold-marks, else VG plus. Text:

Dr. Sir…I recd. Information yesterday that Mr. Lewis had sold the servant woman belonging to the estate of Louisa Fox dec.[eased]—whose representative you are—She was carried to Richmond about a week since and as I ____ she will be confined in some week or ten days. She will probably remain there some weeks—I give you this information as I recd. It so that you may take the necessary steps to recover her—you ought to have taken her into your possession long since.

We recd information yesterday that the man of Public Works had [been] instructed Jarney to ___for the Brentsville route and Jas. Princell I believe crossed regularly with the hours through the night—My respects to Mrs. Reid and a Christmas gift to both of you—I suppose you will be up in a few days

In haste…Yours very respectfully/ Eppa Hunton”

**

At the time the above letter it was written, Eppa Hunton was a twenty-six year old practicing attorney in Brentsville, VA. And, this Christmas Day letter raises a number of questions concerning the identity of the slave mentioned its opening paragraph--questions related to a Prince William County homicide occurring simultaneously.

To wit: Was the “servant woman” to whom Hunton refers just possibly the Prince William County slave who had axe-murdered her master, Gerard Mason, four days earlier? Was the accused slave-murderer, “Agnes,” also the “servant woman” who was “carried to Richmond,” there to be “confined” for some weeks?

Then too, why did Hunton feel the need to immediately inform Alexandria’s James H. Reid that a Mr. Lewis (whom Reid represented), “had sold the servant woman belonging to the estate of Louisa Fox dec.(eased)”? Why was he anxious to see Reid take the “necessary steps to recover her,” saying that “you should have taken her into your possession long since.”

The most interesting question is whether Hunton’s Christmas Day letter concerning the “woman servant” “carried to Richmond was in any way connected to the role he would play as one of the two prosecutors instrumental in seeing “Agnes” remanded back to Prince William County (January 8), where she was convicted and sentenced to death (January 10); to be executed May 10, 1850. ( which she was).

On the face of it, and on the face of Virginia and Prince William County legal records, it seems at least semi-plausible that the “slave servant’ referred to in this letter was in fact the “Agnes” who had defended herself against an extremely vicious master, who had in fact been convicted of murdering another slave five years earlier, and been briefly imprisoned for it.

The 1850 axe murder trial was a memorable event in the slave annals of Prince William County; one in which prosecutor Eppa Hunton played a significant role. Invites further research.

**

Eppa Hunton’s later Civil War service is well known to students of the Army of Northern Virginia. With the coming of war, the Brentsville attorney raised troops from Prince William, Fauqier and surrounding counties and became colonel of the 8^th Virginia Infantry. He served admirably throughout, and never more so than at Gettysburg, where he was wounded, and where all but eleven men of the unit were either killed, wounded or captured during Pickett’s Charge—(a charge which, like Brigade commander Richard Garnett, Hunton had ridden into on horseback).

Hunton survived to replace the fallen Garnett as brigade commander and served in that capacity through the end of war. At the very end, at Saylors Creek, April 1865, he threw his sword into some bushes to avoid being forced to hand it over to his captors. Afterwards, Hutton prospered while practicing law in Warrenton, VA, later serving four terms in Congress, following by an appointment to the U.S. senate, where he served from 1892-95. He died in 1908 and was buried in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery with his wife Clara, among numerous other notable Confederate veterans.

Fine Confederate ALS, a choice collectible. Accompanied by documentation; in protective sleeve.  [jp]

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