Dated “Fincastle [VA] October 13^th, 1862.” Addressed to Figatt, from his  wife Ann Godwin Figgatt. 4 pp., in ink, on lined paper, 7.5 x 10”. Exhibits fold marks, light yellowing of lower margin, and fading ink, while remaining legible.

Charles Miles Figatt was a 26 year old bank clerk from Lexington, VA, who mustered as a private in Co. “C”, 1^st VA Cavalry, 9/20/1862. After which he  was immediately detailed as a clerk to  Gen. Jackson’s, and later, to General Early’s Headquarters, serving with the Army of Northern Virginia through 1864—[no further records]. During service Figatt  had a bird’s eye headquarters-staff view of various engagements, and Gettysburg in particular.  This particular letter from his wife was received a week prior to the birth of their second son, Charles Mead Figatt. The couple had married in 1859 and had an earlier son, Thomas Godwin Figgat, born in 1861. In it, she writes of her physical condition and anxieties concerning in her husband while trying to bolster his spirits, and her own.

Text:

“I should have liked to have sent you a letter by today’s mail, my dear, dear, husband but I did not feel like writing this morning neither, do I feel like it very much to-night, for I have had a pain in my back all day & have had to lie down several times but notwithstanding have nearly made a ____ for [son] Godwin today. I wanted to finish it but feared that something might occur, so that I should have to write decidedly to you, and I did not like that…”

“I hope you have received a long letter I sent by Nat Logan, and also a comforter, but I fear that you did not have them last night, when it was raining, and your dear wife lying in her very comfortable bed, went to sleep in tears because she thought of one so dear, stretched himself on the cold ground, with naught but a blanket and overcoat, but I do do hope you hope you have a tent ere this!  Oh! I thought so much about you yesterday & wanted so badly to have you here,  both to pet some and  be petted yourself, for you want I expect as much as I do….”

“Tom is improving in a remarkable manner, but looks thin and walks so funny—(Tom, her brother who will later be captured at Gettysburg—He does   I tell him he looks like that idiot Christian in L. He does not so ravenously  as I expected, just about when he did when he was at College, for it seemed he ate them as if he were getting over a fever.”

“Pa has had the store open for several days but has sold out again, I believe. There stores in Charleston were near all shut up, but those that went from here believe they had the goods, but did not want to receive Confederate money…I hope if our army leaves there as some think it may, it will not be until we are pretty well supplied, so we will have the salt next year if not the bacon. Flour is $15 !per[ barrel  in  R [ichmond] now. What are we to do?”

“Oh! That a merciful Providence may interfere in our behalf & I stop these cruel hostilities for it seems to me things are growing very dark, not as for the army as the army is immediately concerned, but for those who remain at home. Oh! That his people may ___mightily to him, that he may stop the tide of battle, & that peace may soon reign& gladden the hearts of his now truly humbled people, and that instead of war, peace & consequently the  religion of Christ, may pervade the hearts & lives of his people & the land may witness such revivals as have ne’er before been known, since the world began. And “Jesus may reign  where the sun goes his  successive journey’s run.”

At the war’s end, Ann Figatt’s husband returned from the army to become a trusted cashier of the the Bank of Lexington. Unfortunately, thirty years later, Feb. 1895, he absconded with $180,000 in bank funds, disgracing both himself and his wife’s family.

Fleeing undetected to Lockett, Colorado, Figgat live quietly under the assumed name of Charles Miles until his death in 1899, at age 63. Meanwhile, back in Lexington, following his disappearance, bank teller, Robert K. Godwin was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison, though later pardoned by Virginia Govern Tyler after serving 32 months. Bank teller Godwin was the brother of Cashier Figgat’s wife, Ann Godwin Figgat, and the letter that the Cashier left behind absolving him of complicity in the embezzlement failed to prevent his conviction.

After 120 years, the fate of the missing bank funds remains a mystery. Figgats assets at death consisted of twenty eight dollars and a dime. At his death, Figgat’s Virginia antecedents were discovered by Colorado authorities and his remains were returned to be buried in the Slicer-Godwin Cemetery, Fincastle, VA. His wife, Ann, who lived until 1899, was buried beside him.

In all a remarkable letter from the wife of a soldier present at Gettysburg, a Virginian with an equally remarkable post-war scandal attached to his name. On both counts this letter from Private Figgat’s “Nannie” makes for an excellent collectible. In protective sleeve, accompanied by documentation, including “Dear Nannie: The Civil War letters of Fincastle’s Charles Figgat and Ann Godwin/ Roanoke [VA] Times, Dec. 10. 10, 2011.

Includes a copy of his military records as well as internet research material. Additional research is certainly a possibility. [jp]

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