Monday, 1865 November 20, Huntley, Fairfax County, Virginia: “My whole heart was in our struggle . . . God had a purpose in scourging us which I cannot now see, but it will doubtless be revealed in the future”

[An unemployed ex-Confederate officer and antebellum West Point graduate seeks employment with a Virginia railroad company.]

Huntley, November 20, 1865

Dear Sir:
Seeing by the papers that O. F. Slaughter [Daniel F. Slaughter], Esq., of Culpeper had been chosen one of the Directors of the Orange & Alexandria R. R. [Railroad] & thinking that possibly you may know him, I write to ascertain it, & if so would be very much obliged to you if you would find from him whether there is any prospect of my getting a position as supervisor on the Road. Should he wish for any recommendations, I would state that I graduated 6th in the class of 1861 at the U. S. Military Academy as __?__ __?__ & was recommended for the Engineer Corps of the Army, would also refer him to Mr. Anthony McClean [McLean] treasurer for the R. R. Company, & Mr. Cagenove [William G. Cazenove] one of the Directors who both know me.

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I am now entirely without any Employment, being like many who were educated for the Amy deprived of my profession in Consequence of the unexpected termination of the War & loss of our glorious Cause. My whole heart was in our struggle & the reflection that the blessed [cause?] for which we fought is lost and almost heartbreaking to me, I can never become reconciled to it—it seems harder to bear as time passes on. God had a purpose in scourging us which I cannot now see, but it will doubtless be revealed in the future. How are Cousin Anna Sophie, Mary & Sophy? I should like to see them very much, give my best love to them. Will Hoxton is teaching in Halifax, with the view of beginning a preparation for the University. [University of Virginia?] Winslow is living with Sally & Alfred [Bishop A. M. Randolph, husband of Hoxton’s sister Sally?] is teaching him. Mary’s home is there also although she is now here (Dr. King’s place) [Dr. Benjamin King of Maryland?].

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Quite a number of the old Alexandria people have [returned?] & this place seems a little like its’ old self, though it is painful to see the blue uniforms constantly on the Streets. Hoping to hear from you shortly I remain
Yours truly
Llewellyn Hoxton

[To] Revd. Philip Slaughter

[Editor: Llewellyn G. Hoxton (1838-1891) was born in Alexandria, Virginia. After the deaths of their parents, he and his siblings became the wards of a Dr. Benjamin King of Maryland. A United States Military Academy at West Point cadet, July 1856- May 1861, Hoxton graduated sixth in the Class of 1861 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of ordnance but resigned to join the Confederate Army. Hoxton served on the staff of General William J. Hardee (1815-1873), as chief of artillery with the rank of captain and later major, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanding Hoxton’s Artillery Battalion, Hardee’s Corps, Army of Tennessee. He was surrendered with General Joseph E. Johnston’s forces in North Carolina in April 1865. Later that year he taught mathematics at a private school in Catonsville, Maryland, until February 1867; he was unemployed until September when he began a three-year teaching career at a private school in Govanstown, Maryland. In1868 he married Fannie Robinson, of Jefferson County, West Virginia; in 1870 he began teaching mathematics at Alexandria’s Episcopal High School, becoming Associate Principal in 1886. Hoxton died, February 12, 1891, near Alexandria, aged fifty-three, and was buried at Ivy Hill Cemetery.  Hoxton’s son Llewellyn Griffith Hoxton (1878-1966), taught at and later headed the University of Virginia’s department of physics, 1906-1949.
The Orange and Alexandria Railroad was established in 1848 and consolidated with other railroads beginning in 1873.
Philip Slaughter (1808-1890), a famed Virginia clergyman who published several works on Virginia history, religion, and genealogy. Daniel French Slaughter (?-1881), Virginia agriculturalist and slaveholder. [One online source identifies the parents of Virginia Military Institute Class of 1848 graduate and future Confederate army officer James Edwin Slaughter (1827-1900) Culpeper County, Virginia, as Daniel French Slaughter and Letitia Madison.]

MSS 6267

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