John P. Sheffey

A Guide to his papers, Ms 2001-060

Prepared by John M. Jackson
Encoded by Simeon R. Tolar
2002

Collection Summary

Title:	John P. Sheffey Papers
Span Dates:	1853-1989 (bulk 1861-1864)
Creator:	Sheffey, John P.
Size:	1 container; .5 Linear Feet
Repository:	Digital Library and Archives, University Libraries,Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Abstract:	Letters of a Confederate cavalry officer to his wife in Wytheville, Virginia, together with other Civil War and family correspondence, documents and printed material.

Administrative Information

Provenance: The papers of John Sheffey were donated to Special Collections at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University by Betty Blair Stewart, via Professor James I. Robertson Jr., in August 2001.

Processing History: The processing, arrangement and description of Sheffey's papers began in December 2001 and was completed in February 2002.

Preferred Citation: Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: John P. Sheffey Papers, Ms 2001-060, Digital Library and Archives, University Libraries, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Biographical Note

John Preston "Pres" Sheffey, Southwest Virginia attorney, judge and Confederate cavalry officer, was born in Marion, Virginia on December 12, 1837. The son of James W. and Eleanor F. Preston Sheffey, John Sheffey graduated from Emory and Henry University in 1857, and then studied law at the University of Virginia. Admitted to the bar in 1859, Sheffey entered into law practice as a junior partner with his father.

In February 1861, the elder Sheffey was elected delegate to Virginia's secession convention; later, he served as captain of the Smyth County home guards, responsible largely for guarding the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad.

John Sheffey, meanwhile, enlisted in the Smyth Dragoons on May 27, 1861. Initially incorporated into the 50th Virginia Infantry as a cavalry company, the dragoons in September were assigned to the 8th Virginia Cavalry as Company A, with Sheffey serving as first lieutenant. Company A served throughout much of the war in southwestern Virginia and the counties that later became West Virginia. The company was stationed near Lewisburg, (West) Virginia during the autumn of 1861 and in Mercer County the following spring.

Sheffey was elected captain of Company A on May 14, 1862. During that summer and autumn, his unit participated in Jenkins' cavalry raid, proceeding through northwestern Virginia to the Ohio river, then southward to the Kanawha Valley. They had returned to the New River Valley by November and established quarters in Montgomery County for the winter of 1862-63.

Sheffey was granted leave in the summer of 1863, while the 8th Virginia was in the Shenandoah Valley. Travelling southward to Wytheville, Sheffey married Josephine Spiller on June 19. (The couple would have seven children: Eleanor F., Susan M., Margaret P., Josephine S., James W., Miriam and John P.).

During the winter of 1863-64, Sheffey took a brief medical leave and then served as judge advocate in a Lee County court-martial session, while the 8th Virginia remained in southwestern Virginia.

On August 7, 1864, Company A participated in a defeat to Union forces at Moorefield, West Virginia. A number of Confederates were taken prisoner, including John P. Sheffey. Soon transferred to Camp Chase, Sheffey remained a prisoner until exchanged in February 1865. He apparently rejoined his regiment at Appomattox, just as the war was drawing to a close.

Returning to Marion, Sheffey continued as his father's law partner until the latter's death in June 1876. Sheffey's law practice remained his primary occupation until his election to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1893 and his subsequent appointment as judge of Virginia's sixteenth judicial circuit in 1895.

Josephine S. Sheffey died November 19, 1904; John P. Sheffey died the following year on August 20. He is buried in Round Hill Cemetery, Marion.

Sources

Armstrong, Joyce Tracy. History of Smyth County, Virginia (v. 2: 1832-1870, Ante-bellum Years through the Civil War), 1986.

Barbery, Willard Sanders. Story of the life of Robert Sayers Sheffey…, 195-?

Dickinson, Jack L. 8th Virginia Cavalry, 1986.

Wilson, Goodridge. Smyth County History and Traditions, 1932.

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains the papers of John Sheffey, an attorney, judge and Confederate cavalry officer from Smyth County, Virginia. The papers are organized into the following series: Correspondence, Military Career, Printed Materials and General Materials.

Comprising the majority of the collection, the Correspondence series consists mostly of letters written by Sheffey to his wife, Josephine Spiller Sheffey, during the Civil War. Sheffey's early letters are devoted largely to personal matters, particularly his courtship of Josephine. His war-time letters also chronicle the establishment of Company A, 8th Virginia Cavalry and its role in the war. General observations on military matters and social conditions are included as well. Scattered throughout the correspondence are a few letters from other friends and relatives--particularly Sheffey's sisters Margaret and Ellen. Like Sheffey's correspondence, these letters (approximately 15 in number) also address personal matters and the war's progress. Apart from the original letters, the series also contains a set of annotated transcripts for all correspondence from 1861 to 1862 and photocopies of selected letters from 1861 to 1865.

The Military Career series contains a few documents related to Sheffey's military service, including two 1862 muster rolls for Company A, 8th Virginia Cavalry.

The Printed Materials series consists of twentieth-century materials regarding the Civil War. Most of the items are newspaper articles about the war in Southwest Virginia.

The General Materials series contains such items as a Civil War poem by John Sheffey, documents related to the Sheffey family (including receipts, documents and biographical material) and calling cards.

DESCRIPTION OF SERIES

CONTAINER LIST

CORRESPONDENCE, 1853-1899

SHEFFEY MILITARY CAREER, 1862-1863

PRINTED MATERIALS, 1912-1989, n.d.

GENERAL MATERIALS, 1862-1966, n.d.