Now here is a very interesting story. A book stolen from Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in 1864 was returned to the school in February.
From the April 15th Blue Ridge Now and Washington Post.
Union soldier C. S. Gates evidently mistook Washington College's Leyburn Library for being a part of the Virginia Military Institute which the Army of West Virginia's General David Hunter had ordered to be pillaged and burned, and took the volume as a souvenir.
The book was the first volume of W.F.P. Napier's four-volume "History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France From the Year 1807 to the Year 1814." The library has volume two. But volumes three and four are still missing.
He inscribed the front with the following words: "This book was taken from the Military Institute at Lexington, Va. in June 1864 when General Hunter was on his Lynchburg Raid. The Institute was burned by order of Gen. Hunter. The remains of Gen. Stonewall Jackson rest in the cemetery at this place."
It was passed down through the Gates family for generations. Twenty years ago, it came into the possession of Mike Dau, of Lake Forest, Illinois, from the estate of Myron and Isabel Gates who had befriended them in college.
Dau said he'd been meaning to return it for years and was glad he finally got around to it. It is in good shape except for a loose binding. Dau is happy he didn't have to pay late fines on it.
Technical services director Laura Turner said, "We were astounded to get something back with the history that it has." Immediately after the war, a thousand stolen volumes were returned to Washington College (renamed Washington and Lee College, now University, after the death of Robert E. Lee who had became its president after the war.
As far as the missing two volumes, Turner said, "We'd love to have them back."
OK Folks, Start Checking Those Attics. Let's Reunite the Set. I Wonder What a Library Fine for 145 Years Would Be? Let's See, 5 cents a day, 365 days a year= $18.65, Times 145 = $2646.25. And Then There's Interest. Boy. --Old B-Runner
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
