Condition Report
Contact Information
Lot 72
Lot Description
Lot of 10, including one partially printed receipt, six signed manuscript receipts, and three secretarial signed receipts, ranging in size from 7.25 x 1.5 in. to 7.375 x 9.625 in. Documents pertain to payments received by William R. Terry (1824-1889) from John Quincy Dickinson (1831-1925), dating from 1856 through 1860.
Prior to the Civil War, Terry enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute and graduated in 1850. He also attended the University of Virginia before returning to his hometown of rural Bedford County, Virginia, where he worked as a farmer and merchant, operating the Liberty Steam Mills. Upon the outbreak of the war, Terry enlisted as a captain and raised Co. A, 2nd Virginia Cavalry. He fought valiantly with this company at the Battle of First Manassas and was subsequently promoted to colonel of the 24th Infantry in September of 1861. In this role, he led a charge at the Battle of Willamsburg, where he sustained his first of several wounds, and also saw action at Second Manassas, Gettysburg, New Berne, Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor, and Dinwiddie Court House. Promoted again because of his impressive battlefield performances, Terry had attained the rank of brigadier general at the time of his surrender on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Court House. He remained in Virginia after the war, serving as a state legislator, prison superintendent, VMI Board of Visitors member, and superintendent of the Lee Camp Soldiers' Home in Richmond.