James B. Dorman's Civil War Letters

JAMES B. DORMAN'S CIVIL WAR LETTERS Edited by Charles W. Turner James Baldwin Dormán served as a Rockbridge County representative to the Virginia Secession Convention in Richmond from February until April, 1861. Dorman's letters to family and friends during the convention and the Civil War reveal much of the Union man who became a Confederate staff officer. James was born to Amanda and Charles P. Dormán onJuly 25, 1823, at their home, which now serves as the Episcopalrectoryon LeeAvenue in Lexington, Virginia. After the deatii of his modier, when James was but eight, he moved to Danville, Virginia to live with an uncle and aunt. His father, a prominent lawyer, served in the Virginia General Assembly and on the first Board of Visitors of the Virginia Military Institute, where James, after attending Washington College until the age of sixteen, proved to be both an able student and orator. Before he graduated in 1843, he was made an instructor in Modem Languages at the Institute. Following graduation, he taught in a private school in Gloucester County.1 In May, 1845, Dormán was commissioned a first lieutenant in the 8th regiment of infantry of the Virginia Militia. The following yearhe, along with twenty-four other former cadets, volunteered for service in the Mexican War.2 When the war ended, Dormán returned to Lexington and read law in his father's office. He was one of the founders of the local American Colonization Society and was a member of the Franklin Literary Society. After his father's death, he assumed the latter's seat in the House of Delegates as a Whig. By now he was becoming known as a man of unusual ability as a speaker, with a quick mind, elegant diction and with a gentle and courteous manner. In the 1860 election, Dormán was a Union man and supported 1 Register of Former Cadets (Virginia Military Institute, 1957), 8, 376; Jennings Wise, Military History of Virginia Military Institute, 61-62; William Couper, One Hundred Years at V. M. I., I, 84, 213-214; II, 62, 75. 2 Calendar of Virginia States Papers, XI, 203; letter of Governor James McDowell, Rockbridge Historical Society Files, McCormick Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. Civil War History, Vol. XXV, No. 3 Copyright © 1979 by The Kent State University Press 0009-8078/79/2503-0004 $00.85/0 JAMES B. DORMÁN263 Stephan A. Douglas for President. In Lexington, he and others started circular letters and held debates on the coming crisis. Among this group were Hugh Barclay, Thomas J. Jackson, David Moore, James McDowell Taylor, E. L. Graham, and J. T. L. Preston. In 1861, Dormán attended the Virginia Secession Convention and was one of the 152 members who debated the question of secession. His hopes for union gradually vanished and once he wrote to his cousinJames Davidson that "It is worse and worse today. Telegrams received this morning state Lincoln has given formal notice that Fort Sumter will bereinforced. The conflict is inevitable if this turns out to be so. . . . God knows what will come next."3 Upon conclusion of the convention, he returned to Rockbridge to support the Secession Ordinance and run for the General Assembly. He was defeated in the election and so decided to enter the service. Governor John Letcher, a former Lexingtonian and Dorman's neighbor, appointed him major of the 9th Virginia and he served the entire war as staff officer and aide to die governor. In 1865, he returned to Lexington to take up his law practice and to reside in his old home. In 1871, he married the widow, Mary Louise Newman, daughter of Matthew White. At this time, the Lee Memorial Association was formed and he was very active in raising funds for a suitable tomb for General Lee. When, in 1883, he was appointed the clerk of the Circuit Court of Virginia, he moved his family and office to Staunton. There he remained until his death on August 4, 1893.4 The first two letters reflect his growing pessimism during the secession crisis; the remainder concern his wartime service. • · ß ß ß · James B. Dormán to "Cousin Hannah...