Autograph letter signed : Virginia, to an unidentified recipient, 1861 May 10.

Commenting on the impending war; saying "I cannot describe my feelings at thought [sic] of our country's present condition & future prospects. Had our friends at the North only approached to the just views on the subjects in dispute set forth in your late letter, the South would never have commenced the work of secession, tho some may have long desired it. But, the die is cast & our own ecclesiastical & civil union is sundered & I fear never to be restored. The whole South is now united, as one man, in a war which is honestly believed to be a defensive one & which will be waged as such with the utmost vigor & with the most assured belief of success of resisting the attempt at enforcing reunion;" commenting on the preparations being made and the numbers of young men volunteering for duty; commenting on secession: "I enter not into the question of the political right of secession. It is a practical one with me & when in so extended a territory as ours, ten or fifteen states are so dissatisfied as to withdraw, they should be allowed so to do. It is the consummation of political folly to attempt to prevent it by force. It can only end in one way. As to the right of secession, the ablest & best men on both sides differ, & the benefit of the doubt should be given to the secessionists instead of endeavoring to overcome them by the [illegible] of war;" adding "Slowly, reluctantly & sorrowfully have I come to the conclusion that both as to Church & State the slave holding and non slave holding States must repent."