1 00:00:02,066 --> 00:00:05,366 GUEST: So my family is from Radford, Virginia, up in the mountains. And about 30 years ago, 2 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:11,000 when my mother was selling the family house, all these papers were just haphazardly thrown 3 00:00:13,066 --> 00:00:15,333 in the attic, and she didn't know what they were, so she boxed them up and moved them 4 00:00:15,333 --> 00:00:20,333 to her house, and there they sat for another 30 years. And till about five years ago, I 5 00:00:22,733 --> 00:00:26,733 wondered what was in all those boxes, and I started opening them and found these letters. 6 00:00:26,733 --> 00:00:29,733 APPRAISER: And they're all from your great-grandfather or... 7 00:00:29,733 --> 00:00:33,566 GUEST: Great-great-grandfather, he was General Gabriel Wharton from the Confederacy. 8 00:00:33,566 --> 00:00:35,566 APPRAISER: Right. 9 00:00:35,566 --> 00:00:39,200 GUEST: And yeah, these are all his personal letters before, during, and after the 10 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:41,300 war. 11 00:00:41,300 --> 00:00:43,300 APPRAISER: That's what I find fascinating about it, because obviously, General Wharton 12 00:00:43,300 --> 00:00:47,533 was a very important Confederate general, and you have a tremendous amount of material 13 00:00:47,533 --> 00:00:52,500 from the war. But also material prior to and after that really fleshes out his life. So 14 00:00:54,933 --> 00:00:57,166 starting over here, we have a fabulous letter written to General Wharton, obviously before 15 00:00:57,166 --> 00:01:00,766 the war, by a Mr. Mason. Tell me a little bit about the letter from what you remember. 16 00:01:00,766 --> 00:01:05,100 GUEST: So at this point, General Wharton was a surveyor for the railroad on the Gadsden 17 00:01:05,100 --> 00:01:10,100 Purchase. And he had friends who were throughout the west at that point, so this friend, Mr. 18 00:01:12,133 --> 00:01:14,800 Mason, was in Salt Lake City, and he was working for the Indian Affairs office, and he just 19 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,166 writes him a letter to tell him what's going on... 20 00:01:17,166 --> 00:01:19,500 APPRAISER: With the Mormons in Salt Lake City. With the Mormons in the city, yeah. Yeah, 21 00:01:19,500 --> 00:01:24,500 so it's a fascinating letter from 1859, and he recounts attending the Tabernacle Sunday 22 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:30,500 events with Brigham Young, and it's a little bit derisive about the beautiful girls who 23 00:01:31,233 --> 00:01:32,466 make up his 64 wives. 24 00:01:32,466 --> 00:01:34,466 GUEST: Yes. 25 00:01:34,466 --> 00:01:36,466 APPRAISER: Now, when he was in the Civil War, he was involved in a number of 26 00:01:36,466 --> 00:01:41,166 very important campaigns, including the Battle for Fort Donelson. And we picked out from 27 00:01:43,133 --> 00:01:46,300 your archive just a letter, one letter here from General Lee, Robert E. Lee, 28 00:01:46,300 --> 00:01:51,266 dated April 21, 1862. And of course it was just after the Battle of Fort Donelson when 29 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,833 Floyd and his troops had lost the battle to General Grant, and there was calls for unconditional 30 00:01:56,833 --> 00:02:00,766 surrender. So this very interesting war period letter from Lee, 31 00:02:00,766 --> 00:02:05,100 instructions to gather the troops and bring them together. Because it's an archive that 32 00:02:05,100 --> 00:02:10,100 expands beyond the war, and he was one of the last Confederate generals to be in operation 33 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:12,500 before the final surrender... 34 00:02:12,500 --> 00:02:14,100 GUEST: Yeah. 35 00:02:14,100 --> 00:02:16,166 APPRAISER: You also have him returning after the war to do what? 36 00:02:16,166 --> 00:02:20,833 GUEST: Well, you know, the Confederacy lost, and so he needed to have a job, and he went 37 00:02:22,833 --> 00:02:26,333 back to his old profession of surveying. And worked for the land office, and was very lucky 38 00:02:27,933 --> 00:02:28,933 to get the job, actually. 39 00:02:28,933 --> 00:02:31,000 APPRAISER: Right. 40 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,566 GUEST: So in the 1880s, he's working for the land office out in New Mexico and Arizona. 41 00:02:34,566 --> 00:02:36,033 APPRAISER: Right. 42 00:02:36,033 --> 00:02:38,233 GUEST: And he has a narrow escape from Geronimo. 43 00:02:38,233 --> 00:02:41,233 APPRAISER: This is a letter written to his wife, I believe, from April 1886. 44 00:02:41,233 --> 00:02:43,800 GUEST: Right. Yes, yep. 45 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:45,933 APPRAISER: And of course, Geronimo would finally surrender to American troops in... later that 46 00:02:45,933 --> 00:02:46,933 year, in November of 1886. 47 00:02:46,933 --> 00:02:49,000 GUEST: Right. 48 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,933 APPRAISER: He later acquired this cabinet card. It's a very famous cabinet card from 49 00:02:51,933 --> 00:02:53,733 C.S. Fly, who was based in Tombstone, Arizona. 50 00:02:53,733 --> 00:02:55,833 GUEST: Okay. 51 00:02:55,833 --> 00:02:56,800 APPRAISER: So it's an incredibly interesting archive. Have you ever had the archive evaluated 52 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:57,500 or appraised or looked at? 53 00:02:57,500 --> 00:02:59,566 GUEST: No. 54 00:02:59,566 --> 00:03:01,633 APPRAISER: Well, I mean, it's very, very rich, and we only could pull out a few things. If 55 00:03:01,633 --> 00:03:02,566 it were to come to auction at a major auction house, it would probably have an aggregate 56 00:03:02,566 --> 00:03:03,500 value of $30,000 to $50,000. 57 00:03:03,500 --> 00:03:05,633 GUEST: Oh, my goodness. 58 00:03:05,633 --> 00:03:07,866 APPRAISER: And that might be conservative, given the richness of what you have. 59 00:03:07,866 --> 00:03:09,933 GUEST: Thank you. 60 00:03:09,933 --> 00:03:11,633 APPRAISER: Thank you, I'm so glad you were able to bring it in. Incredible. 61 00:03:11,633 --> 00:03:13,766 GUEST: Thank you! Wow. Who knew what was in the attic? (chuckling) 62 00:03:13,766 --> 00:03:13,900 APPRAISER: Yeah. You know?