Warren Seymour Lurty, uncle of Adam Empie Potts, served as a captain in the Confederate army over the Virginia Horse Artillery Battery, which was involved in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. The battery was nearly annihilated and Lurty was captured at Ninevah, Virginia in 1864 and was a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware. Lurty served as a lawyer before and after the Civil War. He was US District Attorney of western Virginia from 1877-1882.

This folder, which mainly consists of correspondence, includes Civil War military documents and letters of recommendation written for Lurty as he reentered the practice of law after the Civil War.

The folder contains the following papers:

Letter to Lurty from Lieutenant Halyburton on behalf of General Jubal Anderson Early expressing disapproval of Lurty’s application to acquire horses and approval of Lurty’s moving camp to Fishersville or Waynesboro, Virginia. 1864 October 8.

Letter from Hon. W. T. Willey, U. S. Senate, War Department, Washington City, 1865 January 26, requesting a prisoner exchange.

Printed and singed copy of loyalty oath taken by Lurty upon his release from Fort Delaware, 1865 June 17.

Letters of recommendation for Lurty as he seeks to recommence practicing law from W. P. Cooper, U.(?) M. Turner, James M. Jackson, and Gro. W. Jackson, who writes to affirm Lurty’s relation to Stonewall Jackson, 1865 October.

Two 1877 letters recommending the reappointment of Lurty as U. S. District Attorney of western Virginia: one to President Rutherford B. Hayes, 1877, the other from Senator John F. Lewis to Hon. O.(?) P. Morton.

Letters of introduction for Lurty from William Pope Harrison to the Hon. B. H. Hill, U.S. Senate, and to Hon. Joseph E. Brown, U.S. Senate. Both letters are dated 1881 March 15.

Letter to President Chester A. Arthur recommending the reappointment of Lurty as U. .S. District Attorney of western Virginia from the members of the bar of Carroll County, Virginia: Norman Staley(?), Commonwealth attorney, G. B. Wiley, R. M. Brown, Walter Pendleton, Garland Hale, and Walter S. Tipton(?), 1882.

Draft of a speech commemorating the Civil War, 1885.

The envelope dated 1895 January 15 bears two inscriptions: “the $10 note is my first fee as atty in Washington in 1892 –Seymour” and a verse to his “best earthly friend".” The accompanying note seems to be a marriage proposal and references a gift of a ring.

Typed note to Lurty signed by William McKinley, dated 1896 April 28 on letterhead from his home in Canton, Ohio. This note was written to congratulate Lurty on his selection as “Elector-at-large” and thank him for his support in McKinley’s presidential campaign, which was underway during 1896.

Photocopy of military order dated 1866(?) January 12 removing any “person having served in the Rebel Armies” from the “Public grounds of Fortress Monroe.”

Empty envelope from State-Planters Bank & Trust Co. labeled “Lurty Papers, Uncle of Adam E. Potts".