William Francis Brand: Civil War Letters
Biographical and Genealogical Information


photograph of W.F. Brand at age 21


William Francis Brand at age 21
Photograph of W.F. Brand in his later life.

William Francis Brand in later life
According to Lee A. Wallace, Jr., 5th Virginia Infantry(Lynchburg: H.E. Howard, 1988, p. 99) and internal evidence in the collection, William Francis Brand was born August 31, 1840, in Augusta County, Virginia. By occupation he was a miller and enlisted (in Greenville) as a private in the Confederate Army, Company E, 5th Virginia Infantry, on April 18, 1861. He enlisted for the duration of the war, and during his military service was stationed or saw combat at :

Haynesville (July 2, 1861); first Manassas [First Bull Run] (July 21, 1861);
furloughed because of the amputation of his big toe, March 16, 1863; Kernstown (March 23, 1862 where his brother Tom was killed);
Front Royal (May 23, 1862); McDowell (May 8, 1862);
Winchester (May 25, 1862); Port Republic (June 9, 1862 where he was struck in the hand by a bouncing cannonball);
Cold Harbor (June 27, 1862); Malvern Hill (July 1, 1862);
Cedar Mountain (August 9, 1862); Winchester (June 13, 1863);
Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863); Seven Run? [Payne's House] (November 27, 1863);
on detached duty to collect deserters in Augusta County, (February 1864); the Wilderness (May 5-7, 1864; shot in the shoulder);
Spotsylvania Court House (May 10-12, 1864); Winchester (September 19, 1864);
Strasburg Junction (September 20, 1864 where he was wounded in the thigh); and the Petersburg siege and retreat [April 2-6, 1865].

After the war Brand was a miller and member of the Stonewall Jackson Camp of the United Confederate Veterans. He died in Lexington, Virginia on May 25, 1932 and was buried at Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church, Fishersville, Virginia.

photograph of Amanda C. Armentrout at age 16Photograph of Kate Brand in old age
Amanda Catherine Armentrout at age 16

Kate A. Brand in later life
Amanda Catherine "Kate" Armentrout, a resident of Greenville, Augusta County, and Brand's (postwar) wife was born on August 1, 1840 (according to family records ). There are several antebellum letters in the collection to Ms. Armentrout from her former schoolmate John P. Lightner [1841?-1862] who enlisted in Company I, 4th Virginia infantry, during June 1861. Lightner died of typhoid fever in February 1862 (James I. Robertson 4th Virginia Infantry, 2nd ed., Lynchburg, 1982, p. 61). According to the donor's genealogical notes "Family Record," Lightner later married Anne, Amanda's sister.
Amanda's father Thomas Hamilton Armentrout purchased a farm on the South River, three miles from Greenville, Virginia. There he built a brick home which the family named Rose Dale. Many of the letters in the Brand collection were written to and from Rose Dale.
Photograph of Armentrout family home Rose DalePhotograph of Armentrout family home Rose Dale

Photographs of Armentrout family home Rose Dale
According to family records, William Francis Brand and Amanda Catherine Armentrout were married at Rose Dale. Flora Christian Brand (daughter of W.F. and Amanda) wrote that there were so many guests at the wedding that some had to sleep on the floor (in a four bedroom home). In a collection of family photographs, Barbara Brand Matthews (granddaughter of W.F. Brand) located the wedding photo of W.F. Brand and Amanda Catherine Armentrout.
Wedding photo of W.F. Brand and Amanda Catherine Armentrout


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