The guide to the Charles Baker Davidson Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).

This item had been purchased, accessioned, and originally cataloged as the "Civil War Letters." During processing in 2022, it was determined that the letter in this collection and that in Ms1990-023 were connected in some way. (The matching patterns of rust and dirt stains along the two letters' upper edges show that they had once been attached.) Attribution of this letter to Charles Baker Davidson rests partially on the attribution of Ms1990-023 to his brother, Alexander H. Davidson (see general note in finding aid for Ms1990-023). Furthermore, the writer of this letter mentions that he has enclosed "a letter from A. which will speak for itself." Various names mentioned in this letter also match with those of the Davidson family: "Henry" would be Henry G. Davidson, brother to Charles; "Hanah" would be Hannah McClanahan Greenlee Davidson, wife of James Dorman Davidson. The signature on the letter, which had originally been interprested as the initials "B. K.," could be read as a hastily scribbled "Baker." An article in the July 2, 1860 edition of the Richmond Daily Dispatch confirms that Davidson was often familiarly identified by this middle name: "the degree of D. D., was conferred by the Trustees of the College [Washington College, now Washington and Lee University], on the Rev. Baker Davidson, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at New Albany, Indiana."