Ryan K.

Smith
Rksmith3@vcu.edu
Stolen Hearts

Sally Prillaman was homesick. “Mother,” she wrote in an 1878 letter, “I want you to
write to me as soon as you get this letter how you ar[e] all getting Along.” To her brother
George, she added “I wish you could be hear with me this sum[m]er to help me to gather
ch[err]ies and apples.” She was writing from Big Clear Creek, West Virginia to her old home in
Henry County, Virginia, and her letter hints at why she left. “I have got as good a man as I could
wish for and I am sorrow that you all have made as many sinful threatens About him as you all
have made.”
Sally had eloped, and her letter survives due to an unusual turn of events. After she left
home with Reed Washington in 1877 while in her late teens, her father urged the local authorities
to file a criminal suit against Washington for “grand larceny.” Other larceny charges in the
county that year were more typical – Peter Hairston was charged with stealing fence rails,
Charles Blankenship was charged with stealing corn, John Smith was charged with stealing
liquor, and Lem Hairston was charged with carrying away a pig. It was highly unusual to charge
for the larceny of a grown woman who seemed to have left by her own choice.
But apparently, James Prillaman was a desperate man. He must have been fiercely
opposed to his daughter’s union, and he employed one of the last measures at his disposal.
Surprisingly, the Commonwealth attorney accepted the case, and Reed Washington was hauled
before a judge and jury in 1878. As a result, we have a record of their dispute and a peek into
these rural Virginians’ lives.
The record consists of a formal indictment, subpoenas of witnesses, instructions from the
judge, and a jailer’s certificate, as well as personal letters from Sally and Reed to her parents,
filed as evidence. The indictment presents that the defendant “did unlawfully & feloniously
seize, take, & carry away & secret Sally A. Prillaman, the child of James Prillaman, she living
under the age of twenty one years from the said James Prillaman & he the said James Prillaman
then & there having the lawful custody & charge of the said Sally A. Prillaman.” Unfortunately,
there are no depositions.
The letters fill in other details, though. In one, Sally assured her mother, writing “we got
us a good house” and “we live with the bes[t] people I ever saw.” She felt “thankful” that she
had gotten “a good husband,” and she boasted that “he has bought three hundred acres of land.”
And she had “the pret[t]iest hat you ever saw and a fine shawl and many other things.” She gave
her “love to all the family” and signed “from your [affectionate?] daughter until death.”
Her husband’s words spoke more directly to the family crisis. Writing in a shaky hand,
Reed asked his in-laws to consider “myne god of love and prince of pea[ce]” before they speak
ill of him. He acknowledged that “I know you all was mad at me for takin[g] your daughter but I
can’t help it if she wants to go or stay with me.” He confirmed that he loved Sally “as I love my
life and… she never shal[l] suf[f]er as long as I can work for her.” He signed off “yours until
de[a]th.” His pleas must have not overcome their troubles, for one month later he was
committed to jail to await trial.
The judge instructed the jury “that if they believe… that the woman taken by the prisoner
was over 16 years of age, and went with the prisoner of her own free will and accord, they must
find for the prisoner.” On June 1878, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, freeing Reed and
Sally back to their homestead. Whether or not they found happiness in their future, they left
behind a revealing glimpse of family authority in postbellum Virginia.