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While Jackson's Brigade was stationed at Fairfax Court House, Company I of the 4th Virginia Infantry (the Liberty Hall Volunteers) was assigned to guard General Gustavus Smith's headquarters (Bean, 64).

A "battery" was a unit of organization for the field artillery. A battery usually consisted of four or six guns. See http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~cjt1/artillery.html for more information about Civil War artillery.

Andrew refers to the Confederate victory at the First Battle of Manassas, which was fought on July 21, 1861.

William N. Wilson, a fellow student at Washington College, volunteered for Company I of the 4th Virginia Infantry in June of 1861. Wilson was captured at Kernstown on March 23, 1862 and exchanged on August 5, 1862, so when this letter was written he must have just returned to the service. He was listed as a deserter after November 27, 1862 (Robertson, 4th Virginia Infantry, 81)

James J. White (1828-1893) (cf April 14, 1861, July 16, 1861) was a professor of Classics at Washington College and was commissioned as a captain when Company I was organized on June 2, 1861. He resigned on September 6, 1861 and returned to teaching at the College (Bean 11; Robertson, Fourth Virginia Infantry, 1, 80). Henry Ruffner Morrison, also a teacher, was elected captain of the company on September 12, 1861. Morrison was one of those captured at Kernstown on March 23, 1862, but was exchanged on August 5 of that year. He eventually resigned from the service and died in 1879 (Robertson, Fourth Virginia Infantry, 65).

William Brooks died of a cerebral or spinal disorder on July 16, 1861. See Andrew Brooks' July 16, 1861 letter to his mother, as well as James White's letter to James Brooks on July 16, 1861; both letters broke the news of William's death to the family.

John D. Brooks, perhaps a cousin of the Brooks brothers, enlisted in Company H of the Fifth Virginia Infantry on April 19, 1861. After serving five months as regimental quartermaster clerk, Brooks was promoted to first sergeant in September of 1861. In April of 1862, he was transferred to Company E, and he was promoted to captain in 1864. He was paroled at Appomattox Court House in April of 1865 as Captain, Assistant Quartmaster, 2nd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.