Civil War collection, 1861-1868.
Title:
Civil War collection, 1861-1868.
This assortment of Civil War papers is composed of numerous individual collections from the Civil War period. The majority of the items are letters from Union soldiers to their families and friends at home. Some of the collections are substantive: the soldier is identified by regiment and hometown and many of his letters have been preserved. Most of the collections, however, are more miscellaneous and consist of one or two letters, a variety of official papers, memorabilia, incomplete diaries, reminiscences, ship records, and medical records. The more substantive collections are arranged in alphabetical order by the name of the principal writer or recipient. These include the papers of Henry Baker of Sanborton; Rev. Caleb Davis Bradlee (1831-1897), a minister in Boston, Mass.; Daniel E. Burbank of Fitzwilliam, N.H.; the Converse Family; William P. Corthell of South Abington, Mass.; Fredrick A. Dickinson of Deerfield, Mass.; Alonzo Hill; Henry L. Jeslin of Fitchburg, Mass.; George Fredrick Jourdan and his wife, of Grafton, Mass.; George G. Kimball; John G. Park; Hon. Eron N. Thomas of (Rease?), N.Y.; William Thompson ( -1877) of Lancaster, Mass.; the Vaughan and Howe families; Charles Ward; and Jonathan Gibbs Warren. The papers of John Emerson Anderson (1833- ) contain a one hundred eighty-four (184) page memoir, "Reminiscences of the Civil War," in which Anderson, a Union soldier, describes General William T. Sherman's occupation of Atlanta and march to Savannah, as well as a collection of his letters. The papers of William Sever Lincoln (1811-1889) include papers taken from Confederate homes during the last days of the war, as well as copies made by Lincoln of two soldiers' diaries, muster rolls for the Confederate army, miscellaneous general orders and correspondence, and a copy of an 1862 Confederate inquiry into the loss of Roanoke Island, which includes a response by Henry Alexander Wise (1806-1876). These papers were then donated to the American Antiquarian Society. The collection contains miscellaneous papers, arranged chronologically, including plans for a Union redoubt to be built at New Bern, N.C.; a consolidated morning report prepared by Brig. General John Sedgwick (1813-1864) at general headquarters in Fair Oaks, Va., in 1862; discharge papers; court-martial orders; a series of detailed orders by Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870) pertaining to the Battle of Mobile Bay, August 1864; and a "Morning Report of Marine Guard Stationed on Board U.S. Steamer 'Shenendoah' ... Oct. 29th 1866." Included also in the collection are a partial diary of an unidentified Union soldier stationed at Fort Pike, La., 1863; materials removed by Lucy Chase (1822-1909) from headquarters of General Grant at City Point, Va., 1865 (see the Chase Family, Papers, c. 1787-c. 1915); miscellaneous papers pertaining to the Confederate States of America (much of this material was removed from the Chase Family, Papers, c. 1787-c. 1915); and typed copies of correspondence of Joseph Christmas Ives (1828-1868), a West Point graduate who served as Jefferson Davis' aide-de-camp. Dr. John George Metcalf (1801-1892), a physician in Mendon, Mass., a member of the American Antiquarian Society, a town officer, and state senator, 1878-1879, collected letters and Civil War memorabilia, 1861-1865, for his scrapbook entitled "The Irrepressible Conflict." Several Mendon and Milford men, serving in the Union Army and stationed with their regiments in various areas of the war zone, wrote to Dr. Metcalf during the war. They occasionally enclosed such memorabilia as Confederate bills and bank certificates, family letters removed from Confederate soldiers, Confederate pass forms, printed tracts, and government papers (e.g., draft exemptions). Several letters of soldiers were written from Confederate prison camps and bear printed slogans. The Union Army correspondents include Dr. Francis Leland (1817-1867), a Milford, Mass., physician and surgeon; the Rev. Carlton Albert Staples (1827-1904), minister in Lexington, Mass.; Nathan Wheelock (1843- ) and Charles Henry Wheelock (1840-1862) of Mendon, Mass.; and Dr. Rowse Reynolds Clarke ( -1888), a physician in Whitinsville, Mass. There are several excellent letters containing much information relative to camp life (especially the Potomac military camp), medical treatments, supplies, and illnesses; marches, skirmishes, and battles; dry-goods supplies received from Massachusetts volunteer groups; prison life, scenes of slavery. Several letters written by Dr. Leland detail a surgeon's day in military camp, Leland's visit with Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) in 1861, and the carnage on battlefields in Virginia. Dr. Clarke wrote of political wrangling in 1862 between the provisional governor of North Carolina and Gen. Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824- 1881) concerning fugitive slaves and instruction of black refugees. Charles Henry Wheelock commented negatively on promotion techniques within the 15th Mass. Regiment in 1862. The collection also contains approximately three hundred fifty (350) letters from Southern women (and a few men) seeking to secure employment in the Department of the Confederate States Treasury. The majority of the letters are addressed to Christopher Gustavus Memminger (1803-1888) as Secretary of the Treasury and a few include an endorsement from Varina Howell (Mrs. Jefferson) Davis (1826-1909). Some of the women wrote detailed letters explaining their economic status and family situation. Two of the folio volumes are account books of commissary supplies for the Confederacy. The volume marked "Confederate States, 1863-1864" on the spine is indexed and actually includes entries for 1865. The volume entitled "Invoices of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores, 1861-1863," which includes a great variety of entries dated through 1866, was kept by Capt. Frederick Clinton Humphreys (1822- ). He was commander of Military Storekeeper Ordnance first at the Baton Rouge, La., arsenal and then at the Columbus, Ga., arsenal. Many of the accounts record supplies sent to Col. Moses Hanibal Wright (1836-1886). The third folio volume contains newspaper clippings that had been pasted into the second folio volume, but have since been removed. The octavo volume contains copies of letters written by the following Union soldiers from 1861 to 1865: Izenart P. Cushman (1827-1863), George P. Burrows (1840-1879), Alonzo S. Cushman (1843-1864), and David F. Cushman (1840?- ).
ArchivalResource:
4 boxes.3 v. ; folio.1 v. ; octavo.
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