Irving A. Buck of Front Royal, Va., served in the Confederate Army. The collection contains typed transcriptions of papers relating primarily to Buck, including letters from him and his brother, Alvin, written while in the Confederate Army, to their sisters, Lucy and Nellie, at home, and a few to and from friends. Irving and Alvin enlisted in the 17th Virginia Regiment, but when their war-time letters begin, in 1862, they were on detached service as clerks in the headquarters of General P. G. T. Beauregard, First Corps, Army of the Potomac. Alvin seems to have remained in Beauregard's headquarters throughout the war, but Irving was commissioned and became adjutant to General Patrick R. Cleburne, serving in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia. The letters generally describe only the easier side of the war until Irving was wounded in September 1864 near Atlanta. They contain information on the life of young staff officers, and references to the higher-ranking officers with whom they were associated, particularly Cleburne and his corps commander, William J. Hardee. Included on microfilm only are three letters written after the war.
