George Stanley Dewey was born on 20 September 1841, in New Bern, N.C. He was the son of Oliver Stanley Dewey (1807-1884) and Matilda Sparrow Dewey (1816-1875). Dewey attended Yale University from 1859 to 1861. In May 1861, he left college to volunteer as a member of Company H, 1st North Carolina Cavalry. He enlisted as a private, but was promoted to the rank of captain in 1864. He held this rank until his death on the battlefield of Chamberlain's Run, Dinwiddie Court House, Va., on 31 March 1865. O. S. Dewey and Matilda Sparrow Dewey's daughter Emily Hall Dewey (1845-1930) married Jesse Davis Claypoole. The collection includes letters from George Stanley Dewey describing his experiences as a member of Company H, 1st North Carolina Cavalry, 1863-1865. Letters discuss his life as a soldier, his regiment's movements, and a few battle skirmishes. Also included are a few letters from relatives and family friends. An addition contains letters of Emily Hall Dewey Claypoole, her husband Jesse Davis Claypoole, his sister Carolina Claypoole, and other Dewey and Claypoole family members. Letters, 1933-1990, are chiefly of Emily Dewey Mitchell (b. 1909) of Chapel Hill, N.C., before and after she married Lawrence London (1908- ) in 1936. These letters discuss family matters, news of friends, travel in Europe, and news about Chapel Hill and life at the University of North Carolina.
