Harvey Washington Walter (1819-1878) was a native of Ohio, lawyer in Holly Springs, Miss., and a Confederate Army officer. The collection contains letters and correspondence of Walter. Included are personal and official letters from Confederate General Braxton Bragg, on whose staff Walter served as judge advocate, concerning cases for court martial and inquiry, points of military law, and Bragg's efforts to collect and preserve papers for his defense if needed in connection with his military operations. Other correspondence includes wartime letters from relatives at home in Holly Springs, Miss., describing depredations by Union forces, several letters from Walter's sons at school at the University of Mississippi, postwar correspondence with General William Tecumseh Sherman, a childhood friend, primarily concerning political appointments and favors, and miscellaneous letters from Nathan Bedford Forrest, L. Q. C. (Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus) Lamar, and Stephen D. (Stephen Dill) Lee. Also included are a bill of sale for a slave, 1851; family letters; Walter's diary, 1849, of a trip by rail, steamboat, and coach from Mississippi up the eastern seaboard to Boston, Mass., returning by way of the Great Lakes and Michigan; and the diary of Walter's wife, Fredonia Brown Walter, 1850-1852, possibly kept at Holly Springs, giving details about her daily life.
