United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.

Scope and Contents Thirteen letters written in May, June, and July 1862 by John Q. Adams to his wife Sarah ("Kate") from military campsites at Shiloh, Tenn., and in northern Mississippi, specifically the areas of Pope, Farmington, Corinth, Booneville and Big Springs. The letters contain information concerning family matters and letters Adams received from and wrote to other people. Throughout the letters he gives information about the life of a soldier, quotes prices in a local store, writes about foraging for...

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Diaries of farmer, teacher, minister in North Mississippi, 46 volumes.

Scope and Contents This collection consists of Garrett Smith Ainsworth's memorandum book (diary), October 2, 1860-Dec. 31, 1861; diary, Jan. 1, 1862-April 28, 1863; and pocket diary, Aug. 24, 1862-April 27, 1863. They mainly recount his experiences while a private in Company A, 15th Illinois Volunteer Regiment, United States Army. Included are details of conditions in camp, particularly accidents and illness among the troops, especially the malaria from which Ainsworth suffered. He discusses day-to-day...

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Letter from Ira F. Gensel describing burning of Westover Plantation, purportedly "the house of the rebel that fired the first gun at Fort Sumter."

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1865 letter from unknown civilian to mother re: transport of cotton bales from Eastport, MS.

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Letter to “Friend James” from “John A. Steven.” Address to reply: 2nd Lieutenant, Co. E, 58th U.S. Infantry, Natchez, Miss., dated May 22, 1864.

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Letter from “Henry” of the 122nd Illinois Infantry Brigade to his sister, 186u.

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The collection includes materials collected and produced by A. P. Andrews, in his effort to substantiate Sylvester Magee’s claim to have been an adult enslaved man that served in the Civil War. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings and journal articles, research notes produced by Andrews, photographs, and reel-to-reel tapes of oral histories of Magee and some of his family members.

Scope and Contents The bulk of this collection consists of 69 letters, dated from February 2, 1862 to June 28, 1864, from Granville W. Belcher to his wife, Mary Caroline Belcher. Ten (10) letters, dated from January 13/18, 1862 to August 26, 1864, between Mary Caroline; her brother, Washington Dickinson; her nephew, William H. Dickinson; Granville; and Granville's brother Charles Belcher make up the remainder of the collection. Granville and Washinton served in the Virginia 57th Infantry Regiment, William was...

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Original and photocopies of letters predominately between Mary E. and Andrew Burwell. A handful of letters are to Andrew’s family. Also in the collection are a photocopy of a lock of hair and poems.

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Memoir of Chambers' service in 46th Mississippi Infantry.

Form of Material Photocopies and transcripts of letters written by P.H. Craven to his mother. The letters written between April 20, 1861 and August 14, 1862 discuss Craven's service with the 19th Virginia Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia, in such locales as Harper's Ferry, Culpepper Court House, Richmond, Fairfax Court House, and camps near Mechanicsville, Yorktown, and the Chickahominy River. Other letters, dated 1859 and 1865, were written from Franklin, Virginia.The original letters are in...

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Journal kept by Confederate soldier in Army of Northern Virginia. and 3 transcribed letters.

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Letters from Union Brigadier General Dawes concerning the Battle of Gettysburg.

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Photocopies and transcripts of 8 letters written by a soldier in Company "C" of the 16th Mississippi Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia.

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This collection contains a comprehensive and objective look at the Civil War in Mississippi. Anyone researching this time period in Mississippi's history would find ample information. Students of history and journalism would benefit from the writings of Mr. Fleming.

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Letters to Godman in Terry, Mississippi regarding Civil War and Reconstruction.

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Service records and family documents of two Union soldiers from Pennsylvania.

Scope and Contents The bulk of this collection consists of 22 letters. Originals, copies, and transcriptions are included. The letters were written between March 21, 1860, and November 6, 1864, by John Wesley Hollensed to his wife, Nancy King Hollensed, in Brookhaven, Mississippi. John's letters regularly express his love and devotion to his wife and children. He pleads for letters from home and seems desperate for news of family and friends. Hollensed speaks of his health and his desire to come home on...

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Typescript of 24-page diary kept by Captain John South "Bud" Lewis during the American Civil War. Captain Lewis served with the 16th Mississippi Infantry, Co. K (Wilkinson Rifles). Most of the events recorded therein take place in Virginia. The battles at Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor are covered in some detail.

Scope and Contents This document is an autobiography written by Confederate Brigadier-General Mark Perrin Lowrey on September 30, 1867, at Ripley, Mississippi, to Colonel Calhoun Benham. This was sent to Colonel Benham for use in a book he was writing. It deals with Lowrey's early life through the end of his military career in the Civil War.General Lowrey begins his autobiography by telling about his birth, siblings, and move to Mississippi. He then skips to the 1840's when, during the Mexican War,...

Scope and Contents A letter dated October 15, 1862, from Andrew J. Patrick near Holly Springs, Mississippi, to his father and his wife. To his father he writes about the October 3-4, conflict with Union troops at Corinth, Mississippi, and the death or capture of several members of his regiment, including his friend, David Haigler, from whom he had not heard since leaving Corinth. In this letter Patrick reveals his concern for his family's well-being in his absence or in the case of his death. To his wife,...

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Family correspondence of Confederate soldier in Company "F"/"Marion's Men."

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Research collection about leader of Quantrill's Raiders in Missouri.

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Letters from a Confederate soldier with the Mississippi Volunteers.

Scope and Contents This letter was written by Milton W. "Milt" Shaw, a member of the 5th Iowa Volunteer Regiment, on March 10, 1863, to his friend Alf Giague in Birmingham, Iowa. Shaw was on board the naval transport Von Phul as a participant in General Grant's Yazoo Pass Expedition. He expected shortly to enter the Yazoo Pass and travel via Moon Lake, the Coldwater River, the Tallahatchie River, and the Sunflower River into the Yazoo River. A note on the envelope indicates that Shaw had been writing...

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Letter from Samuel Shepard to his family. The letter is believed to have been written during the Civil War.

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Civil War memoir by William P. Shreve relating to his William P. Shreve's military career in the American Civil War dating between June, 1861, and February, 1864.

Scope and Contents This collection consists of fifteen handwritten letters, three pages from Thomas Spight's diary, two envelopes and a death announcement for Mattie Gilliam. Eight of the letters are dated from December 14, 1860, to February 5, 1865, and were written by Thomas Spight to Virginia Barnett, his cousin, whom he later married. Spight wrote the letters while serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The letters were written from encampments in Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, and possibly...

Scope and Contents This collection consists of a typescript copy of the Civil War Memoir of Louisa Dunmore Mott Van Buren, and research notes of the original collector of the memoir, Paul Johnston. The typescript is approximately eight pages long and contains that portion of Van Buren's diary that relates to the Civil War activities which she observed August 24-25, 1861, in the area of Washington, D.C.The memoir begins with comments on the author's arrival in "Washington City." Also discussed are...