Manuscripts
1861-1863
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Miller family correspondence
Manuscripts
The letters between Francis C. Miller and Agnes F. Voris, from 1861 October to 1865 October, document a budding romance between the two. His letters provide weekly updates on the war news and rumors, give very detailed accounts of the camp life and war experiences, personal feelings, religious reflections, and news about the fate of James C. Voris. The letters contain accounts of the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Gettysburg Campaign. In her letters to "Frank," Agnes describes her Presbyterian congregation, rather intense politicking in the community, and discusses war news, including General Robert E. Lee's invasion. There are two four-month gaps in the correspondence, from January to April of 1863 and 1864. The letters of James C. Voris, to his family, from 1854 to 1862, describe his time at school before the war, the minutia of camp life, his stay at the Mansion House Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, and accounts of the military operations, especially the Battles of the South Mountain and Antietam. There is also some post-war family correspondence, including letters by the Millers to their daughter Kittie, from 1888 to 1900.
mssHM 68602-68684
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Transcriptions (typescript), 1862-1863
Manuscripts
Colyer's Civil War correspondence, chiefly his letters to his parents, siblings, and friends in Chittenango. The letters discuss war, political, and family news and contain detailed factual accounts of the camp life -- rations, barracks, soldiers' finances, conscripts and substitutes, desertions, drinking, courts martial, hospital, prisons, demobilization, etc.
mssHM 28943-29056
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1863
Manuscripts
Correspondence and miscellaneous papers of George C. Harlan, chiefly covering his Civil War experience. The bulk of the collection consists of his letters to his mother Margaret Simmons Hart Howell Harlan and younger brother Edward S. Harlan. George C. Harlan regularly reported to his "Philadelphia headquarters" war news and rumors and recounted the details of his hospital work, including the numerous challenges he faced in his effort to keep his camp and field hospitals up to the "hospital standards of Pennsylvania," and described his patients, colleagues, commanders, fellow officers, soldiers, escaped enslaved persons, and Southern secessionists. His letters contain accounts of the military operations and events he witnessed, including the capture of blockade-runners, the rampage of the Confederate armored warships, the Monitor and the Merrimack, the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, and the siege of Petersburg in 1864. The letters written from Confederate prisons describe Harlan's capture and his medical work in Confederate hospitals. Also included are letters by Ely McClellan (1834-1893), H.W. Rivers, surgeon-in-chief of Kautz Cavalry Division, and others, relating to Harlan's capture and efforts made to secure his release; Harlan's military and professional records, including his Navy commissions signed by Gideon Welles and his muster-out roll; letters of recommendation; pension documents; his obituary, and resolutions by veteran and professional societies and associations on the occasion of his death in November 1909. Also included is a copy of Harlan's book Memoir of Dr. William Fisher Norris, published in 1902.
mssHM 69448-69628
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1858-1861
Manuscripts
Correspondence and miscellaneous papers of George C. Harlan, chiefly covering his Civil War experience. The bulk of the collection consists of his letters to his mother Margaret Simmons Hart Howell Harlan and younger brother Edward S. Harlan. George C. Harlan regularly reported to his "Philadelphia headquarters" war news and rumors and recounted the details of his hospital work, including the numerous challenges he faced in his effort to keep his camp and field hospitals up to the "hospital standards of Pennsylvania," and described his patients, colleagues, commanders, fellow officers, soldiers, escaped enslaved persons, and Southern secessionists. His letters contain accounts of the military operations and events he witnessed, including the capture of blockade-runners, the rampage of the Confederate armored warships, the Monitor and the Merrimack, the Peninsular Campaign of 1862, and the siege of Petersburg in 1864. The letters written from Confederate prisons describe Harlan's capture and his medical work in Confederate hospitals. Also included are letters by Ely McClellan (1834-1893), H.W. Rivers, surgeon-in-chief of Kautz Cavalry Division, and others, relating to Harlan's capture and efforts made to secure his release; Harlan's military and professional records, including his Navy commissions signed by Gideon Welles and his muster-out roll; letters of recommendation; pension documents; his obituary, and resolutions by veteran and professional societies and associations on the occasion of his death in November 1909. Also included is a copy of Harlan's book Memoir of Dr. William Fisher Norris, published in 1902.
mssHM 69448-69628
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1853-1863
Manuscripts
The collection, which is arranged chronologically, contains mostly correspondence from Gustavus F. Jocknick to his friend John Wilkin. In the first two letters, which are written from San Francisco, Jocknick talks about San Francisco and his life in California. In his letters of 1860, Jocknick talks about his attempt to find work in New Jersey, the news of the upcoming war, and secession, the possibility of enlisting in the army, Abraham Lincoln, James G. Bennett and Nehemiah Perry. In his letters from 1861 to 1865, Jocknick talks about the impending war, his decision to enlist, William H. Seward, John C. Ten Eyck, Nathaniel Banks, and the election of Abraham Lincoln; he also talks about his enlistment in the 3rd Regiment of New York Cavalry under James Van Alen and John Mix. Jocknick also talks much about the movements of the armies and possible battles and mentions specifically: George McClellan, Charles P. Stone, Ambrose Burnside, Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin F. Butler, August V. Kautz, G. T. Beauregard, George Mead, and Winfield Scott Hancock. Jocknick also mentions the Emancipation Proclamation and his fellow soldiers' reaction to it which were mostly negative.
mssHM 72615-72667
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1862-1863
Manuscripts
In the letters to his wife, John B. Burrud, shared his war experiences, political views, religious sentiments, and intense longing for his home and family. The letters, many written over two or three days, cover the regiment's organization in Auburn, New York in September 1862; training in New York City; the voyage to Louisiana; the 1863 campaigns in Louisiana and duty at Morgan City, Bayou Boeuf, and Pattersonville; Burrud's month-long stay in St. James Hospital in New Orleans; the Red River and the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1864, including the battles of Pleasant Hill (April 9), the third Winchester (September 19), Fisher's Hill (September 22-23), and Cedar Creek (October 19); duty at Middletown and Winchester, Virginia (1864 October27-1865, April), and Washington, D.C. (1865 April-June); the Grand Review (1865 May 23-25); and duty at Savannah and Hawkinsville, Georgia (1865 June-November). In addition to the detailed accounts of the campaigns and battles and discussion of the commanding officers (Weitzel, Banks, Grant, Sheridan, and others), Burrud's letters contain descriptions of Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia countryside, especially historical sites (e.g. the remains of the Jamestown church; the place of John Brown's execution; Blakely, a farm near Charles Town, West Virginia that belonged to George Washington's family, museums, public building, and gardens of Washington, D.C., or a Creek Indian mounds in Pulaski County), and natural wonders and various species of wildlife. He also reports, often in elaborate detail, encounters with residents, particularly enslaved people, contrabands, and women ("Yaller Gals"), who flocked to the Union lines as well as members of freedmen's aid associations and Union sympathizers. Burrud shares his thoughts on a wide range of subjects: slavery ("most damnable man degrading, soul killing, God dishonoring Institution that ever was permitted to exist on the face of the earth"); the Union cause ("the good of Mankind and the world and the Maintenance of the best and the Only true form of Government of the face of the Earth"); the Confederate government ("Jeff Davis's Empire"); Copperheads ("Political Miscreants"), African American soldiers whom he considered superior to white soldiers from "9 month regiments" and substitutes; guerrilla warfare, and race relations. He also at length discusses personal concerns and troubles of "the Boys" in his company, including an outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases and an alarming rate of marital infidelity that seems to have affected most of soldiers' wives of Wayne County; the role of women in the war effort; news from home (including his profound disappointment in the lack of patriotism and respect for the Union uniform on the part of the people of his hometown); war and political news; recruiting and draft; home front, religious revival in Marion; etc. Burrud, a staunch Republican, avidly followed political news, especially the New York state elections of 1863 and the 1864 elections. The letters also contain news from the 111th Regiment of New York Infantry where his brother William G. Burrud and his brother-in-law, Joseph Newton served as privates. An accomplished musician, Burrud also at length discusses music and army bands. Three pocket diaries cover the years of 1863, 1864, and 1865; the entries contain accounts of campaign and battles, duties, detachments, and details; and war and political news.
mssHM 75115-75334