Manuscripts
Correspondence between Samuel F. Gay and his father Jabez J. R. Gay (born 1809). Samuel F. Gay’s letters were chiefly written while in camps in Washington, D.C., Downsville, Maryland, Warrenton, and Brandy Station, Virginia, with several letters describing the battles of Williamsburg, Antietam, and Fredericksburg, and the Peninsular and Rapidan campaigns. The letters depict various aspects of life as a Union soldier including officers, Confederate prisoners, payments, rations, reviews and drills, diseases, and medical care. Also present is information on movements of the troops and discussion of war and political news. Jabez R. Gay’s letters contain news from home, discussion of political issues of the day, such as slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation and the nature and course of the war. Also included are letters from Edwin C. Bragg to Jabez J. R. and Samuel F. Gay, including an account of the Battle of Roanoke Island in February 1862. There are also individual letters that concern other family members and Gay's post-war life. Ephemera includes a clipping from the New York Herald, 1862, containing an article on the battle of Fredericksburg, and a printed sheet containing: A poem composed by a pious woman, soon after the taking of Cape-Breton, the first time : upon Christian love and peace. joined with united fervent prayer, / Composed by Mrs. Deborah Field, 1745, printed by N. Coverly, Boston, between 1805 and 1824.
mssHM 47984-48000
