Sparks family papers

Letters from Michael R. Reed, William Sparks, and Clara Jane Cavitt to Minerva Sparks Reed; also documents relating to the Sparks family.

Michael Reed's letters describe the regiment's march through Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, the minutia of camp life, and encounters with Union prisoners. He at length discusses conscription, substitutes, and desertions, and duly reported war news, often rather distorted (thus he reported rumors of a complete Confederate victory at Gettysburg and Vicksburg).

William Sparks' letters were written during the siege of Vicksburg and blockade of Galveston. They contain information about camp life, diseases, (especially the outbreak of yellow fever), conscripts, Methodist preaching in Galveston, war news, and discussion of Confederate politics.

The letters of Clara Jane Cavitt and other papers of the Sparks family document life in Texas in 1850-1860s, including charity and war efforts, reaction to the conscript law of April 1862, and discussion of war news.

Typewritten transcripts are available.