Special Collections Research Center

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A letter from a Union soldier, Charles C., at Yorktown, Virginia, to an unknown recipient, discusses his anxiety in preparation for the siege of Yorktown.

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A letter from Charles E. Turner, Yorktown, to "Brother". He describes the skirmishes at Blackwater and Suffolk, Virginia.

Content Description

Letter dated 1862 April 18 from Camp on Chessman's Creek addressed to his parents. Everett was in "I" company of the 7th New Jersey Volunteers, 3rd Brigade of Hooker's Division. He describes his unit's travel to Norfolk and then the Yorktown area and the anticipation of a hard battle with the Confederate troops who are assumed to be numerous and well fortified.

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Letter from Frank C. Park, an Union soldier, while in Williamsburg, to his family about the Battle of Williamsburg. He served with the 10th Massachusetts Regiment. He describes the fighting, the dead and the wounded. Typescript is included.

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This collection consists of letters written by George L. Hersum, Sergeant in the 5th New Hampshire Infantry, Company A, to his wife, while he was stationed in or near Alexandria, Richmond, Yorktown, Harrison's Landing, and Falmouth, Virginia.

Content Description

The civil war diary of Horatio S. Carnrite, who enlisted in the 184th New York Infantry regiment. This collection contains the 134 page diary along with a 56 page handwritten transcription. There are a few mentions of a Black cavalry regiment and also of a raid into Confederate territory by Union soldiers led by a Black woman.

Content warning: contains language that is derogatory towards enslaved people, as well as towards people of color.

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A letter by Johnston .H. Skelly, New Kent Court House, to his wife about the Battle of Williamsburg and the Peninsular Campaign. He witnesses the burning of the Merrimack [CSS Virginia].

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One notebook of Civil War letters of Capt. Joseph B. Gorsuch, Ohio Volunteers, including an account of the siege of Vicksburg, dated 1863-1864. Typed copies. The location of originals is unknown.

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A letter from Union soldier Mowrey Colwell, Washington, D.C., to William Winson, no place, written on the paper of the 12th Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, with a print of the U.S. Capitol. He describes the area as "laide wast" and discusses camp life and his pay.

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A letter from Nelson Deraino, 20 miles from Richmond, Virginia, to his aunt and uncle, describing the Battle of Williamsburg. Deraino was a member of the 70th New York Infantry. A typescript is included.

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Letter from Oliver H. Sargent in Yorktown Plains, Virginia to a friend, Hoyt, regarding a battle during the opening seige of Yorktown in which his unit, the 22nd Massachusetts participated. The collection includes a cabinet photograph of Oliver Sargent in uniform. Sargent was possibly killed in action by a Confederate landmine, one of the first Union soldiers to be killed in that manner.

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A letter from R.H. Woolworth, Union soldier, Camp near Falmouth, Va. to his sister Anna Woolworth, Westchester, Penn. He relates news of troop movements, bridges, Fredericksburg inhabitants, and the rumored removal of General McCall.

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Two letters from a Union soldier, S.L. Allen, to his mother, about the burning of Hampton, Virginia and fighting of the troops against the Rebels on the Peninsula. He worries that his mother is going alone to New York.

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A letter written by a Union soldier, Burt H., to "Charles" while at camp near Yorktown, Virginia. He notes that "we have been making a new road so we can take the rebels... they say it is a harder place to take than Richmond," and "there is one hundred and a thousand men with us and McClellan at the head..."

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A letter from a Maryland-native soldier, Renton, while in Franklin County, North Carolina about going home.

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A letter from a soldier, 1st Mass. Mounted Riders, Williamsburg, Va., to his sweetheart, Catherine G. Cooke, Richmond, Mass., regarding his reenlistment. He hopes that the war won't last any longer than 15 months more.

Scope and Contents The letter from Carl B., camp at Beverly Ford, Virginia, to Uncle George, no place, describes his three pen and ink sketches. The drawings depict the camp reading room, a black man attached to the Brigade Headquarters carrying water, and a humorous incident involving 11 conscripts who had arrived for the 118th P.Vs. and 18th and 22nd Mass. Regt. He looks forward to a camp dance. He rejoices over Union possession of Morris Island and the attack on Ft. Sumter. He urges Charleston be burned and...

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This collection consists of two letters from a Union soldier, signed as "Mac." The first letter is addressed to "Friend Harry" and dated December 12, 1861. Written from Camp Hooker, it details the end of a Rebel blockade after the shelling of a Rebel battery by a Union gunboat. The second letter, which is undated, is incomplete, but provides a detailed description of an unknown combat operation. Mac was possibly a member of the 1st Massachusetts.