Special Collections Research Center

Scope and Contents

Telegram, 1862 May 4, J. J. Astor, Yorktown, Va. to Pelatiah Perit, [New York, N. Y.]. 3 p. on 2 leaves ; 22 cm. Astor is writing to Perit who is president of New York City Chamber of Commerce to tell him about the evacuation of Confederate forces from Yorktown, Va. and tells him to use the information as he sees fit.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Captain George Bouton to his seven-year-old daughter Mollie from Yorktown, Virginia during the American Civil War. He describes the condition of Yorktown as "an old and dilapidated town", General Daniel Harvey Hill as a commander, describing some of the local families in Yorktown including the Fry family, and having a "free Negro from Madison County for a servant, a very indifferent cook & indifferent servant [in] everyday."

Scope and Contents This collection contains letters from Cassimere Churchill, a member of Company E, 9th Cavalry Regiment, New York, to his family while stationed in New York, Washington, D.C., and Virginia during the Civil War. He participated in the battles of Yorktown, Virginia, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as an artillery guard. He includes descriptions of Yorktown, Va., Manassas, Va., and Washington, D.C. He writes about camp life and the surrounding area, as well as his opinions of the war and the Union's...

Scope and Contents Papers, 1826-1872, of Charles Dimmock and Charles Henry Dimmock. Includes sketch of the life of Charles H. Dimmock; a manuscript volume containing a journal of a voyage from Norfolk to Madeira and farm journal of "Shabby Hall," Gloucester County, Va.; travel diary, 1826, of Charles Dimmock concerning travels in Venice and Germany; and papers concerning the service of Charles Henry Dimmock in the engineer's corps in the Confederate Army, some of which include work at Yorktown, Va. and having...

Scope and Contents

Letters, 28 May 1861 and 15 April and 11 May 1862, written by Daniel Harvey Hill to his wife Isabella (Morrison) Hill, describing preparations for battle at Yorktown, Va. and building fortifications over Lord Cornwallis' earthworks; the Peninsular Campaign; morale of his soldiers; and his children. Includes a printed circular, 19 April 1865, to Hill, urging soldiers not to desert during truce negotiations.

Scope and Contents This collection consists of correspondence, sketches, and other material mostly related to Union General David Allen Russell during the Civil War. Included in the papers are letters from the battlefield, hand-drawn sketches of the battlefield in Yorktown, Virginia and near Petersburg on the Appomattox River, issues of the Baltimore Clipper and the Philadelphia Inquirer  newspapers regarding Fort Monroe and the Battle of...

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of a letter written by Charles P. Shepard, a private in Co. E, 1st United States and a member of Berdan's Sharpshooters, to his parents during the Siege of Yorktown. The writer describes the food given to the soldiers, artillery shelling, and the prospect of a coming battle.

Scope and Contents

Letter from T.S. Hodgson, a soldier from Company E, 105th Regiment,  Pennsylvania Volunteers,  to his uncle describing the town of Yorktown, Virginia during the Siege of Yorktown in the American Civil War. He described how he just go out of the hospital, firing shots against the rebels at the pickets, General McClellan as the head of the army, and not receiving a package from his uncle.