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American Civil War, 1861-1865

 Subject
Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings

Found in 35 Collections and/or Records:

Asa Moore Janney Forest Mills ledgers

 Collection
Identifier: MS 00358
Content Description

The Asa Moore Janney Forest Mills ledgers contains three ledgers belonging to Asa Moore Janney, a Quaker qho owned Forest Mills located in Loudoun Country, Virginia. The ledgers contain accounts of flour and other commodities Janney provided to families including African Americans as well as volunteers in the Confederate army. The ledgers tracked daily business sales and transactions along with labor expenses for the mill operation.

Dates: 1861-1875

Battle of Williamsburg prints

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01628
Scope and Contents

Five prints from various publications depicting the Battles of Williamsburg and surrounding areas including Yorktown and Big Bethel during the Peninsula Campaign conducted by the Union Army and lead by General George B. McClellan in 1862. The prints are drawings showing Union and Confederate soldiers at battle, using barns as hospitals, and marching as they advance toward Richmond.

Dates: 1871-1979

John Newton Bell Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS 00345
Content Description

The John Newton Bell papers includes personal and professional correspondence from relatives, business associates and religious figures throughout Virginia and the greater Appalachia. Letters document subject areas including the Civil War, the hospitalization of women in mental health facilities, agricultural issues, and religious matters related to the Presbyterian Church.

Dates: 1841-1882

Biddle Boggs and Mrs. B Miller correspondence

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01820
Scope and Contents

A letter from Biddle Boggs to Mrs. B. Miller discussing the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Dates: 1862 May 15

Camp Upton, Virginia letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01781
Content Description

A letter sent by a man named Andy, a solider during the Civil War, to his cousin. Andy writes that his unit recently moved into enemy country, and that their scouts captured a man from South Carolina. He goes on to say that he is paid "well" and details how others in his group are paid, as well as how much he plans to send home.

Dates: June 29, 1861

Catherine Powell letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01704
Content Description

Catherine Powell letter, 1861 June 10, to "Ellen" (assumed to be her daughter Mary Ellen Powell Adie) about the evacuation of Alexandria, Virginia after its occupation by Union forces on May 24, 1861. This letter is written from a Confederate point of view.

Dates: 1861 June 10

Civil War stereoviews

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01860
Content Description Nine stereoviews documenting the Civil War. One is from New York, five are from Virginia, two are from Charleston, South Carolina, and one is from an unknown location. The New York stereoview depicts the funeral procession for President Lincoln. The Charleston stereoviews depict ruins of a cathedral and tomb. The Virginia stereoviews depict images of various soldiers. Other stereoviews depict historical buildings and war images. An unidentified stereoview depicts a group of male laborers...
Dates: Circa 1865

Cortland Way Starr letters

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01859
Content Description Collection contains correspondence and a single photograph of Courtland Way Starr. Correspondence contains accounts from soldier Courtland Way Starr to mother in Long Island N.Y. Corrrespondence includes accounts from Harrisburg PA on June 26, 1863, recounting his experiences in the army and with the 23rd Regiment of Brooklyn. Letter to mother on July 5, 1863, from Laurel Ford in Pennsylvania describes the exhaustive, cold conditions and the harsh realities of army life. Letter to Mother...
Dates: 1863

Horace A. Derry Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01622
Scope and Contents Three page letter in which Derry writes to inform his friend Stella that he had the opportunity to spend time with a mutual friend, Sargent Talcoot and that the gentleman paid for his supper before he shipped off to Virginia from New York. Derry describes landing at Fortress Monroe and of the devastation in and around Hampton where the Rebel forces had burned the town a year before. In his closing, Derry recommends that a Mr. John Rumble stay home as the conditions for the Union troops are...
Dates: 1862 April 03

Donald MacDonald letter from 'Minnees Hill," Virginia to parents

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01633
Scope and Contents Four page letter informing his parents of his well being and fine accommodations at his encampment. As part of the 141st New York Infantry regiment and stationed among its headquarters, MacDonald states that the shelter and food is as fine as anyone could enjoy or expect. He reports that he heard news of his regiment moving in to Washington, D.C. to protect the city for the winter months and delights at that potential. Lastly, he reports on packages sent to other soldiers and the high...
Dates: 1862 December 29

George O. Ennis photograph

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01797
Scope and Contents

The photograph is of George O. Ennis, a photographer and Civil War (1861-1865) soldier in Virginia's 19th Infantry. The photograph is a carte de visite (cdV) which is a type of small photograph patented in Paris, France by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero. In the photograph, Ennis is wearing a suit with a striped bow-tie The photograph was produced in 1872 by the C.R. Rees & Co. studio in Richmond, Virginia.

Dates: 1872

Gamaliel Lyman Dwight and Sarah Helen Whitman papers

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01795
Content Description

The Gamaliel Lyman Dwight and Sarah Helen Whitman Papers contain three letters written by Gamaliel Lyman Dwight to Sarah Helen Whitman during the Civil War (1861-1865). In his first letter to Whitman, Dwight mentions a man who knew Edgar Allen Poe, a former romantic interest of Whitman. The remainder of the correspondence includes Dwight's impressions of Camp Winfield Scott, a tent encampment near Yorktown that served as the headquarters of Union General George B. McClellan.

Dates: February 1862 - August 1863

George Colt political cartoon

 Collection
Identifier: UA 422
Content Description

Print of German and English language political cartoon on newsprint by George Colt satirizing William & Mary's efforts to seek restitution from damages to campus sustained during the Civil War. In 1893 the U.S. government paid William & Mary for damages. The College is depicted as a "rebel claims monster." The print is undated, but was likely printed between 1890-1895.

Dates: Circa 1890-1895

Gideon Koiner Letter to Jonathan Koiner

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01802
Scope and Contents

One handwritten letter and envelope from Gideon Koiner to his brother Jonathan Koiner describing the 1860 election. The letter notes the political atmosphere of the day and public opinion on the matter. One standard ink letter on paper.

Dates: November 8, 1860

Gloucester Point Civil War map

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01846
Content Description

1862 Civil War map of Gloucester Point, Virginia signed by William H. Powers and Henry Andrew Black.

Dates: 1862 January 6

Lewis Hobbs Letters

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01053
Scope and Contents

Letters, 1864-1865, of Lewis Hobbs, a member of the 11th Maine Regiment during the Civil War, written to his sister, Sarah F. Hobbs. The letters are written when Hobbs' unit is near Richmond, Virginia, including during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. Topics include battles and skirmishes, injuries to soliders, and Hobbs' opinion of African-Americans. December 29, 1864 letter written on printed and colored leaflet with song "The Army and Navy for ever."

Dates: 1864-1865

Horatio S. Carnrite Diary

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01714
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.

Dates: 1864 August 29-1865 May 23

Hugh Bowen McCallum diary & sermon book

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01869
Content Description

Collection includes 1 Civil War Diary and 1 sermon book.

Dates: 1860-1864

Celia Humm letter to Joseph Paxson

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01647
Scope and Contents

One page letter from Norfolk, VA. She reports that there are twelve negroes guarding a bridge in close proximity to her and it unsettles her as a result. She does not think much of the African American guards. The remainder of her letter is in regard to the receipt and sending of correspondence between herself and the recipient.

Dates: 1863 November 15

Jamestown Island Civil War map

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01865
Content Description

A hand-drawn map of Jamestown Island in pencil and blue ink with annotations.

Dates: Circa 1860-1870

John L. Little Diary

 Collection — Small Collections Box 125, Folder: 1
Identifier: SC 01776
Content Description

One diary written in pencil and pen by John L. Little, a captain during the Civil War at the Siege of Suffolk.

Dates: 1863 - 1864

John Tyler note

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01799
Scope and Contents

The note, written in 1843 by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney and signed by President John Tyler, records the president's involvement in the discharge of Joseph Taney from Old Capitol Prison during the Civil War. The note was likely forwarded to War Secretary James Madison Porter. Includes a single sheet of paper measuring to 3" x 5" and ink prose.

Dates: 1843

Josie Brock Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01391
Content Description

Three page letter begging her friend, Sue, to go on a trip as it would please her very much. She comments that the war should not deter her as there is no risk of danger in travelling.

Dates: 1861 February 4

Andrew Knox Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01620
Scope and Contents Four page letter from Knox from Hampton, Va. near Fortress Monroe to his wife, Sarah in Ddanbury, Connecticut. He was attached to the 1st Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteers and was involved in the push to take the peninsula under McClellan's Division. His letter describes to rubble Hampton was reduced to after their shelling and anticipates that the Army would move through Yorktown and take control of it by nightfall. He also anticipated that the Army would take Richmond quickly. The...
Dates: 1862 April 5

Letter from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Miss Robie A. Phiney, Cazenovia, New York

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01631
Scope and Contents Four page letter from an unnamed author to her sister. In it, she references family or friends who are under orders to march, anticipating a battle soon as a result. She also references the battle at Fort Donelson. Other portions of her letter refer to visits and communication with mutually known individuals, a literary club begun by women in her area in which she participates, and her dismay at the notion that her sister wants to buy wine glasses as she prefers her sibling to be a...
Dates: 1862 March 09