Skip to main content

Yorktown (Va.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865

 Subject
Subject Source: Local sources

Found in 26 Collections and/or Records:

John Jacob Astor Telegram to Pelatiah Perit

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00463
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.

Dates: 1862 May 4

George Bouton Letter to Mollie Bouton

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00617
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."

Dates: 1861 July 21

Charles C. Rensie Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00345
Scope and Contents

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.

Dates: 1862 April 29

Charles E. Turner Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00334
Scope and Contents

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

Dates: 1863 June 14

Cassimere Churchill Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00406
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...
Dates: 1861-1862

Civil War Collection

 Collection
Identifier: Mss. 39.1 C76
Scope and Contents The Civil War Collection is an artificial collection of material, chiefly 1861-1865, pertaining to the American Civil War including items from both Union and Confederate forces. The collection includes official correspondence, general and special orders, descriptions of campaigns and battles, articles concerning the war, and artifacts. There are pardons, poems, songs, autographs, maps, muster rolls, pen and ink sketches of camp life, engineers' drawings, and a memorandum of signals used by...
Dates: 1856-1940

Charles H. Dimmock Papers

 Collection
Identifier: Mss. 65 D59
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...
Dates: 1826-1872

Edward R. Yoder Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00349
Scope and Contents

A letter from Edward R. Yoder to his cousin E.J. Ransome describing a school in Yorktown, Virginia, where a Northern Quaker, Nancy Battie, and other teachers are educating freedmen. He also tells of an attempt to recruit these freedmen for the army and local home defense unit. He remarks on the raising of a bell, which once belonged to a Yorktown church, in the schoolhouse.

Dates: 1864 October 25

Franklin Moore Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00347
Scope and Contents

A letter from Franklin Moore to his mother, describes the wound his friend Andrew Read received from an artillery shell. He speaks of a fight at Yorktown being the last one his unit will see.

Dates: 1862 May 3

Maximilian Hartman Diaries

 Collection
Identifier: Mss. Acc. 2007.79
Scope and Contents Two diaries written by Civil War soldier Maximilian Hartman are included as well as a transcription of their contents.  The first diary begins in September of 1861 and continues until February, 1862.  The second diary continues from February, 1862 and ends in May of that same year.  The diaries delineate the travels and military actions of the 93rd Regiment from Pennsylvania as it passes through Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Virginia.  Of local interest are the descriptions of events in...
Dates: 1861-1862

Henry M. Hoyt Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00341
Dates: 1862 November 13

Henry T. Douglas Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00355
Scope and Contents

A letter from Henry T. Douglas to Donald W. Davis, American Legion of Williamsburg, Virginia, describes his military experience in the Civil War as an engineer, particularly in Yorktown, Williamsburg, and other parts of Virginia.

Dates: 1938 November 2

Daniel Harvey Hill Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SC 01064
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.

Dates: 1861-1865

James Estes Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00119
Scope and Contents Letter written from James Estes to his parents on July 11, 1863 from Yorktown, Virginia.  Estes describes in great detail the events of driving off Confederate troops and batteries around White House Landing and Hanover Junction.  He writes about members from his company (118th New York Infantry) and the 99th New York Infantry sending off skirmishers, advancing on the enemy, and ultimately catching 10 prisoners.  He reported that Company "A" suffered one casualty and 4 wounded, with another...
Dates: 1863 July 11

James Taylor Drawing of the Wren Building and Yorktown

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00437
Scope and Contents

This collection consists of a two-sided drawing of the rear view of the Sir Christopher Wren Building at the College of William and Mary on one side and a drawing of the fortifications at Yorktown on the other.

Dates: 1862 August 17

Martin Deland Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00342
Scope and Contents

A letter from Martin Deland in Yorktown, Virginia, Camp Woodberry, to his "Dear Sis", discusses the evacuation of Yorktown.

Dates: 1862 May 4

Joseph Keith Newell Diary

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00652
Scope and Contents Diary, 19 March 1862 to 24 August 1862, of Joseph Keith Newell, a captain of the 10th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War. Diary runs from March to August of 1862, and describes the life of a Union soldier during the Peninsula Campaign. Describes his trip down the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., to Hampton, Virginia. Also includes a description of the Battle of Williamsburg, 5 May 1862, as well as his observations of the College of William & Mary. Newell also describes his...
Dates: 1862

Oliver H. Sargent Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00336
Scope and Contents

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.

Dates: 1862 April 20

General David Allen Russell Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00642
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...
Dates: 1858-1868 and undated

Charles P. Shepard Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00021
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.

Dates: 1862 April 12

T.S. Hodgson Letter to Joseph Hodgson

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00616
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.

Dates: 1862 April 14

Unknown Union Soldier Letter, "Burt H." to "Charles"

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00353
Scope and Contents

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..."

Dates: 1862 April 18

Unknown Union Soldier Letter to Joseph Lamb

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00348
Scope and Contents

A letter from a 2nd Vermont Regiment soldier [possibly Almond F. Worcester, Jr.] to Joseph Lamb describes the entire Yorktown campaign. He discusses the first encounter with Rebels, the retreat to Newport News, and the seige of Yorktown.

Dates: 1862 April 10

F. N. Walker Diary

 Collection
Identifier: Mss. MsV D23
Scope and Contents

Diary of F. N. Walker, Captain in the 3rd South Carolina Volunteers, in which he discusses what he is reading, news he hears of battles, and marching from Manassas, Virginia, (including a visit to the battlefield of First Bull Run) to the vicinity of Yorktown and Williamsburg, Virginia (mentioning the statue of Lord Botetourt, College of William and Mary, and Eastern State Hospital).

Dates: 1862 January 21-June 8

William Lynch Letter

 Collection
Identifier: SC 00335
Scope and Contents

Letter from William Lynch, 53rd Regiment, Va. Vol., Engineer's Corp, Yorktown, Virginia, to Provost Marshal, asking to be released to help defend Yorktown from Union troops. A typescript is included.

Dates: 1862 April