Vermonters in the Civil War
Collection Overview
Vermont soldiers in the Civil War wrote an enormous quantity of letters and diaries, of which many thousands have survived in libraries, historical societies, and in private hands. This collection represents a selection of letters and diaries from...
Show moreVermont soldiers in the Civil War wrote an enormous quantity of letters and diaries, of which many thousands have survived in libraries, historical societies, and in private hands. This collection represents a selection of letters and diaries from the University of Vermont and the Vermont Historical Society.
The collection includes materials dating from 1861-1865. Materials were selected for digitization to provide a variety of perspectives on events and issues. The voices represented in the collection include private soldiers and officers, as well as a few civilians. All of the extant Civil War-era letters or diaries of each of the selected individuals (at least, all that are to be found in the participating institutions’ collections) are included; each adds a certain experience and point of view to the whole.
Officers in the photo above are (from left to right): Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Stoughton, Colonel Edwin H. Stoughton, Major Harry N. Worthen. All are from the Fourth Vermont Infantry Regiment.
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Sub-collections
- Daniel S. White Correspondence
- Edward P. Stone Correspondence
- George W. Quimby Correspondence
- Henry A. Smith Correspondence
- Henry Harrison Wilder Correspondence
- Horace Barlow Diary
- John Lester Barstow Correspondence
- John W. Campbell Correspondence
- John Wolcott Phelps Correspondence
- Joseph Chase Rutherford Correspondence
- Joseph L. Perkins Correspondence
- Joseph Spafford Correspondence
- Justus F. Gale Correspondence
- Lyman S. Williams Correspondence
- Orlando S. Turner Correspondence
- Ransom W. Towle Correspondence
- Roswell Farnham Correspondence
- Solomon G. Heaton Correspondence
- Valentine G. Barney Correspondence
- Wheelock Graves Veazey Correspondence
- William C. Holbrook Correspondence
- William Wirt Henry Correspondence
Lesson Plans
(1 - 20 of 23)
Pages
- Title
- E. T. Johnson to Mary [Farnham]
- Description
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Topics include several companies camping on the riverbank in Maryland, Jackson’s army assembling in Leasburg, and preparing to march most likely to Edwards Ferry.
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- John L. T. Jones to William Wirt Henry
- Description
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Invitation to Colonel Henry to a dance & a glass of apple toddy, made by a Union supporter, John L. T. Jones. He also requests the presence of Dr. Joesph Chase Rutherford.
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- John Lester Barstow to ?
- Description
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Comfortable lodgings of the regiment in New Orleans, the cost of food items, and the ruined state of New Orleans when the Vermont Regiment arrived, interaction with the Negroes.
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- John Lester Barstow to Father
- Description
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Topics include the fleeing of Rebels to Texas, the destruction and loss of property near New Orleans, and Barstow’s belief that the war must not end until the Union is restored.
- Title
- John Lester Barstow to Laura
- Description
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General Banks supersedes General Butler, the capture of one of the rebel officers, and the dishonorable discharge of Lieutenant Day.
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- John Lester Barstow to Laura
- Description
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Written in the field he writes of idleness of the Regiment since its arrival on the banks of the Bayon and the help the Negroes are receiving from the government, the lack of coffee, poor quality flour, no salt, spoiled meat causing disease, exorbitant prices for food.
- Title
- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
- Description
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Topics include various men going home on leave including Chaplain, Capt. Bartlett & Lt. Gale, a ball attended by staff officers and their wives, going to army headquarters, sending money home, all wives ordered to leave camps as soon as they can and reference to appointment of Joseph Daggett as...
Show moreTopics include various men going home on leave including Chaplain, Capt. Bartlett & Lt. Gale, a ball attended by staff officers and their wives, going to army headquarters, sending money home, all wives ordered to leave camps as soon as they can and reference to appointment of Joseph Daggett as 1st Lt (and Regimental Quartermaster of the 43rd U.S. Colored Infantry) to a Negro regiment, has written a newspaper article for the Newport News, came down with a case of the measles, many soldiers dying from diarrhea.
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- Title
- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
- Description
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Topics include being ready to move out, hearing the sounds of battle near White's Ford (at Leesburg and Edwards Ferry), a description of the military ball he attended with Col. Jewett and Col. Henry in Poolesville, he getting acquainted with some of the officers' wives at the ball including Mrs....
Show moreTopics include being ready to move out, hearing the sounds of battle near White's Ford (at Leesburg and Edwards Ferry), a description of the military ball he attended with Col. Jewett and Col. Henry in Poolesville, he getting acquainted with some of the officers' wives at the ball including Mrs. Childe, respect of Rutherford paid to him by Col. Jewett
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- Title
- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
- Description
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Requests that Hannah allow hospital nurse John Butler to stay overnight at the Rutherford home, desires to have more letters from Hannah.
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- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
- Description
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From mud soaked camp near Warrenton Junction topics include repairing a railroad, dismay at the laying waste such beautiful countryside, his strong views on slavery, on the white men who partake in slavery, on the Southern values of trying to keep property in the family resulting in intermarriage...
Show moreFrom mud soaked camp near Warrenton Junction topics include repairing a railroad, dismay at the laying waste such beautiful countryside, his strong views on slavery, on the white men who partake in slavery, on the Southern values of trying to keep property in the family resulting in intermarriage, the results of that and his philosophy of why the war is so hard to put down due to the Southerners' mind set and the basis of what the Union is fighting for.
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- Title
- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
- Description
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Topics include explanation of his judgments of an unnamed individual, seeing the enemy while on picket, stopping at a house where a husband fathered several mulatto children with a slave mistress while sharing the same domicile as his wife, requests his daughter Helen to write and reflects on the...
Show moreTopics include explanation of his judgments of an unnamed individual, seeing the enemy while on picket, stopping at a house where a husband fathered several mulatto children with a slave mistress while sharing the same domicile as his wife, requests his daughter Helen to write and reflects on the loss of life in future battles.
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- Title
- Lyman S. Williams to Lois L. Williams
- Description
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Recounts trip to from New York City to Washington, D.C. via steamboat and train ; warmly welcomed in Philadelphia on the way ; states visited with folks and had received ten dollars from his father.
- Title
- Lyman S. Williams to Lois L. Williams
- Description
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Topics include being on picket duty and receiving his letters through the kindness of Private Francis Phillips of Westford, who walked eight miles to bring them to him. He also writes of wishing to be home for sugaring season that he was chosen editor of the next paper the Sixth Regiment Debating...
Show moreTopics include being on picket duty and receiving his letters through the kindness of Private Francis Phillips of Westford, who walked eight miles to bring them to him. He also writes of wishing to be home for sugaring season that he was chosen editor of the next paper the Sixth Regiment Debating Society.
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- Title
- Mary E. Farnham to Henry
- Description
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Mary Farnham writes from near Fairfax Court House in Virginia to her brother, Henry, of soldiers being taken prisoners, of the wounded, of casualties, of checking rabbit traps for food. She mentions the weather, of her tour of camp, of sickness among the troops, of her excellent dinner at camp...
Show moreMary Farnham writes from near Fairfax Court House in Virginia to her brother, Henry, of soldiers being taken prisoners, of the wounded, of casualties, of checking rabbit traps for food. She mentions the weather, of her tour of camp, of sickness among the troops, of her excellent dinner at camp with Mrs. Blunt, Mrs. Stearns and others, and writes of family back home.
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- Title
- Mary H. McDuffee to Hannah Rutherford
- Description
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A letter from Ms. McDuffee to Hannah Rutherford about a sum of money and an explanation as to why it was enclosed in the letter. It seems to indicate that McDuffee had to borrow fare money.
- Title
- Roswell Farnham to Laura
- Description
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Lt. Chamberlain resigns due to illness, General Stoughton taken prisoner by Fitz Hugh Lee’s Cavalry at the Court House (Virginia), the large number of sick men in camp many with typhoid fever, fears his best horse will not regain health, enclosed pictures (ambrotype, a photograph), suggested...
Show moreLt. Chamberlain resigns due to illness, General Stoughton taken prisoner by Fitz Hugh Lee’s Cavalry at the Court House (Virginia), the large number of sick men in camp many with typhoid fever, fears his best horse will not regain health, enclosed pictures (ambrotype, a photograph), suggested reading for Laura with specific book titles stated as well as books he is reading (Motley's History of the Dutch Republic and Woman in White), orders for Colonel Blunt to report to the station to take command of the Brigade, description of who is in the photos being sent home.
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- Title
- Roswell Farnham to Mary [Farnham]
- Description
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Topics include buying necessities for camp, the movement of the regiments around them, and the anticipation of several hours of battalion drills.
- Title
- Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
- Description
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Two letters enclosed. Still on the steamer Long Island at Norfolk, Virginia waiting for the rest of the Regiment before moving on, the Regiment traveling a lot seeing the country, contraband items distributed among the officers and men, seeing men harvesting oysters in the river. He also mentions...
Show moreTwo letters enclosed. Still on the steamer Long Island at Norfolk, Virginia waiting for the rest of the Regiment before moving on, the Regiment traveling a lot seeing the country, contraband items distributed among the officers and men, seeing men harvesting oysters in the river. He also mentions sightseeing in Norfolk, Virginia, buying pants there, and oysters both raw and fried.
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- Title
- William Wirt Henry to Mary Jane Henry
- Description
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Letter discusses a false story in the newspapers about a rebel attack, and he reminds his wife to not worry needlessly. As well, he describes a trip to the theater in Washington with his cousin, Martha Henry Young. Watching for Lee's army, feels that more Union troops are needed in the area....
Show moreLetter discusses a false story in the newspapers about a rebel attack, and he reminds his wife to not worry needlessly. As well, he describes a trip to the theater in Washington with his cousin, Martha Henry Young. Watching for Lee's army, feels that more Union troops are needed in the area. Reference to Capt. Dillingham, Col. Jewett and to photographs other officers of the regiment being sent home. He also mentions money and gifts that he sent home.
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- Title
- William Wirt Henry to Mary Jane Henry
- Description
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Writes of rumors & the possibility of raids by the Rebels, a wedding between a corporal in the 10th Vermont and a Maryland woman, General Milroy’s retreat from Winchester by Ewell, the massing of Confederate troops across the river ; Mosby mentioned to have 500 men with him, challenges the...
Show moreWrites of rumors & the possibility of raids by the Rebels, a wedding between a corporal in the 10th Vermont and a Maryland woman, General Milroy’s retreat from Winchester by Ewell, the massing of Confederate troops across the river ; Mosby mentioned to have 500 men with him, challenges the accuracy of newspaper reporting compared to his account of military action.
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