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
(261 - 280 of 1,204)
Pages
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- John Spafford to Joseph Spafford, Joseph Spafford to John Spafford
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Topics include inquiries about writing materials, tobacco, dress coats, and stockings.
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- John W. Campbell Correspondence
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John Wood Campbell was born on October 16, 1823, in Rochester, Vermont, the son of Horace and Sally Campbell. John worked as both a mason and a farmer. He married Philinda Hubbard, the daughter of Abel and Susannah Hubbard, on Feburary 15, 1848. They had six children. Philinda Campbell died on...
Show moreJohn Wood Campbell was born on October 16, 1823, in Rochester, Vermont, the son of Horace and Sally Campbell. John worked as both a mason and a farmer. He married Philinda Hubbard, the daughter of Abel and Susannah Hubbard, on Feburary 15, 1848. They had six children. Philinda Campbell died on July 26, 1878 and John W. died September 1, 1898, both in Rochester, Vermont. The correspondence consists of a letter from John W. Campbell at Camp Griffin, Va. to his family. It is addressed to his wife, Philinda Campbell.
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- John W. Campbell to Family
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Topics include an account of the journey from Bethel to Washington.
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- John W. Merriam to Friend Samantha
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Writing from Algiers, La. topics include the false report of Justus's death and an attack by 1500 Rebels on a train leaving Desallemands and heading for Algiers that left 30 to 40 soldiers wounded or killed.
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- John Wolcott Phelps Correspondence
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John Wolcott Phelps was born in Guilford, Vermont and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1836. On May 2, 1861, Phelps was appointed Colonel of the 1st Vermont Infantry and was mustered into U.S. service on May 8. He was promoted to brigadier general on May 27, 1861. General...
Show moreJohn Wolcott Phelps was born in Guilford, Vermont and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1836. On May 2, 1861, Phelps was appointed Colonel of the 1st Vermont Infantry and was mustered into U.S. service on May 8. He was promoted to brigadier general on May 27, 1861. General Phelps was stationed at Camp Parapet in Carrollton, seven miles from New Orleans. Many fugitive slaves arrived at the camp seeking refuge. Phelps sought to create three regiments of black soldiers, but his commanding officer, General Butler, ordered that they be made laborers. Unwilling to employ the Africans as mere laborers, General Phelps offered his resignation on August 21, 1862. General Butler refused to accept it. Later that August, General Phelps returned his commission to President Abraham Lincoln. Phelps went on to become the candidate for the American Party/Anti-Masonic Party for president in 1880. The collection includes 17 letters from family friend Gov. Frederick Holbrook and his son William C. Holbrook, major and later colonel of the 7th Vermont. Gov. Holbrook wrote about the recruitment of the 7th Vermont, the appointments of Colonel George T. Roberts, William Holbrook, and other officers, the character of Vermont soldiers, and his attempts to influence federal war policy. Both of the Holbrooks corresponded with Phelps about General Butler's censure of the 7th Vermont after the battle of Baton Rouge. Gov. Erastus Fairbanks wrote on similar topics, and about allegations of misconduct by surgeons in the 1st Vermont. Other correspondents include Senators Justin S. Morrill and George F. Edmunds, Congressman Frederick E. Woodbridge, and Capt. E.V.N. Hitchcock on the condition of the 7th Vermont at Santa Rosa Island in March 1863, Major Harry N. Worthen concerning sick soldiers of the 1st Vermont at Fort Monroe, and Capt. Charles W. Seaton of the 1st U.S. Sharpshooters, concerning the promotion of William Ripley to Lieutenant Colonel of that regiment.
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- John Wolcott Phelps to Frederick Holbrook
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John W. Phelps writes to Gov. Holbrook with topics including the perceived mistake of the President Abraham Lincoln in regards to the bargain the President is making with the slave states and moral issues associated with the decision.
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- Jonathan Curtis Tyler to John Wolcott Phelps
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Topics include Jonathan Curtis Tyler, a soon to be Yale graduate, appealing to Col. John Wolcott Phelps for a chance to serve his country in one of the four Vermont regiments that were currently recruiting.
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- Joseph Chase Rutherford Correspondence
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An 1849 graduate of Woodstock Medical College, Joseph Chase Rutherford practiced medicine in Blackstone, Massachussetts and Orleans County, Vermont. He was an examining surgeon of recruits early in the war, and he also invented a method of invisible writing that was used by the federal government...
Show moreAn 1849 graduate of Woodstock Medical College, Joseph Chase Rutherford practiced medicine in Blackstone, Massachussetts and Orleans County, Vermont. He was an examining surgeon of recruits early in the war, and he also invented a method of invisible writing that was used by the federal government during the war. Rutherford was commissioned from Newport on August 8th, 1862 and made an assistant surgeon of the 10th Vermont. He was promoted to surgeon of the 17th Vermont on March 6th, 1865. While operating on a soldier after the battle of Orange Grove, he developed an infection in his thumb that partially disabled him for the rest of his life. He returned home to his practice in Newport after the war.
Dr. Joseph C. Rutherford wrote faithfully to his wife Hannah from the time of his appointment as assistant surgeon of the Tenth Vermont Infantry in August 1862 to his mustering out as surgeon of the Seventeenth Vermont Infantry in July 1865. He informed her of his medical duties, his relations with the soldiers and officers, and news about soldiers from the Newport, Vermont area. Rutherford's letters convey a strong sense of pride in his work, but increasing frustration over his failure to win promotion, particularly after the severe battles of 1864. He finally received a commission as surgeon of the Seventeenth Vermont in March 1865. Rutherford described the battle of Orange Grove (Nov. 27, 1863) and Sheridan's Shenandoah campaign, but only one letter (May 17, 1864) survives from the nearly continuous fighting of May and June, 1864. Many of the letters contain advice to Mrs. Rutherford on financial matters and the treatment of their children's illnesses. Rutherford also expressed strong opinions about copperheads, traitors, and Southerners. The collection includes three letters from Edward Belville (d. 1864) of Derby, Vermont, a private in the Eighth Vermont Infantry. One of these (July 16, 1863) gives an account of the assault on Port Hudson, in which Belville was wounded.
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- Joseph L. Perkins Correspondence
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Joseph L. Perkins was a University of Vermont student when he enlisted in Barre on May 2, 1861. He was private in Company H. of the 1st Vermont Infantry. Perkins married Abbie J. Peck on November 8, 1862 and returned to the University of Vermont where he graduated from the Medical College in 1867...
Show moreJoseph L. Perkins was a University of Vermont student when he enlisted in Barre on May 2, 1861. He was private in Company H. of the 1st Vermont Infantry. Perkins married Abbie J. Peck on November 8, 1862 and returned to the University of Vermont where he graduated from the Medical College in 1867. He later became a dentist with a practice in St. Johnsbury. In his letter, Perkins reflects on the Constitution as well as women's equality with men.
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- Joseph L. Perkins to Brother
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Topics include a discussion of Liberty and the Constitution and one of women's equality with men.
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- Joseph Legar to John Wolcott Phelps
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Topics include trying to save Isaac Jones' property.
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- Joseph Spafford Correspondence
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Joseph Spafford served in the 4th and 16th Vermont Infantry Regiments. His letters are written to his mother and to his sister, M. Jane Spafford, in Upper Falls, Vt. (a village in Weathersfield), as well as to a friend, Homer White, in New York City. In his letters, Joseph Spafford writes of camp...
Show moreJoseph Spafford served in the 4th and 16th Vermont Infantry Regiments. His letters are written to his mother and to his sister, M. Jane Spafford, in Upper Falls, Vt. (a village in Weathersfield), as well as to a friend, Homer White, in New York City. In his letters, Joseph Spafford writes of camp life including information about men from Weathersfield and surrounding towns. In a letter dated January 2, 1862 and marked confidential, Spafford writes very frankly about officers and the politics of promotion. He also writes of an opium user with the initial C. In other letters he describes troop movements, and gives information on sickness in the Regiment. He also writes of having his picture taken and of receiving newspapers and other items from home. In one of his letters while in the 16th Regiment, he describes how some soldiers collect souvenirs from battlefields, including human remains.
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- Joseph Spafford to Homer White
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Spafford writes to his friend Homer on topics including Typhoid Fever in the Regiment, friendship, camp life, Hancock’s Brigade [Winfield Scott Hancock], and answering his friend’s questions about joining the Regiment and fear of dying.
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- Joseph Spafford to Homer White
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Writing from Greenbush topics include a description of the regiments being formed and the position assignments of Joseph Spafford’s friends.
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- Joseph Spafford to Homer White
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Now in Carver Hospital in Washington, D.C. topics include military discharge, plans to meet Homer White in New York City and the wounding of Captain Atherton.
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- Joseph Spafford to Homer White
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Writes of being in the military for 9 months and not knowing what the future will bring, of moving from Camp Vermont to Fairfax Court House, of having done picket duties at Bull Run, of doing drills, writes of the personality of a man named Az as well as mentioning other men he is with, of the...
Show moreWrites of being in the military for 9 months and not knowing what the future will bring, of moving from Camp Vermont to Fairfax Court House, of having done picket duties at Bull Run, of doing drills, writes of the personality of a man named Az as well as mentioning other men he is with, of the promotion of George Clark to 2nd Lieutenant in Company D.
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- Title
- Joseph Spafford to Homer White
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Brief letter to friend Homer White (of New York City) informing him of Spafford's soon discharge from the army, heading to New York, the heavy losses at Gettysburg with those killed & wounded, opinions of newspaper editors.
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- Joseph Spafford to Homer White
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Topics include stating having moved from Bristoe Station to Union Mills, Virginia, quoting an article from the Washington Chronicle about the battle of Port Hudson, reference to a Captain Craigue being wounded, setting up camp, and the plan to be paid the next day.
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- Joseph Spafford to Homer White
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Topics include receiving marching orders for possible move out on Feb 27th but not knowing in what direction or where the soldiers are headed, whether the Army of the Potomac will move during heavy rain, a sick soldier's brother is providing medical care, and a visitor from Cavendish, Vt.
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- Joseph Spafford to Homer White
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Writing from Windham, Vt to his friend Homer White topics include Joseph Spafford deciding to enlist and reference to others who have decided to enlist.