Call Number:

C1288

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 2 boxes
• 2.1 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); American Civil War Collection, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1861-1865 (inclusive)

Creator:

Princeton University. Library. Special Collections

Form:

Correspondence -- 19th century, Documents. -- 19th century, Drawings -- 19th century, Poems -- 19th century., and Returns (military reports). -- 19th century

Abstract:

Consists of selected correspondence and documents related to the American Civil War.

The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Eleven Southern slave states had declared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). Led by Jefferson Davis, they fought against the U.S. federal government (the Union), which was supported by all the free states and the five border slave states in the north.

The Civil War was the deadliest war in American history, causing 620,000 soldier deaths and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. Its legacy includes ending slavery in the United States, restoring the Union, and strengthening the role of the federal government.

The collection consists of selected correspondence and documents related to the American Civil War. Included are letters from individuals in the army to their families or friends describing their experiences in the war and their life in army camps. There are letters of orders from army generals, with orders for brigades, pardons, promotions, and one about the return of army prisoners, and one of a Confederate prisoner describing a Civil War prison at Point Lookout, Maryland. Correspondents include Henry M. Bond and Luke Lyman who wrote letters to James Walker about their life in Union army camps; others are Henry L. Benning, John Archibald Campbell, Gen. Charles H. T. Collis, and Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. There are circulars, "Returns for Provisions" for Fort Sumter, S.C.; receipts for food and supplies for army personnel and for the horses; a "Parole of Honor" (1865) for J. C. Whitwell; and a musters roll for Capt. S. D. Rainey. Also included are a piece of a Confederate flag, a drawing of "Rebel" and Union "Picket Pits" at Fort Sedgwick ("Fort Hell") in Petersburg, Virginia, and a manuscript poem titled "Lines by a Confederate Major," dated May 1865 and written on the back of a Confederate one dollar note. In addition, there is a sample of paper manufactured by the Southern Confederacy during the Civil War.