28 July 1863

Sayles, Sumner, fl. 1862-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Isora Sayles

Writes to his sister. Comments on how happy he and the boys were to learn of General John Pemberton's surrender. Discusses various people and news from back home. Mentions that he is on duty every other day.

GLC03523.32.19

July 14, 1861

Phelps, Diton, fl. 1861-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to sister

Writes to his sister from Camp Biddle. Reports that the camp is empty except for a few picket guards placed to guard the railroad. Comments that they are surrounded by secessionists who are armed. Says that the pickets are shot at almost every night and a bullet grazed a guard's arm last night. Reports that the Massachusetts regiment shot two men that were tearing up the track. Writes about their tents leaking when they first arrived and having to sleep upon their blankets on the ground. Says that they have 15 tents, six men to a tent. Describes how three of their men went into town…

GLC03523.49.03

February 15, 1862

Phelps, Diton, fl. 1861-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Don

Writes from Camp Pierpont. Wants Don to visit and see what camp life is like. Tells of the different kinds of societies that exist in camp. Inside the tents he states that there is usually gambling and card playing, even amongst the officers and with those who are under arrest. Discusses the Lieutenant Forrest trial. Says that some of the charges against him were sustained; however, they [the army?] were not satisfied and have brought more charges against him. The first court-marshal resulted in a reprimand from General George McCall. The Lieutenant was found guilty of using…

GLC03523.49.09

1 July 1862

Phelps, Diton, fl. 1861-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his sister

Writes that they have been heading up the James River since last Saturday. Reports that the rebels broke through General George McClellan's right and came upon them. They did not have enough force to defend that point and were ordered to leave. They torched what they could not carry and escaped to the boats right before the rebels fell upon them. Writes that it will now take them three to four days to make it to Richmond, Virginia because the rebels got between them and the main body of the army. They have to go down the York River, into the Chesapeake Bay, and up the James River.…

GLC03523.49.10

circa 12 September 1861-1864

Phelps, Diton, fl. 1861-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Edith M. Phelps

Writes to sister from Rappahannock Station. Comments about it being so dry that it is difficult to get water. Says that there is a spring nearby but there is hardly enough water to supply the regiment. Says that he misses home and looks forward to his service expiring. Talks about how there will be rejoicing among the soldiers when it happens but hopes the rebellion will be over by that time; he saw the beginning and would like to see the end. Writes of an engagement between his father and another man. It was stated that his father did not keep his flank protected or his reserve in…

GLC03523.49.12

21 October 1863

Phelps, Diton, fl. 1861-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to sister

Describes leaving Rappahannock and having the rebels close on their heels. Says that the rebels continued to follow them until they crossed the river. Writes that they were not able to cross back over the river until the next evening. They sent the cavalry out and were able to chase the rebels back to Culpepper and "made them skedaddle for dear life." Afterwards, they crossed the river again and continued their march to Fairfax, Virginia. The rebels followed closely behind them up to Bull Run. The rebels managed to plant a battery half a mile from them without being discovered and…

GLC03523.49.14

February 15, 1861-1864

Phelps, Diton, fl. 1861-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to D. G. Tracy

Writes to his sister from Camp Pierpont, Virginia. Describes being court marshaled and how the hearing was adjourned until next Thursday. Comments that Forrest has had a long "siege of it," and there is no prospect of it ending until next Thursday. Reports that Fort Donelson was just captured and a lot of prisoners taken. Among the prisoners was the notorious traitor, [Sue] Floyd. Speaks of the captain yelling and swearing at people all the time. Says that he tried to get a furlough to come home but was denied. Writes that that he is sending $46 home and hopes to send $1000 over the…

GLC03523.49.15

circa December 1861

Russell, E. S., fl. 1861-1862

Autograph letter

Title: to Hannah E. Russell and friends

Writes to wife that they are preparing to march. Describes leaving Mansfield, Ohio and traveling by train to Cincinnati, Ohio. Writes that they traveled by steamboat to Kentucky where they camped out at the edge of Louisville, Kentucky. Says that they will remain there until tomorrow; then they will travel further where they expect to run into rebels. The letter is dated December 1861, no day is given. Written on paper with an image of the American flag and the logo, "PROTECT IT."

GLC03523.50.01

1 January 1862

Russell, E. S., fl. 1861-1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Hannah E. Russell

Writes that he is over 400 miles from home and is in the heart of the enemy. Reports that they marched for four days in hot weather with their knapsacks on their backs and their guns on their shoulders. On their third day, over 100 men fell out of ranks and laid beside the road. Whenever they stopped to rest the men would lay in the mud. States that he is satisfied and would not leave the army if he had the chance. Sends his love to his parents and friends. Written on paper with an image of the American flag and the logo, "PROTECT IT."

GLC03523.50.03

8 January 1862

Russell, E. S., fl. 1861-1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Hannah E. Russell

Chastens wife for her thinking that he is going to die and wanting him to cover transportation cost if it were to happen. Mentions that it is unreasonable for her to think that any man would go to the expense of paying 100 dollars to have his "lifeless" body sent home when his is alive. Tells her that he is alive and well and expects to come home at the end of the war. Reminds her that she has "got plenty to eat drink and to ware. So please be Contended." Reports that the rebels have fell back 30 miles and have yet to fortify themselves. States that they have 150 thousand Union troops in…

GLC03523.50.04

February 11, 1862

Russell, E. S., fl. 1861-1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Hannah E. Russell

Informs wife that he is not well, says he has a bad cold and dysentery. Comments that he was able to march everyday carrying his gun while sick but could not carry his knapsack. The doctor had it carried in his wagon. Writes that he does not have any money to give her and informs her to send a man named Pete to Ashland, Ohio to get money. Tells her to be careful with money and to send him a list with the cost of groceries and feed. Believes that they will fight against General Simon Buckner in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Written on paper with an image of the American flag and the logo, "…

GLC03523.50.08

16 March 1862

Russell, E. S., fl. 1861-1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Hannah E. Russell

Writes that he sent 15 dollars and wants her to spend it wisely for he does not know when he will get paid again. Comments that he had a relapse of the fever since he last wrote to her but that God spared his life. Reports that his regiment is in Nashville, Tennessee and that he will go 400 miles by water to join them. He will head down the Ohio River, then up the Cumberland River to Nashville. Asks her not to write to him until he joins his regiment. Describes the Union cause as, "brite and our victorious army is mooving on like A mighty flood and is pushing the rebels back..."…

GLC03523.50.11

7 January 1863

Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to O. D. Cose

Writes about a book and possibly getting an agent for it. Mentions something about promoting the book in Atlanta which will soon be a great city. States "We must be patient, for the times are hard." Comments that General Hancock [Winfield Scott?] is a good soldier but a bad politician.

GLC05603.01.08

22 September 1915

Smith, Francis Marion, 1842-1917

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John E. Boos

States he has not replied until now because of a serious illness. Has attached his signature to a statement for the National Tribune giving his impressions of April 2, 1865, a day Abraham Lincoln came to visit City Point hospital and so impressed a Confederate prisoner that he swore to not raise arms against the government again (see GLC05603.18). Relays that he cannot send autographs of the officers of the Maryland Regiments because he does not have them.

GLC05603.01.17

1861-1865

Smith, Francis Marion, 1842-1917

Typed document signed

Title: [Anecdote about Lincoln's kindness towards a wounded Confederate soldier]

Signed as 1st Lieutenant and Adjutant, 1st Maryland Volunteer Infantry. Relates an incident at City Point hospital on 2 April 1865, where President Abraham Lincoln met a Confederate soldier and treated him with great kindness. After Lincoln left, the Confederate soldier asked "Who did you say that man was?" When he learned it was Lincoln, he declared that if other Confederates could meet Lincoln, they would lay down their arms and go home. According to Smith, the Confederate soldier exclaimed, "If God spares my life, I will never again raise my arms against the United States Government…

GLC05603.01.18

7 January 1861

Pickens, Francis Wilkinson, 1805-1869

Autograph letter signed

Title: to the South Carolina House of Representatives

Writes about raising the 1st South Carolina Infantry. "I have called a regt. into active service... some of the companies of this regt. are now in positions on Sullivan's Island in the rear of Fort Moultrie, and other companies are rapidly arriving for the same positions. I have also commissioned one Captain in the 1. regt. of 'enlisted men'... I desire to go on with the recruiting service."

GLC09194

15 November 1863

Sayles, Sumner, fl. 1862-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Isora Skinkle

Reports that a man named Eugene Thomas, along with the rest of the men, might have been taken prisoner while traveling home on a furlough. Writes that he has also heard the story is not true. Informs his sister that he sent both her and his mother a picture of himself. Writes about a friend who just recently died. Letter has an image and the words, "E Pluribus Unum."

GLC03523.32.25

19 May 1864

Sayles, Nelson, fl. 1861-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his cousin

Reports that they just returned from a scout where they were looking for "old forest" (General Nathan Bedford Forrest). Comments that they were close but he ran like a "white rabbit." Describes following General Nathan Forrest for 80 miles down into Mississippi then back up to Memphis, Tennessee. Discusses the war and what a great job General Ulysses Grant is doing in Richmond, Virginia.

GLC03523.32.34

2 December 1864

Sayles, Sumner, fl. 1862-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Isora Skinkle

Writes to his sister from camp. Mentions that he sent $50 home. Writes that they are building breastworks in case General John Hood attacks them. Comments that the general will receive a warm reception if he attacks for they have a large force of men and artillery. Teases about his health being affected because of a lady named Mill not writing him. Reports that the detachment that was with General William T. Sherman is now with them at their camp. The letter has a watermark on the top left hand corner. Letter has an image and the words, "E Pluribus Unum."

GLC03523.32.40

January 28, 1861

Porter, N. B., fl. 1861

Letter signed

Title: to Governor Francis W. Pickens

South Carolina senate confirmation for cavalry officers William De Saussure and Nathan G. Evans.

GLC09195

February 12, 1861

Sears, Thomas, fl. 1861

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Governor Francis W. Pickens

Two Virginians offer to fight in the army of South Carolina, which had already seceded, "to show to the Rest that we are sincere in what we say and in the cause of... the Southern confederacy." With an autograph endorsement by Pickens.

GLC09196

January 28, 1861

Pickens, Francis Wilkinson, 1805-1869

Manuscript document

Title: to the House of Representatives

Informs the legislature of J. W. Hayne's confidential mission to negotiate with Buchanan over the right to reinforce Fort Sumter. "The letter of the President...asserts in plain terms, his right to send reinforcements, and I cannot disconnect this positive assertion of his right from an intention, or expectation, speedily to exercise it."

GLC09197

15 March 1861

Pickens, Francis Wilkinson, 1805-1869

Autograph letter signed

Title: to L. P. Walker

South Carolina Army units to be received into the Provisional Confederate Army. The "Convention...shall adopt the necessary ordinance for their transfer to the Confederate States. They will...be fully prepared & equiped to serve the country at any post to which they may be ordered."

GLC09198

30 March 1861

Potter, J. Sturgis, fl. 1861

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Governor Francis W. Pickens

A Boston entrepreneur suggests that machinery for knitting hosiery be adapted to cotton thread. "All of the labor except a man to manage the carding machines, could be better done by female slaves than any other. There is a cotton factory in your state that can at once be turned a very profitable account by introducing this machinery."

GLC09199

30 April 1861

Beauregard, G.T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893

Autograph endorsement signed

Title: to Governor Francis W. Pickens

General Beauregard supports Colonel R. W. Habersham's submitted plan for enlisting planters' help to provide grain and hay for army livestock. "I think the above suggestions of Col. Habersham of so much importance, that I have the honor to enclose them to your Excellency in the hope that they may be carried out before it becomes too late." Written on the letter of 30 April 1861 sent from Habersham to Beauregard and forwarded to Governor Pickens.

GLC09200