Vermonters in the Civil War
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 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.
Showing 1 - 10 of 34 Records
Asa P. Blunt
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- Creator: Blunt, Asa P.
- Date Created: 1863-04-11
- Description: A pass for Mary Farnham, Mrs. Nichols, Mrs. Vaughan, and Mrs. Peach to go to Washington.
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, Roswell Farnham Correspondence
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War
George W. Quimby to Emeline B. Masta
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- Creator: Quimby, George W., 1835-1862.
- Date Created: 1862-01-26
- Description: Topics include a "miniature" (porttrait?) that Quimby wants to send home; instructions for his sister to collect on a debt owed by Captain Tucker; and expectation of the Regiment advancing. The order to advance would come from Lincoln himself on Jan. 27, 1862, and would be his first General War Order.
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, George W. Quimby Correspondence
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War
Henry Harrison Wilder to Mother
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- Creator: Wilder, Henry Harrison.
- Date Created: 1862-02-11
- Description: Topics include the regiment remaining at Camp Griffin and Wilder asking his mother's opinion on him and Merrion entering the regular scouts for five years.
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, Henry Harrison Wilder Correspondence
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War
Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
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- Creator: Rutherford, Joseph Chase, 1818-1902.
- Date Created: 1864-02-22
- Description: 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 loss of life in future battles.
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, Joseph Chase Rutherford Correspondence
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War
Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
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- Creator: Rutherford, Joseph Chase, 1818-1902.
- Date Created: 1864-03-20
- Description: Visit from lady friends, Misses Baker Cutting and Rand, reference to a temperance meeting, a story about an officer being apprehended while transporting secret correspondence that he swallowed saving himself but losing the paper (hid the paper in his mouth), suspecting to march soon, and sending a song to Helen and papers to Jacob, his children.
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, Joseph Chase Rutherford Correspondence
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War
Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
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- Creator: Rutherford, Joseph Chase, 1818-1902.
- Date Created: 1863-10-01
- Description: Topics include reflections, his 45th birthday today, a reference to their first born son & if he was living how he would have liked to have the son with him, looking at photographs of his wife & of opening a letter with a lock of hair in it, Col. Jewett having talked with Gov. Holbrook about Rutherford & him being worthy of a promotion, and his marked opinion of not wanting a woman as a camp follower as a laundress or as a seamstress as Mrs. Fields is wishing to go with the army.
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, Joseph Chase Rutherford Correspondence
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War
Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
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- Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866.
- Date Created: 1861-09-15
- Description: Spafford writes to his sister about possibly coming to see him at Camp Holbrook in Brattleboro, of Captain A. writing to his wife to have her join him at camp, having received guns and about possible delay in departure.
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, Joseph Spafford papers
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War
Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
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- Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866.
- Date Created: [1861-09-16]
- Description: Spafford writes from Brattleboro of the possibility of his sister and Lizzie visiting him before departure, of his time consuming duties as Orderly, of Captain A's wife already having come for a visit.
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, Joseph Spafford papers
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War
Mary E. Farnham to Henry
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- Creator: Farnham, Mary E.
- Date Created: 1863-01-27
- Description: Mary Farnham writes from Wolf Shoals Creek, Va. on the Occoquan River to brother Henry about desserts and other food the troops are enjoying eating, her instructions for food to be sent to brother Zeke in the 10th Regiment, terrible traveling conditions due to deep muddy roads, horses having to be walked, she riding with other officers' wives, and her feeling uncomfortable with the looks of the Southerns (Secesh)
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, Roswell Farnham Correspondence
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War
Mary E. Farnham to Henry
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- Creator: Farnham, Mary E.
- Date Created: 1863-03-19
- Description: From Mary Farnham to Henry topics include letters received and responded to, military action among the men, pickets and taking of Rebel soldiers, fighting engagement at Kelly’s Ford, her thoughts on the unhealthy environment she is in, the varying degrees of health or illness of the men in camp, her horse ride even though the weather has been inclement, her comments on what the military trained horses will do, the ill health and death of some horses.
- Parent Collections: Vermonters in the Civil War, Roswell Farnham Correspondence
Part of: Vermonters in the Civil War