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 the University of Vermont and the Vermont Historical Society.
The collection includes materials dating from 1861 at the start of the Civil War, and will grow with additional materials throughout the years of the sesquicentennial commemoration, from 2011 through 2015. 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) will eventually be included; each adds a certain experience and point of view to the whole.
1861
In 1861, Vermont produced a three-month volunteer infantry regiment (the First Vermont Infantry) that served in Virginia from May through July. Five additional volunteer infantry regiments, mustered for three-year terms and numbered consecutively, were put in the field in the summer and fall, camping first in Washington and at Camp Griffin through the fall and winter. The First Vermont Cavalry regiment was also mustered and sent south in the fall of 1861.
Subject content for the 1861 letters and diaries covers a great deal of ground. The many logistical issues involved in launching the war effort come to light in the letters of General John W. Phelps, while officers such as Lieutenant Roswell Farnham often made thoughtful observations on the events and personalities in the camps and in the field. The enlisted men occasionally described important events in detail, but more often wrote about everyday life and concerns. Eyewitness accounts of engagements at Big Bethel (June 9-10), Bull Run (July 21), and Lewinsville (September 11) reveal the motivations and expectations of the men in arms, while descriptions of living conditions, drilling, sickness, and political intrigue provide insight on the soldiers’ experiences.
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.
Time Period Covered: 1861
Sub-collections
Charles F. Bancroft Correspondence
Horace Barlow Diary
Valentine G. Barney Correspondence
John Lester Barstow Correspondence
Barton Family Correspondence
John W. Campbell Correspondence
Roswell Farnham Correspondence
Justus F. Gale Correspondence
Solomon G. Heaton Correspondence
William Wirt Henry Correspondence
William C. Holbrook Correspondence
Albert A. May Correspondence
Benjamin F. Parmenter Correspondence
Joseph L. Perkins Correspondence
John Wolcott Phelps Correspondence
George W. Quimby Correspondence
Joseph Chase Rutherford Correspondence
Henry A. Smith Correspondence
Joseph Spafford Correspondence
Edward and John Stone Correspondence
Ransom W. Towle Correspondence
Orlando S. Turner Correspondence
Wheelock Graves Veazey Correspondence
Daniel S. White Correspondence
Henry Harrison Wilder Correspondence
Lyman Williams Correspondence
Published: April 11, 2011, University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Center for Digital Initiatives
Rights: Requests to reproduce this item should be sent to the UVM Libraries' Center for Digital Initiatives at cdi@uvm.edu. For more information, see http://cdi.uvm.edu/about/rights. More information.
Browse Options
Creator(s)
Place(s)
- Chicago (Ill.) [8]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Medical care [3]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons [3]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Casualties [1]
Topic(s)
- Armed Forces Officers [6]
- Prisoners of war [4]
- Diseases [3]
- Food [2]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 9th (1862-1865) [2]
- Morale [1]
- Prisoner-of-war camps [1]
- War casualties [1]
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Place: ("Chicago (Ill.)")
Title: Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
Creator: Barney, Valentine G., 1834-1889
Date: 1862-10-01
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Chicago topics include the journey to an area 2 miles from Chicago, a description of the living quarters that include a good dinner, fixing up the sheds they are living in which are on the fairgrounds (the site of a Sanitary Fair to benefit soldier relief funds, Oct. 27, 1863), the morale of the men, food of pork, bread, beef, talk of being relocated to Minnesota, and the disparate need for money.
Title: Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
Creator: Barney, Valentine G., 1834-1889
Date: 1862-10-05
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the conditions at Camp Tyler, the observation of the Sabbath not to his liking as the duty of dispensing clothing to the men, etc. took up much of it, recounts the past 3 weeks, of seeing Vermont marble on the floors of some buildings on his visit to the city of Chicago, the Chicago marble business using Vermont marble and of there being a lot of Vermonters in the area.
Title: Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
Creator: Barney, Valentine G., 1834-1889
Date: 1862-11-05
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the continued improvement of Barney’s health, his taking of jaundice bitters as treatment, his paying Mrs. Snow $10 for his and his attendant's room and board in her home and of sending his attendant back to camp.
Title: Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
Creator: Barney, Valentine G., 1834-1889
Date: 1862-11-07
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the continued improvement of Barney’s health, having his attendant return to camp, his thinking of applying for a furlough to return home when he feels stronger, his outrage at the government for the continued poor living conditions for the men at camp in the sheds, his asking for more money from home and the lack of military pay the soldiers have received.
Title: Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
Creator: Barney, Valentine G., 1834-1889
Date: 1862-11-09
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the continued improvement of Barney’s health from jaundice though his legs tire quickly, the need for money from home, thoughts of a furlough and the sickness and deaths in the regiment.
Title: Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
Creator: Barney, Valentine G., 1834-1889
Date: 1862-11-11
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the weather in Chicago, the desire to return home, and the improvement in Barney’s health.
Title: Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
Creator: Barney, Valentine G., 1834-1889
Date: 1862-12-02
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include arriving at Camp Douglas in Chicago, Lt. Erastus W. Jewett expects military pay to come through, and the good condition of the company.
Title: Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
Creator: Whitmore, Orange S., 1836-1908
Date: 1862-10-25
Resource type: correspondence
Brief letter from 1st Sgt. Whitmore to Barney's wife on the improvement of Barney’s health with Bilious fever (a name used that may refer to a number of illnesses that include jaundice) and the excellent care he is receiving from widow, Mrs. Snow in her private home.
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