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)
- Holbrook, Frederick [11]
Recipient(s)
Place(s)
- Vermont -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [4]
- New Orleans (La.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [1]
Format(s)
- text [11]
Genre(s)
- correspondence [11]
Topic(s)
- Armed Forces Officers [8]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 7th (1862-1866) [6]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 8th (1861-1865) [6]
- Recruiting and enlistment [4]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 7th (1862-1866).Company C [4]
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Browsing by:
Author: ("Holbrook, Frederick")
Genre: ("correspondence")
Title: Frederick Holbrook to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1862-08-08
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include Mrs. Holbrook requesting General Phelps to forward her letters to her son and Frederick Holbrook inquiring after the sick men and the number of surgeons. Holbrook expresses frustration that the Vt. Regiments (7th & 8th) are still not under Phelps's command, per an agreement with Gen. Butler. Holbrook also mentions Phelps's "Dark Brigade," black troops that Phelps recruited in Louisiana without permission from the War Dept. (Phelps resigned in Aug., 1862.)
Title: Frederick Holbrook to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1861-08-27
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include John Wolcott Phelps being promoted to Brigadier General by President Lincoln and the Senate, as well as a state election (held first Tuesday in September) for which Frederick Holbrook is running for governor. Holbrook mentions again his desire to have his son, William, be attached to Phelps.
Title: Frederick Holbrook to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1861-11-18
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include organizing Companies or Batteries of Light Artillery for General B. F. Butler's "New England Division". Holbrook again writes of his desire to have his son, William, be attached to Phelps. Also writes of making Lt. Roberts of Rutland a Colonel of the 7th Regiment, of his disappointment of General Baxter not being elected Adjutant General. Col. Washburn got the post.
Title: Frederick Holbrook to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1862-03-10
Resource type: correspondence
Upbeat letter delivered to Gen. Phelps by the writer's son, William C. Holbrook, who apparently turned down an offer to join Phelps's staff. The writer, Gov. Holbrook, lavishes praise on Vermont officers and soldiers (including his son), and sends warm wishes for success to Phelps, sharing his conviction that "the Union Cause must triumph." Holbrook concludes with some reflections on the difficulty of being a wartime governor.
Title: Frederick Holbrook to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1862-05-02
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the arrival of the 7th and 8th Vermont Regiments at Ship Island, off the coast of Miss., and arrangements with the War Department for wounded troops to be sent home. Holbrook mentions the Battle of Yorktown (April 5-May 4, 1862), esp. the "affair" on April 16 that left ca. 100 Vermont soldiers wounded. Holbrook is in charge of the U.S. Marine Hospital in Burlington, Vt.
Title: Frederick Holbrook to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1862-07-27
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the President calling for 300,000 additional troops, the wish that the National Government will develop a decisive policy to "proclaim war to the knife," and a description of Frederick Holbrook's son Major Will. Holbrook continues to express his admiration for Phelps and offer him greater forces to command.
Title: Frederick Holbrook to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1861-08-10
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include Frederick Holbrook requesting that his son William be under General John Wolcott Phelps' command in the position of Aid, Secretary or of some type of assistant.
Title: Frederick Holbrook to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1862-03-06
Resource type: correspondence
In his letter to General Phelps, Frederick Holbrook, Governor of Vermont (1861-1863), expresses his admiration for several Union officers from Vermont and his pride in the 8th Vt. Regiment. He informs the general that two infantry regiments and two artillery companies are ready to serve. (This is about one month before the Union attack on New Orleans, launched in part from Ship Island, just off the coast of Mississippi.) Holbrook explains that they would have been sent a month earlier "had Government been ready with funds." He looks forward to seeing Phelps again after the war.
Title: Frederick Holbrook to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1861-11-29
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include Brig. Gen. John Wolcott Phelps' commanding Butler's New England Division and inviting Frederick Holbrook's son William to be his Aid-de-Camp. Mention of 7th Vermont Regiment (the old 1st reorganized) also being attached to Butler, of Lt. Roberts being given Colonelcy of the 7th, of Major Kimball of the New Jersey 9th for Lt. Col. of the 8th Regiment, reference to Thanksgiving Proclamation.
Title: Frederick Holbrook to Roswell Farnham
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1862-12-02
Resource type: correspondence
Farnham receives a brief letter from Governor Frederick Holbrook of Vermont writing from Montpelier of Farnham's concerns about soldier vacancies in the Vermont regiments and the method to fill them. Mentions Col. Proctor.
![Thumbnail: [Frederick Holbrook] to [F. F. Holbrook]](http://cdi.uvm.edu/archives/civilwar/cwuvmphelps33_1-thumb.jpg)
Title: [Frederick Holbrook] to [F. F. Holbrook]
Creator: Holbrook, Frederick
Date: 1862-10-7
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include a summary of Frederick Holbrook's requests for General Phelps to go to Washington to discuss the 7th Vermont Regiment. Reference to Senator Foote is probably Solomon Foot, senator from Vermont (1851-1866).
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