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)
Recipient(s)
- Spafford, Mary Jane, [18]
Place(s)
- Military campsVirginia [9]
- Military campsVermont [5]
- Military campsWashington (D.C.) [3]
- United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Participation, Juvenile [1]
Format(s)
- text [18]
Genre(s)
- correspondence [18]
Topic(s)
- United StatesArmy Military life [10]
- Armed Forces Officers [5]
- Veazey, Wheelock G. (Wheelock Graves)1835-1898 [3]
- Battle casualties [2]
- Bull Run, 2nd Battle of, Va., 1862 [2]
- Confederate States of AmericaArmy [1]
- Diseases [1]
- Fredericksburg, Battle of, Fredericksburg, Va., 1862 [1]
- Marching [1]
- Military hospitals [1]
- Morale [1]
- Operational rations (Military supplies) [1]
- Postal service [1]
- Prisoners of war [1]
- Promotions, Military [1]
- Recruiting and enlistment [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 14th (1862-1863) [1]
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Recipient: ("Spafford, Mary Jane, ")
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-10-11
Resource type: correspondence
Writing to his sister, Mary Jane, from Brattleboro, Vermont topics include a request for a knitted night cap and a vest; also reference to Veazey as being colonel and the appointment of George C.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: [1862]-10-19
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Brattleboro, topics include the inspection of the company by Dr. Phelps, the assignment of positions by various men including that of Dr. Parks as surgeon and assistant surgeon, and another request for a cap with a post note on compliments received on his vest.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: [1862]-10-24
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Brattleboro topics include George deciding to joint the regiment, Joseph Spafford receiving his payment, and the mustering of the regiment.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-10-26
Resource type: correspondence
Writing en route, topics include a description of the journey to Washington on the “Elm City” train, his deep desire for letters from home and an undercurrent of his willingness to accept how things are.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-10-27
Resource type: correspondence
Very brief letter to his sister, Mary Jane, stating arriving in Washington, D.C. and camping on Capitol Hill.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-10-29
Resource type: correspondence
Stationed in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill topics include a brief description of the items Joseph Spafford has in his possession, the living situation at camp, and the good health of the regiment.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-11-01
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include setting up camp on Capitol Hill, the uncertainty of when the regiment will march, homeless orphan white boys asking and being allowed to go along with the soldiers, one of the boys going with Spafford and Spafford’s good health.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-11-06
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the arrival of George, the movement of the regiment to Camp Vermont near Alexandria, Virginia, having only two dollars in pocket and hoping pay comes soon.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-11-09
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Camp Seward near Alexandria, Virginia, topics include a copy of Joseph Spafford’s accounts of camp life from October 24th until November 9th, 1862 with a note that he burns the letters he receives. Writes about tents, gunfire heard from a battle a distance away, on leave to visit Washington, D.C., liking his boy Daniel McAuliffe age 13 and wanting to take him with him to Vermont when the 9 months are up.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: [1862]-11-19
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include rumors that the 15th and 16th regiments may move to New York and go with the Texas Expedition, the health of the regiment and the matter of shipping a tub of butter to Spafford.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-12-09
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the 13th, 14th, and 15th regiments moving near Bull Run battlefield, Stoughton arriving in camp, his comfortable living quarters, plenty to eat and inquiries about home.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-12-23
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include a hard battle and defeat at Fredericksburg, the death of S. E. Connor from pneumonia, his opinion of how the war is conducted, the illness of two of the officers, of having the Commissary Sergeant among them with the result living conditions are good.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-12-28
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Camp New Fairfax topics include the sickness of two officers at camp, giving permission of sell his horse Jo back home, the 15th regiment out on Bull Run battlefield, the resignation of several officers including the Captain of K that has not yet been accepted but expected to be, living conditions better now that Commissary Sergeant is with them.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: [1862]-10-22
Resource type: correspondence
Still in Brattleboro but anticipating the company moving out, topics include the men who are going home, George declining the assistant surgeon position, and the expectation of being paid.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-10-22
Resource type: correspondence
Spafford writes about being asked by Col Veazey to have Spafford go to Windham and ask George to accept the position of assistant surgeon.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-12-13
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Company E. 16th Vt. Picket Reserve, Centerville Virginia, topics include the regiment marching to Fairfax Court House, Virginia, the picket line out on battlefield of Second Battle of Bull Run, battle casualties observed including those of horses and that of a man's head.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-12-18
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from camp near Fairfax Court House, Virginia topics include a description of what picket duty entails, an account of the people Joseph Spafford met in Virginia including two families with very different attitudes towards the Northern soldiers. Writes of dining with one family who also had been given the responsibility of keep a dead Confederate officer in a metal lined coffin in their shed, of observing battle remains at the Bull Run site and of picking up bullets, etc from there, the ill health of Ed Hammond, the decision to remain at Camp Vermont and a brief reference to gunfire heard near Fredericksburg.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-12-30
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the whole brigade on picket duty on Bull Run, a catholic church having been emptied of its pews so as to used for a hospital, a brief encounter with Rebel soldiers, Spafford's anger with the Rebels being able to infiltrate the Union troops, the captured rebel prisoner stated aim was to take Sutler's supplies, acceptance of officers' resignations and the potential promotion of George Clark to Captain.
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