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)
- Towle, Sebra [10]
- Towle, Rufus [4]
Place(s)
- Military campsVirginia [9]
- Fort Monroe (Va.) [1]
- United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Medical care [1]
- United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Military reconnaissance [1]
Format(s)
- text [10]
Genre(s)
- correspondence [10]
Topic(s)
- United StatesArmy Military life [7]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 4th (1861-1865) [6]
- Diseases [3]
- Drill and minor tactics [2]
- Military discipline [2]
- Marching [1]
- Military chaplains [1]
- Monitor (Ironclad) [1]
- Picketing [1]
- Prisoners of war [1]
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Recipient: ("Towle, Sebra")
Title: Letter to Rufus and Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1861-11-25
Resource type: correspondence
From Camp Griffen, Va. Topics include the health of the regiment (measles, Typhoid fever), requests for food, tea, clothing and the cold weather.
Title: Letter to Rufus and Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1861-12-07
Resource type: correspondence
December 7, 1861. Topics include Ransom W. Towle's responsibilities in the regiment, discipline if duties not carried out, foraging for food, marching in preparation to join an attack, request for newspapers and the location of the camp.
Title: Letter to Rufus and Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1861-12-29
Resource type: correspondence
December 29, 1861. Topics include the health of the regiment in the cold weather (rheumatism, boils, homesickness), camp inspection, lack of presence of Chaplain except at religious services, and the prospect of battle.
Title: Ransom W. Towle to Rufus and Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1862-01-11
Resource type: correspondence
Towle writes from his Virginia camp to his parents about drill, military life, resignation of officers due to being unfit physically or mentally, of still needing new boots, illness, and his positive opinion of Colonel Stoughton.
Title: Ransom W. Towle to Rufus and Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1862-02-05
Resource type: correspondence
Towle responds to his parents' letter that expresses low morale at home, financial difficulties at home and Towle encourages the doing without luxuries on the home front as much as possible. He writes of a 30 hour picket trip, the capture of rebel two scouts, drills being only two a day and of a self inflicted wounding of a Union soldier requiring amputation of the wounded soldier's leg.
Title: Ransom W. Towle to Rufus and Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1862-02-23
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include a Brigade Parade and a farewell address of Washington, he relates some of the soldiers opinions and predictions that the war will end in three weeks. Mention of 109 six mule teams passing through his camp; exact purpose unknown.
Title: Ransom W. Towle to Rufus and Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1862-02-27
Resource type: correspondence
A brief letter to his parents from Camp Griffin in Virginia of marching orders with three days rations and the hope to encounter the Rebels. He makes a brief reference to Brigade surgeon Dr. Phelps. Towle expresses his dismay that the troops in the west are fighting and gaining glory while the army of the Potomac lays idle.
Title: Ransom W. Towle to Rufus and Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1862-03-29
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Newport News (Virginia?) topics include the journey from Alexandria to his new camp, mentions the destruction of Hampton, Va. by the Confederates, the "concentration of troops" for the possible purpose of advancing into Va. and the inefficiency of the Quarter Master resulting in the soldiers going hungry for a week. He makes reference to passing gun boats, gives a brief description and impression of the "renowned" Monitor (Ironclad) and Fort Monroe.
Title: Ransom W. Towle to Rufus and Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1862-04-03
Resource type: correspondence
Towle writes of orders received to march on Richmond, Virginia and of his many camp duties. He writes of soldiers letters being detained and of their camp being fired upon by the Rebels. No harm done.
Title: Ransom W. Towle to Sebra Towle
Creator: Towle, Ransom W., d. 1864
Date: 1862-01-05
Resource type: correspondence
Towle writes from his Virginia camp to his mother about his thankfulness for the gift of a thick quilt. He writes in detail of boots he wants made, of his thoughts on what it would mean if there was an intervention of England, and his tent mates doing mundane domestic tasks of writing letters and mending clothing.
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