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 [4]
- Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866 [4]
- Dillingham, Charles, b. 1837 [2]
- Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863 [1]
- Holbrook, William Cune, 1842-1904 [1]
- Stone, Edward P., 1830-1920 [1]
- Tyler, Jonathan Curtis [1]
- Veazey, Wheelock G., 1835-1898 [1]
Recipient(s)
- Phelps, John Wolcott [5]
- Henry, William Wirt [2]
- Farnham, Roswell, 1827-1903 [1]
- Holbrook, Frederick [1]
- Spafford, Mary Jane, [1]
- Spafford, Mary Jane [1]
- Veazey, Julia A., [1]
- White, Homer [1]
- White, Homer, [1]
- [Gale,Samantha A., 1832-1892] [1]
Place(s)
- Military campsVirginia [3]
- Military camps -- Louisiana [1]
- Military campsVermont [1]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [1]
- Vermont -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [1]
- VermontHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865 [1]
Format(s)
- text [16]
Genre(s)
- correspondence [16]
Topic(s)
- Recruiting and enlistment [16]
- United StatesArmy Military life [5]
- Armed Forces Officers [4]
- African American soldiers [2]
- Butler, (Benjamin Franklin)Mr1818-1893 [1]
- Hancock, Winfield Scott1824-1886 [1]
- Homesickness [1]
- Military chaplains [1]
- Morale [1]
- Patriotism [1]
- Promotions, Military [1]
- Soldiers Alcohol use [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 2nd (1861-1865) [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 4th (1861-1865) [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 7th (1862-1866) [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 7th (1862-1866).Company C [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 8th (1861-1865) [1]
- Veazey, Wheelock G. (Wheelock Graves)1835-1898 [1]
- War casualties [1]
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Topic: ("Recruiting and enlistment")
Title: Charles Dillingham to William Wirt Henry
Creator: Dillingham, Charles, b. 1837
Date: 1861-08-16
Resource type: correspondence
Writes of wishing to be sent food such as dried beef, cheese, pickles, maple sugar, crackers. Mentions Bush Hill, camping in rainy weather with everything they had being wet, brigade review by General Smith, discontent among the officers. In need of recruits.
Title: Charles Dillingham to William Wirt Henry
Creator: Dillingham, Charles, b. 1837
Date: 1861-08-28
Resource type: correspondence
Writes of authority to enlist 40 men, Lt. Hoyt to go to Vermont to recruit instead of Charles Dillingham, need for good men, will try to discharge from the record those men who have died, were ordered to be in light marching order. May be to attack rebel camp across the river at Falls Church, some illness among the men.
Title: Edward P. Stone to Family
Creator: Stone, Edward P., 1830-1920
Date: 1861-12-28
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the improving health of the men in the regiment and officers being ordered home to recruit for the brigade.
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: 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 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.
Title: Jonathan Curtis Tyler to John Wolcott Phelps
Creator: Tyler, Jonathan Curtis
Date: 1861-06-13
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include Jonathan Curtis Tyler, a soon to be Yale graduate, appealing to Col. John Wolcott Phelps for a chance to serve his country in one of the four Vermont regiments that were currently recruiting.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Homer White
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-02-07
Resource type: correspondence
Spafford writes to his friend Homer on topics including Typhoid Fever in the Regiment, friendship, camp life, Hancock’s Brigade [Winfield Scott Hancock], and answering his friend’s questions about joining the Regiment and fear of dying.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Homer White
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-08-24
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Windham, Vt to his friend Homer White topics include Joseph Spafford deciding to enlist and reference to others who have decided to enlist.
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: 1861-12-08
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include Captain Atherton expected arrival in Cavendish to recruit men for the regiment, the sending of a photograph, reference to Laurence, the daguerreotype man from Chester who will be taking pictures of the 2nd Vermont Regiment.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Sister
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-08-26
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include wishing his sister a happy birthday, clearing up the rumor that he is dead, the enlisting of blacks, and the enlisting of men from home before they are drafted.
Title: Letter to John Wolcott Phelps
Date: 1862-08-10
Resource type: correspondence
Holbrook waxes eloquent in his call for a "'Great Awakening' at Washington" and a greater awareness of how "our present severe training" will make the nation stronger; but the federal government needs to take the war seriously in order to have victory. Accordingly, Holbrook supports Lincoln's call for 300,000 additional troops, but suggests that a million men in arms would bring success. Intuits correctly that Phelps's "Dark Brigade" (black troops) would not be allowed to bear arms.
Title: Wheelock G. Veazey to Julia A. Veazey
Creator: Veazey, Wheelock G., 1835-1898
Date: 1862-07-17
Resource type: correspondence
From Harrison's Landing to Julia still in Boston topics include the improved health of Wheelock Veazey, Major Seaver’s resignation denied, wishing to be home, the possibility of the war ending in the autumn if more troops are raised but fears it will not be enough or soon enough and of having been sent some two dozen bottles of whiskey but does not know who sent them.
Title: William C. Holbrook to Frederick Holbrook
Creator: Holbrook, William Cune, 1842-1904
Date: 1862-11-05
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include a description of the Court of Inquiry that was held by General Butler, his disdain for Gen. Butler; sending men to Vt to recruit for the regiment, the wish to establish recruiting stations by the Canadian border, praise for the French Canadians as soldiers and recommending the Quartermaster Morse for a promotion.
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