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)
- Gale,Charles T., 1845-1862 [2]
- Gale,Samantha A., 1832-1892 [2]
- Phelps, John Wolcott [2]
- Gale,Jonas, 1800-1874 [1]
Place(s)
- Fort Jackson (La.) [3]
- New Orleans (La.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [3]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [3]
- Fort Saint Philip (La.) [2]
- Military camps -- Louisiana [1]
- Military camps -- Vermont [1]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- African Americans [1]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Destruction and pillage [1]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspects [1]
- Vermont -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [1]
Format(s)
- text [10]
Genre(s)
- correspondence [10]
Topic(s)
- Ship Island (Miss.) [10]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 8th (1861-1865) [10]
- United StatesArmy Military life [5]
- Food [3]
- Butler, (Benjamin Franklin)Mr1818-1893 [2]
- Drill and minor tactics [1]
- Families of military personnel [1]
- Military hospitals [1]
- Military pay [1]
- Religion [1]
- Soldiers Suicidal behavior [1]
- Sutlers [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 7th (1862-1866) [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 7th (1862-1866).Company C [1]
- War casualties [1]
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Topic: ("Ship Island (Miss.)")
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: 1862-03-06
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: John Lester Barstow to ?
Creator: Barstow, John Lester, 1832-1913
Date: 1862-05-18
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the comfortable lodgings of the regiment in New Orleans, the cost of food items, and the state of New Orleans when the Vermont Regiment arrived.
Title: John Lester Barstow to Laura
Creator: Barstow, John Lester, 1832-1913
Date: 1862-05-03
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include an overview of the daily schedule in camp, firing on Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philips by General Butler, General Phelps, and about 10,000 men that lasted for three days, and orders for the rest of the regiment to head for New Orleans.
Title: John Lester Barstow to Laura
Creator: Barstow, John Lester, 1832-1913
Date: 1862-05-11
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include being aboard the ship “Jamis Hovey” on the Mississippi River on the way to New Orleans, the difficulty of the journey from Ship Island to New Orleans, and the initial observations upon the arrival in New Orleans.
Title: Justus E. Gale to Father
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-03-28
Resource type: correspondence
Two letters one dated March 28th and one April 6th.Topics include a description of the journey to Ship Island, Mississippi, being seasick, about the food and hard bread, poor quality water and little of it, writes of his faith in God and his sighting of the island.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Brother
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-03-01
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the improvement of Justus Gale’s health, over $60 of military pay sent home, trading for a watch and the anticipated journey to New York and then on to Ship Island, Mississippi.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Brother
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-04-24
Resource type: correspondence
Two letters dated April 24th and 25th. Topics include the capture of Fort Jackson(?) ; fort south of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, [battle April 18-28], the food at camp good except greasy pork meat, and the schedule for the day including battalion drills and dress parade.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Sister
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-03-07
Resource type: correspondence
Writing to his sister topics include the journey from Camp Holbrook to Ship Island through New York via train car, mentions 45 rebel officers being taken prisoner at Fort Donelson, hopes the war to be over soon, thinks of his family back home and puts his faith in God to rule over all.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Sister
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-04-21
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the improvement in Justus Gale's health, the cost of food items in camp, the death of three men in the regiment, the attempted suicide of a man in Company F, mentions "sugar place" back home in Elmore and writes about the lack of information in camp about the rest of the Union Army.
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