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 [39]
- Spafford, Mary Jane, [18]
- White, Homer [4]
- Spafford, John, b. 1810; Spafford [2]
- Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866 [2]
- Spafford, Marianne, [1]
- Spafford, Marianne [1]
- White, Homer, [1]
- White, Homer, [1]
Place(s)
- Military campsVirginia [26]
- Military campsVermont [5]
- Military campsWashington (D.C.) [3]
- United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Medical care [3]
- United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Women [2]
- United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865 [1]
- United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Military reconnaissance [1]
- United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Participation, Juvenile [1]
- Vermont -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [1]
- VermontHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865 [1]
Format(s)
- text [67]
Genre(s)
- correspondence [67]
Topic(s)
- United StatesArmy Military life [33]
- Diseases [11]
- Armed Forces Officers [10]
- Families of military personnel [10]
- Military leaves and furloughs [9]
- Sutlers [5]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 4th (1861-1865) [5]
- Recruiting and enlistment [4]
- Morale [3]
- Picketing [3]
- Promotions, Military [3]
- United StatesArmy Surgeons [3]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 16th (1862-1863) [3]
- Veazey, Wheelock G. (Wheelock Graves)1835-1898 [3]
- War casualties [3]
- Battle casualties [2]
- Bull Run, 2nd Battle of, Va., 1862 [2]
- Children and war [2]
- Drill and minor tactics [2]
- Homesickness [2]
- Military discharge [2]
- Soldiers Alcohol use [2]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 15th (1862-1863) [2]
- Capitulations, Military [1]
- Confederate States of AmericaArmy [1]
- Fredericksburg, Battle of, Fredericksburg, Va., 1862 [1]
- Hancock, Winfield Scott1824-1886 [1]
- Medicine, Military [1]
- Military discipline [1]
- Photographers [1]
- Prisoners of war [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 14th (1862-1863) [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 2nd (1861-1865) [1]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 3rd (1861-1865) [1]
- Women in war [1]
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Browsing by:
Author: ("Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866")
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-03-25
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from the Mansion House Hospital in Alexandria VA, topics include difficulty in getting a furlough at the present time, illness among others at the hospital from the Regiment, and the keeping and responsibility of using the Company's money for needed purchases for the men.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: [1861-09-16]
Resource type: correspondence
Spafford writes from Brattleboro of the possibility of his sister and Lizzie visiting him before departure, of his time consuming duties as Orderly, of Captain A's wife already having come for a visit.
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: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1861-12-15
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include winter quarters in a pine woods, officers to have log cabins, he using the Captain's tent with plenty of bed clothes, inquiries about home, seeks opinion of the war from home, sending hard crackers home, poor writing ink.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-01-26
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include resignation of officers and promotions of new officers, pay, visiting the 3rd Vermont, sickness in the Regiment, getting vaccinated for small pox, and rumors of marching orders.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-03-06
Resource type: correspondence
Spafford writes of difficulty of getting postage stamps in the correct amount needed to mail letters home and that the prepared rations ordered for possible march on Feb 27th were consumed in camp.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-03-15
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include being unable to march with the Regiment when orders came down to move out, of his dislike of how the hospital was run in Camp Griffin and him leaving that hospital, of living in tent with soldier who also had not moved out with the earlier call to march, being sent by ambulance to the Mansion House Hospital in Alexandria, being diagnosed with pleurisy and a detailed description of hospital life and medical care at the Mansion.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-04-09
Resource type: correspondence
Writing to his sister from the Mansion House Hospital topics include bad weather in Alexandria, Virginia, delayed arrival of letters from home, sewing on chevrons on his coat to help pass the time in his hospital room, and battle news of rebels defeated at Corinth and surrender of island no. 10.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-04-11
Resource type: correspondence
A very brief letter tells his sister not to write as he will be leaving the Mansion House Hospital for Washington.
Title: Joseph Spafford to Mary Jane Spafford
Creator: Spafford, Joseph, 1837-1866
Date: 1862-05-14
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include waiting for his military discharge papers, his plans for returning to Vermont, and his plan to travel with Sergeant Peabody of the 2nd Vermont.
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: 1862-05-11
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Carver Hospital in Washington D.C. topics include his waiting for his military discharge papers and plans for getting home to Vermont.
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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