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
Recipient(s)
- , [2]
- Gale,Charles T., 1845-1862 [2]
- Gale,Jonas, 1800-1874 [2]
- Gale,Samantha A., 1832-1892 [1]
Place(s)
- Military camps -- Louisiana [3]
- Military camps -- Vermont [1]
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 [1]
Topic(s)
- Diseases [7]
- United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 8th (1861-1865) [7]
- Food [3]
- United StatesArmy Military life [3]
- Families of military personnel [2]
- Fort Henry, Battle of, Tenn., 1862 [1]
- Medicine, Military [1]
- Operational rations (Military supplies) [1]
- Pillage [1]
- Prisoners of war [1]
- Religion [1]
- Ship Island (Miss.) [1]
- Skirmishing [1]
- Soldiers Suicidal behavior [1]
- Sutlers [1]
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Topic: ("United StatesArmy.Vermont Infantry Regiment, 8th (1861-1865)")
Topic: ("Diseases")
Title: Justus F. Gale to Brother
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-02-07
Resource type: correspondence
Writing from Brattleboro, Vermont, topics include news of bombardment of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River (February 6, 1862) by Commodore Andrew Hull Foote (officer of the U.S. Navy) and General Ulysses S. Grant, a skirmish that resulted in finding a barrel of rum, food sometimes good but not the hash made in camp and the vaccination of the company for pox.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Brother
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-08-01
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the sickness and deaths in the regiment including that of Lucias M Benson of Worcester from diphtheria whom Gale was caring for in the hospital, inquiries about home and family members, the lack of news from Richmond, and the hot weather in Algiers.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Family
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-07-24
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the sickness and deaths in the regiment due to Typhoid Fever and poor water, a report that Vicksburg was burned, and the call for the 11th and 12th regiments from Vermont.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Father
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-08-08
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the good health of Justus Gale, a description of the land in Algiers including deep mud, swamp and tall grasses, and the sickness in the regiment.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Father
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-07-10
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the medicating himself after seeing the doctor twice to rid his diarrhea, taking of Richmond and rebel prisoners, the weather in Algiers, high price of provisions, inquires about family and the plan to go visit friends 4 miles away.
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.
Title: Justus F. Gale to Sister
Creator: Gale, Justus F., 1837-1863
Date: 1862-07-18
Resource type: correspondence
Topics include the good health of Justus Gale, the food available at Algiers including confiscated beef from the locals, standing guard for 12 hour shifts, killing alligators, writes of some of his comrades, the sickness of Sargent 2nd Class.Chas. C. Martin with inflammation of the bowels, the capture of Richmond and Vicksburg, mentions Confederate Gen. G. T. Beauregard, receiving a copy of the Green Mountain Freeman and refers to his religious faith.
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