Thomas D. Willis typescript, 1862-1865
Using These Materials
- Restrictions:
- The collection is open for research.
Summary
- Creator:
- Willis, Scott
- Abstract:
- This collection is made up of typescripts of letters that Thomas D. Willis wrote to his family while serving in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War. The letters concern his imprisonment after the regiment's unsuccessful mutiny in early 1863, his hospitalization in late 1864, and daily conditions in army camps in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.
- Extent:
- 2 volumes
- Language:
- English
- Sponsor:
- James S. Schoff Civil War Collection
- Authors:
- Collection processed and finding aid created by Rob S. Cox, May 1992, and Meg Hixon, March 2014
Background
- Scope and Content:
-
This collection is primarily made up of typescripts of letters that Thomas D. Willis wrote to his parents and siblings while serving in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment between August 1862 and June 1865. The Willis family also received a small number of letters from John McKee and Walter G. Wilson, also of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and a family friend who encountered Willis during his hospitalization in late 1864.
Thomas D. Willis sent letters to his parents and two of his siblings, Julia and Seth, throughout his Civil War service, writing less frequently as the war went on. From late August 1862 to early April 1863, he discussed his pride in the regiment, his close friendships with a group of other soldiers, and life in camps in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Louisville, Kentucky; and Nashville, Tennessee. He described his daily schedule, meals, equipment, and marches, where he noticed the effects of the war and the graves of soldiers who had died along the road. After arriving in Nashville in November 1862, the regiment became involved in a controversy over their expected and assigned duties. Willis reported that he and others had enlisted to serve as bodyguards for General Don Carlos Buell; upon learning that they were to become a regular cavalry regiment following Buell's removal, the members of the regiment laid down their arms and refused to serve, believing that they had been enlisted under false pretenses. In the absence of obvious ringleaders, Willis and several other men were randomly chosen as representatives at a court martial. Willis described the poor conditions during his imprisonment and expressed his growing discontent with Captain William Jackson Palmer and other military leaders, whom he accused of acting as despots.
After his release from prison in early April 1863, Willis returned to the front, where he continued to describe camp life in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. He mentioned several skirmishes and at least one major engagement with Confederate troops. He noted that the civilian population, including both Union and Confederate sympathizers, had suffered because of the war. His letters also refer to health problems, often related to dysentery, and he was hospitalized with a large open sore on his hip in late 1864. Willis described his treatment in hospitals in Nashville, Tennessee, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, and discussed his appointment as a wardmaster for a branch hospital. Willis wrote infrequently between late 1864 and the spring of 1865, when he anticipated his return home. Along with the Willis family's incoming correspondence, the collection includes typescripts of 2 letters that Willis's mother wrote in August 1864; she discussed life at home, Copperhead politicians, and the presidential election of 1864.
The materials were transcribed by Scott Willis, a descendant of Thomas D. Willis, around 1978.
- Biographical / Historical:
-
Thomas D. Willis was born in Mill Creek Township, Pennsylvania, on April 18, 1843, the son of Thomas Willis (d. 1875) and his second wife, Marrillia M. Osborn (d. 1902). He had one full brother, Seth H. Willis (b. 1847), and four surviving half siblings: Frank, Matilda, Martha, and Edwin. Willis served in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Companies C and F, from August 22, 1862-June 21, 1865. In early 1863, he was imprisoned in Nashville in connection with the regiment's attempted mutiny, and in late 1864, he was hospitalized because of a large open sore on his hip. After the war, Willis returned to Mill Creek, where he ran the family farm until becoming president of the Erie County Milk Association in 1901. He and his wife, Anna J. McKee, married on September 26, 1876, and had four children: Gussie B., Thomas C., Harvey M., and Frederick. Thomas D. Willis died on May 30, 1920.
- Acquisition Information:
- M-4686 .
- Processing information:
-
Cataloging funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). This collection has been processed according to minimal processing procedures and may be revised, expanded, or updated in the future.
- Arrangement:
-
The typescripts are arranged chronologically according to the date of the original materials.
- Rules or Conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
Related
- Additional Descriptive Data:
-
Related Materials
The Louis B. Fulton diary also pertains to a soldier in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment.
Bibliography
Kirk, Charles H. History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, Which Was Recruited and Known as the Anderson Cavalry in the Rebellion of 1861-1865. Philadelphia: 1906.
Miller, John. A Twentieth Century History of Erie County, Pennsylvania: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People, and Its Principal Interests. Volume 2. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909.
Partial Subject Index
Ambushes and surprises. - 1864 January 10
Antietam Campaign, 1862. - 1862 September 11
- 1862 September 16
- 1862 September 18
- 1862 September 24
Antietam (Md.) Battlefield. - 1862 September 24
Armistices--Tennessee. - 1863 June 15
Bathing. - 1863 June 9
Bible. - 1863 November 16
Birthdays. - 1864 April 13
Boots. - 1862 September 7
Bread. - 1864 January 1
Brownlow, William Gannaway, 1805-1877. - 1863 February 25
Buell, Don Carlos, 1818-1898. - 1862 August 27
- 1862 October 27
- 1862 November 19
- 1862 December 28
Burials. - 1862 October 9
- 1863 April 4
Camps (Military)--Pennsylvania. - 1862 October 29
- 1862 November 2
Carlisle Barracks (Pa.) - 1862 August 28
Chambersburg (Pa.)--Raid, 1862. - 1862 October 14
Cherokee Raid, 1864. - 1864 February 19
Chickamauga, Battle of, 1863. - 1863 October 1
Chickamauga Campaign, 1863. - 1863 September 3
- 1863 September 9-15
Churches--Tennessee. - 1863 April 15
Cookery, Military. - 1862 October 19
Copperhead (Nickname) - 1863 March 6
Copperhead (Nickname)--Pennsylvania. - 1864 August 21
Courts martial and courts of enquiry. - 1863 February 17
- 1863 March 10
Curtin, Andrew Gregg, 1817-1894. - 1863 May 5
Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889. - 1863 April 9
Dead. - 1862 September 18
- 1862 September 24
Dead horses. - 1862 November 19
Deserters, Military. - 1862 December 28
Deserters, Military--Confederate States of America. - 1862 December 19
- 1863 December 8
Diarrhea. - 1863 November 12
Discharges, Dishonorable. - 1863 March 10
Discharges, Military. - 1863 June 23
Duty. - 1863 January 20-21
Elections--Tennessee--1864. - 1864 March 10
Emancipation Proclamation. - 1863 March 6
Enemy--Relations. - 1863 June 15
Erysipelas. - 1864 September 5
- 1864 [September] 7
Executions and executioners. - 1864 May 23
Fasts and feasts. - 1863 April 30
Ferguson, Champ. - 1864 January 10
Floods--Tennessee--Nashville. - 1865 March 7
Food. - 1863 June 9
- 1863 October 20
Food--Prices. - 1864 June 19
Foraging--Tennessee. - 1863 April 15
- 1863 April 30
- 1863 November 1
Fraley, Capt. - 1864 May 23
Gangrene. - 1864 October 15
Graveyards. - 1862 December 13
Guerillas--Tennessee. - 1862 December 28
- 1863 July 19
- 1863 August 23
- 1864 January 10
- 1864 March 10
- 1864 May 12
- 1864 May 23
Homesickness. - 1862 August 28
- 1862 November 23
Horses. - 1862 November 19
- 1862 November 23
- 1862 November 30
- 1863 April 9
- 1863 May 5
- 1863 December 8
- 1864 June 27
- 1864 July 13
- 1864 August 7
Hyres, Adelia, d. 1864--Death. - 1864 August 14
Keeler, William. - 1862 August 28
- 1863 September 3
Kentucky. - 1862 December 13
Kentucky--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Destruction. - 1862 November 19
King, Nate. - 1862 October 14
- 1863 March 20
Knights of the Golden Circle. - 1863 December 8
Letters--Psychological aspects. - 1865 May 30
Letter-writing. - 1864 March 24
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865. - 1863 March 29
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Assassination. - 1865 April 24
Louisville (Ky.) - 1862 November 12
Marches--Alabama. - 1863 August 23
Marches--Kentucky. - 1862 December 13
Marches--Pennsylvania. - 1862 November 12
McKee, John. - 1862 September 16
- 1862 September 18
- 1862 October 14
- 1863 February 19
- 1863 March 20
- 1863 December 24
- 1864 January 1
Military justice. - 1863 February 19
- 1863 March 10
Military prisons. - 1863 January 13
- 1863 January 20-21
- 1863 February 25
- 1863 March 12
- 1863 March 20
- 1863 March 21
- 1863 March 29
Morale. - 1863 March 20
- 1863 October 1
Morgan's 3rd Raid, 1862. - 1862 December 28
Mules. - 1862 November 27
Mules as food. - 1862 November 12
Murder. - 1863 August 23
Murfreesboro, Battle of, 1862-1863. - 1863 January 10
- 1863 January 20-21
- 1863 January 28
Murfreesboro (Tenn.) Battlefield. - 1863 April 4
Mustering out. - 1865 May 9
Mutiny. - 1862 December 28
- 1863 January 10
- 1863 January 13
- 1863 January 20-21
- 1863 January 28
- 1863 February 5
- 1863 February 17
- 1863 March 12
- 1863 March 13
- 1863 March 21
- 1863 March 29
Nashville (Tenn.) - 1864 June 12
- 1865 March 7
Packages from home. - 1862 November 6
- 1863 June 23
Painters. - 1863 March 21
Palmer, William Jackson, 1836-1909. - 1863 February 17
- 1863 February 25
- 1863 March 4
- 1863 March 6
- 1863 April 4
- 1863 April 15
- 1863 May 5
- 1863 May 9
- 1863 June 15
- 1863 December 24
- 1864 February 2
- 1864 February 19
- 1864 March 10
Photographs. - 1863 November 16
- 1864 June 19
Picket duty. - 1863 July 19
Picket duty--Tennessee. - 1864 July 20
Pillage--Pennsylvania. - 1862 September 29
Pillage--Tennessee. - 1863 April 15
Poisoning. - 1862 November 12
Prayer meetings. - 1862 September 1
Presidents--United States--Election--1864. - 1864 August 21
Prisoners of War--Confederate States of America. - 1863 February 25
- 1863 March 12
Prisons--Tennessee. - 1863 February 17
- 1863 March 10
Punishment. - 1863 January 13
Railroad travel--Tennessee. - 1864 May 12
Religious gatherings. - 1862 September 1
- 1862 September 7
Richmond (Va.)--Capture, 1865. - 1865 April 3
Rosecrans, William Starke, 1819-1898. - 1862 December 28
- 1863 January 20-21
- 1863 April 15
- 1863 April 30
Safe guards. - 1863 November 12
Sausage. - 1862 November 12
Sequatchie Valley (Tenn.)--Raid, 1864. - 1864 March 10
Smallpox. - 1863 February 25
Soldiers--Alcohol. - 1862 September 1
- 1864 March 10
Soldiers--Death. - 1865 April 15
Soldiers--Recreation. - 1862 October 9
Southerners. - 1862 November 19
- 1863 November 16
Spies. - 1863 March 6
Telegraph--Censorship. - 1863 March 29
Tents. - 1862 October 27
- 1862 November 1
- 1863 May 27
- 1863 December 8
Thanksgiving Day. - 1862 November 27
Tullahoma Campaign, 1863. - 1863 June 23
- 1863 July 9
- 1863 July 19
Typhus Fever. - 1862 November 2
- 1863 April 15
United States. Army--Enlistment. - 1862 August 27
- 1862 August 28
- 1862 August 28
- 1864 July 20
United States. Army--Inspection. - 1862 November 30
United States. Army--Leaves and furloughs. - 1862 September 1
- 1864 July 5
United States. Army--Military life. - 1862 August 28
- 1862 October 19
- 1862 November 4
United States. Army--Officers. - 1863 May 5
- 1863 May 9
United States. Army--Officers--Alcohol. - 1863 May 5
United States. Army--Paymasters. - 1863 December 24
United States. Army--Reenlistment. - 1864 February 19
- 1864 March 10
United States. Army--Signal Corps. - 1864 April 5
United States. Army--Supplies and stores. - 1863 October 20
- 1863 November 27-30
- 1864 June 19
United States. Army--Surgeons--Corrupt practices. - 1863 March 12
United States. Army--Uniforms. - 1862 September 5
- 1862 September 7
United States Christian Commission. - 1864 June 27
- 1864 September 24
United States Sanitary Commission. - 1863 February 5
- 1864 June 12
- 1864 June 27
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--African Americans. - 1862 October 19
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Desertions. - 1863 August 23
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Health aspects. - 1863 May 23
- 1863 June 4
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Hospitals. - 1864 September 15
- 1864 September 24
- 1864 November 17
- 1865 February 11
- 1865 March 7
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Medical care. - 1863 May 23
- 1863 May 27
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Participation, Juvenile. - 1863 March 10
- 1863 March 12
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Postal service. - 1864 January 10
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Scouts and scouting. - 1862 December 19
- 1863 April 30
- 1864 January 10
- 1864 March 10
War wounds. - 1863 August 4
Washington's Birthday. - 1863 February 25
Willis, Thomas D., b. 1843. - 1862 October 14
- 1863 March 10
- 1863 March 29
- 1863 November 12
- 1864 October 10
Wilson, Walter G. - 1863 March 10
- 1863 June 23
- 1864 April 5
Subjects
Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.
- Subjects:
-
Courts-martial and courts of inquiry--United States.
Mutiny.
Stones River, Battle of, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 1862-1863. - Formats:
-
Letters (correspondence)
Typescripts. - Names:
-
United States. Army--Military life.
United States. Army. Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, 15th (1862-1865)
Palmer, William Jackson, 1836-1909.
McKee, John.
Willis, Marrilla Osborn.
Willis, Seth.
Willis, Thomas D., 1843-1920.
Wilson, Walter G. - Places:
-
Alabama--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Georgia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Pennsylvania--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Tennessee--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Medical care.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and prisons.
Contents
Using These Materials
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
The collection is open for research.
- USE & PERMISSIONS:
-
Copyright status is unknown
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
Thomas D. Willis Typescript, James S. Schoff Civil War Collection, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan