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The John B. Stickney papers consist of letters written by a Union soldier in the 35th Massachusetts Regiment, to his family in Massachusetts. Stickney wrote about the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, South Mountain, and Vicksburg.

The John B. Stickney papers (33 items) consist of letters written by a Union soldier in the 35th Massachusetts Regiment to his family in Massachusetts. Stickney wrote about the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, South Mountain, and Vicksburg. Though the bulk of the letters are addressed to his parents, Stickney also wrote to sister Mattie and to his future wife, Carrie Rust.

In his letters home, Stickney described life as a lieutenant in the Union army, which, in the early days, he enjoyed. He detailed his division’s experiences with travel, food, shelter, and sickness, and reported on their official activities, such as constructing fortifications near Big Black River (July 1, 1863). He also discussed leisure activities; for example, in a letter to his sister, Stickney mentioned playing euchre with his friends (September 28, 1862). In three letters, he mentioned an African American servant named David Silver, who accompanied him during the first months of the war (August 30, 1862; September 28, 1862; December 30, 1862). Though Stickney enjoyed good health throughout his service, his regiment saw action in many battles and he lost many friends. He commented that, "Only Berry and myself remain of all our circle of friends that came out together" (May 31, 1863).

Stickney often discussed news from the front, though he was skeptical of rumors, particularly when they were of Union successes. However, after the battles of Antietam and Vicksburg, he was optimistic that the war was coming to a close.

• August 30, 1862: He traveled from Boston to Arlington, Massachusetts, and wrote details about the itinerary, food, and sleeping conditions; he passed on rumors from the Battle of Bull Run.
• September 28, 1862: Stickney gave an account the Battle of South Mountain and Antietam, and described President Lincoln and Secretary Chase reviewing the troops to help build the army’s morale. He also described ladies of Massachusetts nursing the wounded after the battle. Of the aftermath he wrote, "The Rebel dead and wounded were piled up in heaps…the destruction of the Rebels was awful."
• December 16, 1862: Stickney reported on the aftermath of the Battle of Fredericksburg.
• June 7-July 6, 1863: Stickney described the conflict at Vicksburg, including the capture of 27,000 Rebel prisoners on the 4th of July and shared his opinion about the danger of a raid on Washington by Robert E. Lee.
• August 3, 1863: Stickney relayed news about the state of the army in Mississippi and mentioned a laudatory letter that General Grant had sent to his corps.
• June 9, 1864: Friend Joseph Gottlieb described the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, and mentioned troop movements in the region surrounding Richmond.
• August 3, 1864: Stickney wrote about a policy for the payment of soldiers that would benefit recruiting efforts for the Union.

The diaries of Nathan Webb include vivid descriptions of life in one of the most active Union cavalry regiments, the 1st Maine, during the Civil War. Webb's thoughtfulness, candor, and his insight into the minds of soldiers and civilians make his diary a rich resource for the study of the social and military history of the Civil War.

The strengths of Webb's diaries are his ability as a writer and his willingness to describe important incidents at great length. His descriptions range widely in content, but are always thoughtful, and he has a flawless aptitude for an anecdote. He seems particularly to have been interested in the attitudes of his fellow soldiers and of local civilians, particularly the women, but he comments extensively on daily life in the camps, strategy, officers, drilling, ethics in the army, and his feelings, positive and negative, towards those who remained in Maine. Webb's careful and detailed descriptions of every battle and skirmish in which he was involved include everything from vignettes relating an individual soldier's reactions, to specific information on the tactics and strategy of cavalry. But it is the incidents he records about day to day life that provide the greatest insight into the soldiers' minds, and Webb is both uncommonly detailed for a Civil War diarist and allows his personal opinions and perspective to dominate his descriptions. His description of Belle Isle is extraordinary in the intensity of detail and emotional impact.

These five volumes are copies from the original diaries, and were made by Webb in the late spring and summer of 1865. He notes that, with the exception of some additions made from memory to his descriptions of Libby and Belle Isle Prisons, he has copied the diary exactly as it appears in the original. Offering an interesting balance to the original, he includes occasional footnotes offering retrospective commentary on his own writing. For example, while in 1862 he wrote that the men were upset at the dismissal of McClellan, a footnote indicates that in 1865, Webb came to feel that the men had been deluded by McClellan's self-aggrandizing play for their affection. His later comments on his own vacillation while deciding whether to reenlist, on the opinions of the media and non-combatants regarding the war, and on his opinions of Meade and other leaders also include some revealing reflections.

The first fifty pages of volume 3 are severely damp-stained and written in faint ink, and in parts are very difficult to read. Included with the diaries are an 1878 receipt for the payment of poll tax in Boston and one issue and two supplements of the First Maine Bugle (Campaign II, call 3, 5 and 9), dated January and July, 1891, and July, 1892. The Bugle was the publication of the veterans' organization for the 1st Maine Cavalry. A war-time photograph of Webb was included in Tobie's regimental history.