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This collection consists of correspondence and visual material related to Edwin O. Conklin, 1st Sgt., of the 1st Regiment Michigan Volunteer Sharpshooters. It also includes one typescript volume entitled, The Civil War Letters of Edwin Orville Conklin. Conklin described his encampment at Camp Chandler, located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, service as a guard at the prisoner of war Camp Douglas, the Battle of the Wilderness, the Richmond-Petersburg campaign, and his capture at the Battle of the Crater. Conklin's letters contain reflections and observations on camp conditions, African-American soldiers, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Conklin's imprisonment at the Danville prisoner of war camp.

This collection consists of correspondence and visual material related to Edwin O. Conklin, 1st Sgt., of the 1st Regiment Michigan Volunteer Sharpshooters. It also includes one typescript volume entitled, The Civil War Letters of Edwin Orville Conklin. Conklin described his encampment at Camp Chandler, located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, service as a guard at the prisoner of war Camp Douglas, the Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, the Richmond-Petersburg campaign, and his capture at the Battle of the Crater.

Conklin's letters contain reflections and observations on camp life, food, marches, drill, cowardly officers, and recruiting in Michigan. At Camp Douglas, Chicago, 1863-early 1864, Conklin wrote about prison breaks, murder, camp conditions, invalid corps, and other subjects. In the summer of 1864, he provided his recipients with descriptions of areas around Annapolis; Washington, D.C.; Richmond; and Petersburg. After his capture, he wrote from the Danville POW camp.

Additional content includes brief remarks on African-American soldiers, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Ambrose Burnside, and others.

This collection contains a diary chronicling Hiram W. Coppernall's service in the 24th New York Cavalry Regiment throughout 1864, as well as a photograph. Coppernall recorded his daily movements and activities with the regiment, which saw action at the Battle of Petersburg.

The Hiram W. Coppernall collection pertains to his service in the 24th New York Cavalry Regiment, Company H, during the Civil War. Throughout 1864, he kept a diary (120 pages), which concerns his military training, his unit's marches through Virginia, his participation in the Battle of Petersburg, and his affliction with severe sunstroke. He began writing shortly after his enlistment, and a woman named "Eliza" contributed some early entries in which she apologized for intruding and encouraged Coppernall to remember and write to her. After training and performing police duty in Washington, D.C., the regiment left for Virginia in late April. On May 7, they constructed a breastwork, and on May 18-19 they traveled to Spotsylvania Court House. Coppernall occasionally reported on military engagements that often ended in Union defeats. On June 18, he participated in an assault on Petersburg, Virginia, and on July 30 he mentioned a tunnel explosion and the resulting Battle of the Crater. He wrote less frequently after August 6, when he suffered from severe sunstroke, and he spent much of the rest of the year recuperating and on furlough in New York. He rejoined his regiment in December. In addition to Coppernall's diary entries, the volume has a list of men in his regiment and financial accounts, which include a list of the clothing he received from the United States government for his military service. The diary is accompanied by a carte-de-visite photograph of Coppernall and a framed photograph of two Union cavalry officers, with the message "Same here" (1864).