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Frederic Olmsted’s pocket journal contains brief, almost daily entries of his life in the Union Army from January 1, 1863, to September 5, 1863. During this time, he was assigned the task of overseeing slaves on several Louisiana sugar plantations. Olmsted was taken as a prisoner of war at Brashear, Louisiana, after which he spent several weeks on Ship Island (as a parolee) before returning home to Connecticut in August 1863.

Frederic Olmsted's journal contains an account of his service with the Union Army’s 23rd Connecticut Infantry, which was attached to the defenses of New Orleans and the district of Lafourche, Louisiana. The journal is 3"x5" and is made up of brief, almost daily entries.

For January and February, his entries describe the daily life of a Union soldier while not engaged in active combat -- foraging for food, hunting, and endless drilling. Beginning in March 1863, he was involved in overseeing slaves on several sugar plantations near Houma, Louisiana. His responsibilities included shipping hogsheads of sugar and barrels of molasses, retrieving runaway slaves for return to the plantations, and sometimes delivering punishments. If he had any qualms about his duties, they are not recorded in his journal. An entry for March 14, 1863, reads: “this morning I was sent by the captain to take a Negro up to Gibson plantation and see the negro whipt 50 lashes. stayed… and had a butifull dinner.”

On June 22, Olmsted took part in a battle at Brashear City (now Morgan City), Louisiana, where he and other Federals were taken prisoner. After their parole on June 25, 1863, Olmsted described being marched to the point of exhaustion in the sweltering heat, with many parolees dying on the journey. The Union men were held briefly at the Belleville Iron Works before making their way to Ship Island, where Olmsted noted that the rations were scarce and that they lived in tents on the blazing sand. On July 29, Olmsted wrote: “This morning went into the woods 9 miles from camp for wood, had to float it down to camp by wading up to our arms in water. Sun so hot that we burnt our legs to a blister but love of country overpowers all this.” Olmsted departed Ship Island on August 4, traveled upriver to Cairo, Illinois, boarded a train for Indianapolis, and eventually made his way back to Connecticut. He returned home sick and exhausted. “I had not been shaved in over 8 months, my wife did not know me at first, but I am overjoyed to meet her and my little boy. I am ragged and dirty, have an old straw hat with only a part of [the] brim, am entirely worn out with my army service.” (August 25, 1863). On September 5, Olmsted traveled to New Haven to obtain his discharge papers, and ended his service with the Union Army.

The journal also includes several brief entries regarding financial accounts; one notation from July 3, 1889, records a meeting in Bridgeport; and a separate document gives Olmsted permission to “pass the lines at all hours.” On a "Memoranda" page at the end of the diary is a very brief note concerning an A.W.O.L. fling on November 23.

The Philip Bacon papers contain the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Philip Bacon, who served in the 1st and 12th Connecticut infantry regiments during the Civil War. Bacon discussed Civil War-era New Orleans and the difficulties of running a Louisiana plantation during the latter part of the war.

The Philip Bacon papers contain both incoming and outgoing correspondence of Bacon. The collection contains a total of 50 letters, primarily written By Philip Bacon to his father, Richard Bacon; of his letters, he wrote six during his Civil War service, and received nine from various friends from Connecticut. In his letters to family and friends, he described the city of New Orleans shortly after its surrender and gave his opinions on the conduct of the war. On September 17, 1862, he wrote his father, "Mr. Lincoln is to [sic] slow, and at the rate we are now going on it will take twenty years to finish the war. Things look very bad to my mind so far." As the war progressed, Bacon showed a deep interest in the affairs of freedmen, and became an outspoken abolitionist. After he left the service, he focused on his two plantations in Louisiana, especially concerning his need for various farm implements and his initial difficulties growing sugar cane and cotton. Bacon became increasingly involved with the plight of local African Americans, and described their general education (January 12, 1864) and the establishment of various schools for freedmen (April 17, 1864). Other writers include eight of Bacon's Connecticut acquaintances, who discussed politics, a lawsuit (January 21, 1867), and farming.

This collection contains letters that Horace M. Polk and his wife Ophelia wrote to Ophelia's father, Major John Houston Bills. The Polks corresponded about aspects of life in Louisiana from the mid-1850s to the late 1860s, including state and national politics, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.

This collection (8 items) contains 6 letters that Horace M. and Ophelia Polk of Bastrop, Louisiana wrote to Ophelia's father, Major John Houston Bills of Bolivar, Tennessee. The collection also contains 2 letters that Bills received from other correspondents.

Horace M. Polk's 4 letters to Bills pertain to state and national political issues such as a Louisiana legislature elections committee and related threats from "thugs" in New Orleans (January 31, 1856); the possible presidential nomination of Stephen Douglas and Polk's preference for Douglas over a "black Republican" (March 7, 1859); and the rise of African Americans in Reconstruction-era Louisiana politics and of Radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress (February 20, 1868). Polk also provided news of the health of his wife and children, commented on plantation crops such as cotton and corn, and mentioned the effects of delayed telegraph news on war excitement in Bastrop (October 11, 1861).

Ophelia Polk wrote 2 letters to her father about her children's health, her husband's political career, and the state of the family's plantation. In her letter of January 27, 1862, she commented on developments in the war, the unreliability of news sent by telegraph, the family's attempts to live frugally, and her fear of running the plantation if her husband were to go to war.

Thomas M. Peters wrote one letter to Bills, in which he reported on the recovery of "Captain Polk" and anticipated a battle between Union forces and Confederate troops in Corinth, Mississippi (April 26, 1862). Another correspondent, M. Polk, wrote to Bills about local election results, black voters, and a stabbing (August 6, 1870).