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Charles M. Barnett's Civil War journal documents important events in southeastern Tennessee between August and October, 1863, including the Tullahoma Campaign, the retreat from Chickamauga, and parts of the Chattanooga Campaign.

Charles M. Barnett's journal is contained in a single volume, beginning May 1, 1863. The entries for 1864 are written in the front part of the same volume, with corrections as to day and date noted occasionally. The journal contains particularly useful information on the signal events in southeastern Tennessee between August and October, 1863, including the Tullahoma Campaign, the retreat from Chickamauga, and parts of the Chattanooga Campaign, including the opening of the Cracker Line and the Wauhatchie Night Attack.

This item is a bound collection of espionage correspondence from Paris, 1780, that describes the locations and numbers of French and Spanish ships in Gibraltar, New York, Canada, and the West Indies.

This volume is a bound collection of espionage correspondence from Paris, 1780. The 37 reports (65 pages) describe the locations and numbers of French and Spanish ships in Gibraltar, New York, Canada, and the West Indies. Many entries discuss the number of troops stationed at various ports, the conditions of the crew ("They are badly manned and sickly, especially the Spanish who also find it difficult to recruit their navy" p.40), and the outcomes of engagements ("The French had suffered greatly, most of the ship's masts being damaged...100 men have been killed and at least 1,200 wounded" (p.47). The author often provides logistical information such as lists of ships and crew sizes, as well as the names of the ships' captains.

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.

This collection holds official letters, letterbooks, and documents of the American naval commander Isaac Chauncey, who served during the Franco-American War, the War of 1812, and both Barbary Wars. The material largely concerns naval administration during Chauncey's command of the American navy in Lake Ontario and naval operations in the Mediterranean during the Second Barbary War.

This collection holds 41 official letters, 3 letterbooks (1199 pages), and 7 documents of the American naval commander Isaac Chauncey, who served during the Franco-American War, the War of 1812, and both Barbary Wars. The material largely concerns naval administration during Chauncey's command of the American Navy on Lake Ontario and Erie during the War of 1812, and naval operations in the Mediterranean during the Second Barbary War.

The Correspondence series (41 items) contains letters related to Chauncey's naval career primarily during the War of 1812 and the Second Barbary War. The collection contains 11 secretarial copies of letters and 5 English translations of letters from the Dey of Algiers and the Spanish Diplomat Luis de Onís. The rest of the items are original including a letter from James Monroe and one from Stephen Decatur.

Five of the early letters are from Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy in the Jefferson Administration, regarding Chauncey's placement as a lieutenant on the President, ordering Chauncey not to assist ships carrying contraband; one letter informed him of his appointment as Captain (April 24, 1806). Other early items include a letter from Chauncey to Stephen Decatur, reassuring him that he had no deserters or private sailors on board the John Adams (April 3, 1805) and a friendly letter from Decatur to Chauncey that mentions the possibility of their being sent to the Mediterranean (May 11, 1809).

Items related to the War of 1812 include three letters to Roger Hale Sheaffe, one congratulating him on becoming a baron and another placing a British officer into his service in Upper Canada. The collection also holds two Chauncey letters from 1813, including a letter from James Wilkinson about the positioning of Chauncey's squadron, and a letter from the Mayor of Savannah celebrating Chauncey’s and Commodore Perry's victories against the British.

Several letters concern the political situation in the Mediterranean Sea during the Second Barbary War. One is an 8-page extract from Tobias Lear, consul general to Algiers, describing the political situation there. Another is a translation of a letter from the Dey of Algiers to President Madison on continuing terms of peace. Four letters are from Chevalier Luis de Onis, Spanish foreign minister to the United States, addressed to Secretary of State James Monroe. The letters discuss Chauncey's capture of one of the Deys' brigantines, an act of aggression which violated the American-Algerian peace agreement and lead to threats from the Dey. Other letters are from Stephen Decatur to James Monroe and William Shaler, United States consul general to Algiers, and between Secretary of the Navy Benjamin William Crowninshield and Chauncey.

The Letterbooks series contains 3 volumes of incoming and outgoing letters and orders during the War of 1812 and from 1815-1817, while Chauncey served as captain and diplomat in the Second Barbary War. These volumes provide an excellent account of the highest level of decision making for the Great Lakes in the War of 1812, and document Chauncey's part in America's Mediterranean naval operations between 1815-1817. Entries consist primarily of outgoing letters (many marked private and confidential), but also include some incoming letters, general orders, circulars, charges of disobedience, records of courts martial, and tables of naval expenses. The entries are largely ordered by date, though occasionally Chauncey's reply was copied before the incoming letter was entered, and, in a few instances, letters were misplaced and copied at a later date.

The first volume dates from September 3, 1812, to March 30, 1813 (320 pages). Over this period Chauncey mainly corresponds with high-level naval and military leaders, such as Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton, Major General Henry Dearborn, Navy Agent John Bullus, Naval Commander of the forces on Lake Erie Jesse Duncan Elliott, Brigadier General John Chandler, and Commander Melancthon Taylor Woolsey. Of note are letters written on November 17, 1812, to New York Governor Daniel D. Tompkins and American General Dearborn, stating that Chauncey has "complete command of this Lake, and that we can transport Troops and Stores to any part of it with safety" (volume 1, p.102 and p.105). Along with communications between Chauncey and high-ranking officers, the volume also contains official correspondence with captains and lower-ranking service members throughout the great lakes region. For example, a letter from January 27, 1813, grants leave to mid-shipman William Bunnell, so that he can visit his dying father (volume 1, p.214). During most of this time period, Chauncey is stationed at Sackets harbor, except for September 3-26, 1812, when he was managing the New York Navy Yard (volume 1, p.1-36); October 21-October 24, 1812, when he was on a trip to Oswego (volume 1, p.56-62); December 25- January 9, 1813, when he was at Black Rock, Connecticut (volume 1,,p.176-200); and February 10-28, 1813,when he was on a trip to Albany and New York (volume 1, p.239-257).

The second volume, April 1-August 25, 1813, is a continuation of the first (561 pages and 11 blank pages). The bulk of this volume are letters to Washington D.C., with many addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, Williams Jones. Like the previous volume, these communications document the navy's ship-building operations and military decisions. Chauncey was away from Sackets Harbor on three occasions: he was at the capture of York on the U.S. Ship Madison, April 27-May 8, 1813 (volume 2, 85-100); he stopped near Niagara, May 9, 1813 (volume 2, 101-103); and he visited Niagara again from August 3-6, 1813 (volume 2, 277-288). Of note are a report of the killed and wounded in the attack on Fort George, May 27, 1813 (volume 2, p.134), and an account of 195 vouchers for Navy Department expenses from September 1812-July 1813 (volume 2, 250-269). Another interesting item reveals Chauncey's attitude toward racial prejudice in the navy. He wrote to Oliver H. Perry, "I regret that you are not pleased with the men sent by Mssrs. Champlin & Forrest, for to my knowledge a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen we have in the Fleet, and I have yet to learn that the colour of the skin or cut and trimmings of the Coat can effect a man’s qualifications or usefulness. I have nearly 50 blacks on board of this Ship and many of them are amongst my best Men..." (volume 2, p.275).

The third volume dates from March 17, 1815-March 25, 1817 (318 pages and 4 blank pages). It documents Chauncey’s final months at Sackets Harbor, between March-June 1815 (volume 3, 1-108), a short stay in New York from July 19-August 18 (volume 3, 109-121), and three months on Board the U.S. Ship Washington stationed first in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 27-November 25 (volume 3, 122-178), and then in Boston and New York, December 5-May 8, 1816 (volume 3, 178-231), and finally just off Annapolis, May 10-June 8 (volume 3, 231-241). The early part of the 3rd volume contains many letters to and from Secretary of the Navy B.W. Crowninshield and other contacts in Washington during the close of the war with Britain. Of note is a detailed report on building ships on Lake Ontario during the war years (volume 3, 115-120).

The remainder of the volume contains Chauncey's letters from the US Ship Washington as it travelled through the Mediterranean Sea. The ship visited Gibraltar; Malaga Bay, Spain; Port Mahon, Spain; Naples Bay, Italy; Messina, Italy; Tunis, Tunisia; and Algiers Bay. He maintained contact with several US captains in the Mediterranean and with American diplomat William Pinkney in Naples. A considerable portion of the volume consists of copies of letters, accounts of events, and transcriptions of the hearings of various courts marital during the war. Chauncey was in close contact with Captain John Shaw, president of the courts martial on board the Constellation. One particularly well-documented trial was for Captain John Orde Creighton of the Java, for beating a fellow crew member with a stick. The charges are on pages 282-284, but numerous copies of documents from the trial continue to page 328.

• An item documenting the court inquiry of Captain James Barron who, in 1807, surrendered the Chesapeake to a British war ship off the coast of Virginia, without properly attempting to defend it.
• A copy of a deed of land transfer from the New York State government to the United States government, for use as a navy yard along the East River (April 3, 1810).
• A general order from Commissioner Steward to Naval Commissioner Isaac Chauncey, discussing disciplinary duties of naval officers and commending Chauncey for his skill in this field (February 4, 1818).
• A parole and receipt for British prisoners taken after the siege of York, signed by Lieutenant Clemworth of the 3rd Regiment Militia and 37 British officers (April 28, 1813).
• A copy of Colonel Tobias Lear's observations concerning the Barbary affairs addressed to the United States government (17 pages). The document reports the political role of Algiers in the Mediterranean Sea and its relationship with various European nations in 1812. This document is intended to give American policymakers and military leaders background on the Algerian situation.
• Extracts from general accounts of losses sustained by the Mohawks during the War of 1812, with a note at the bottom stating that one claim had been paid to Joseph Brant by Mohawk Chief Isaac Hill.
• A memorandum on the defense of Kingston, Ontario (undated).

Thomas Turner, Jr., kept this 21-page journal while serving in the United States Army's 29th Infantry Regiment in New York, Vermont, and Québec during the War of 1812. He described battles, his regiment's movements, and other aspects of military life.

Thomas Turner, Jr., kept this 21-page journal while serving in the United States Army's 29th Infantry Regiment in New York, Vermont, and Québec during the War of 1812. He described battles, his regiment's movements, and other aspects of military life. The collection contains Tuner's original journal as well as a typed transcription with notes.

Turner began his journal on April 27, 1813, after receiving his commission in the 29th Infantry Regiment. He joined the regiment in Sandy Hill (now Hudson Falls), New York, in early May, and served in northern New York, northern Vermont, and Québec until November 1814. Turner recorded the regiment's movements and the locations of its encampments, and mentioned his encounters with acquaintances in the army. He noted occasions on which deserters were shot, often including details regarding their deaths, and reported on several duels within the regiment. On one occasion, Turner's regiment caught and executed a British spy. Turner participated in several battles and commented on military developments, such as the fighting around Fort Erie in the summer of 1814. Several entries pertain to General James Wilkinson, including Turner's transcription of Wilkinson's farewell address and entries about Wilkinson's court martial. In November 1814, Turner was ordered to New Burgh, New York, where he recruited soldiers. The final entry is dated March 1814, just after Wilkinson's acquittal.

A 19th-century manuscript copy of Thomas Turner's journal accompanies the original.