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This collection is made up of typescripts and copies related to Lewis C. Mead's service in the 22nd Michigan Infantry Regiment, Company I, during the Civil War, including his time as a prisoner of war. He wrote letters home while serving in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia, and during his imprisonment in Libby Prison and other Confederate prisoner-of-war camps.

This volume (177 pages) contains typescripts and copies related to Lewis C. Mead's service in the 22nd Michigan Infantry Regiment, Company I, during the Civil War. The collection includes an introduction by Mead's youngest daughter.

Pages 1-148 largely consist of letters that Mead wrote to his parents and sister during his military service. He described camp life, marches, and scenery in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia (particularly in and around Lexington, where the regiment was stationed for much of the winter of 1862-1863). He mentioned Lexington's African American population, his African-American servant in Nashville (shared with his tent mates), promotions and officer elections within his company and regiment, executions of deserters, and a skirmish with Confederate forces. From October 1863 to November 1864, he wrote from Libby Prison and other Confederate prisoner-of-war camps. Mead discussed his health and his possible release or exchange. By the time he resumed his correspondence in March 1865, he had returned to the regiment. He remained with the unit until at least May 1865.

A small number of letters by other writers include an early order by J. W. Trueman authorizing Mead to raise a company for a regiment of lancers (October 3, 1861) and several written to the Mead family during the war. E. S. Woodman, an acquaintance, and other soldiers provided news about Lewis C. Mead's capture and imprisonment in October 1864. Postwar correspondence includes family letters and a letter from H. S. Dean to Lewis C. Mead regarding a visit to the Chickamauga battlefield by Michigan veterans (October 25, 1893).

The letters are followed by Mead's ca. 1886 reminiscences of his Civil War service, including his experiences during the Battle of Chickamauga and his subsequent imprisonment (pp. 149-164); a speech by Mead about the 22nd Michigan Infantry Regiment's Civil War service (pp. 165-172); and additional reminiscences written after a 50th anniversary visit to the Chickamauga battlefield, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and other locations related to Mead's wartime experiences (pp. 173-177).

The volume contains a photocopy of a newspaper obituary for Lewis C. Mead, published in The Daily Press. Photocopied photographs include Lewis C. Mead around the time of his enlistment and as an older adult; "Johnny Clem," a 12-year-old soldier who was embedded with Mead's regiment (pictured in uniform holding a gun); James Arthur Gallery wearing Mead's dress uniform; and Owen Carlisle Frost in a World War I-era army uniform.

A typescript copy of a letter by William Hayden Smith regarding his experiences with the 1st Michigan Infantry Regiment around the time of Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox is pasted into the volume's back cover (April 9, 1865).

The William V. Rutledge collection is made up of letters that Rutledge, a surgeon, wrote while serving in the 2nd Indiana Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War.

The William V. Rutledge collection (102 items) contains correspondence and other items related to Rutledge's service in the 2nd Indiana Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War. Rutledge wrote 98 letters to his wife about his experiences. His earliest letters pertain to his time in camp in Kentucky, where he spent time with a slaveholding family. He participated in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, in April and May of 1862 and was camped on the field of Shiloh on May 4, 1862, when he anticipated an attack that never took place. Throughout the rest of the year, the cavalry headed east, and Rutledge described the scenery in Alabama, including an interaction with "Black and yellow" slaves, all young girls, on a cotton plantation (July 10, 1862). Though his time in the army was primarily uneventful, Rutledge did discuss a brief stint as a prisoner of war (September 11, 1864) and often mentioned his health problems. He frequently inquired about Jennie's health and finances, requested more frequent letters from her, and vowed to visit home.

Also included are a photograph of Rutledge taken in St. Louis and a receipt from the Internal Revenue Service. The newspaper clippings are a reprint from the Mobile Tribune of "Asa Hartz Is Taken Prisoner," and a pair of patriotic poems, "Atlanta" and "On the Chicago Surrender."