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R. Henderson, a sailor aboard the U. S. sloop of war Lexington was assigned to keep a journal of the sloop's activities during his voyage with the Brazil Squadron for the Falklands Expedition. This journal covers the period from December 13, 1832, to September 24, 1833, and Henderson's frequent (but not daily) entries provide an account of a sailor's life aboard the American warship.

R. Henderson, a sailor aboard the U. S. sloop of war Lexington was assigned to keep a journal of the sloop's activities during his voyage with the Brazil Squadron for the Falklands Expedition. This journal covers the period from December 13, 1832, to September 24, 1833, and Henderson's frequent (but not daily) entries provide an account of everyday life aboard the American warship.

Henderson's entries are irregular, documenting weather, direction, and shipboard activities on a non-daily basis. Variously he recorded musters of the crew, the cleaning and repairing of the ship, the detention of deserters, and work with the sails. He made notes about the arrivals of American, French, and English ships bearing salt, government officials, money, and troops; the transportation of Danish Governor Peter Carl Frederick von Sholten; the drinking and singing of "liberty men" released briefly from ship duty; and celebrations and salutes for various occasions, including George Washington's birthday, Brazilian independence, Catholic holidays, and others. He also remarked on the arrival and movements of consuls from England, France, Russia, and America.

This journal contains Samuel Lightfoot's notes about surveys he conducted in southeastern Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century. An account book, dated primarily in the 1780s, is laid into the volume.

This journal (around 200 pages) contains Samuel Lightfoot's notes about surveys he conducted in southeastern Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century. An account book (30 pages), dated primarily in the late 1780s, is laid into the volume.

Samuel Lightfoot recorded information about surveys he conducted in Berks, Chester, Lancaster, and Lehigh Counties, Pennsylvania, from June 8, 1739-December 2, 1757. A 73-page section covering September 1743-March 1753 is missing. Lightfoot made detailed notes about his work, including the names of his customers and property owners and the boundaries of surveyed tracts.

The first 2 pages of the small account book pertain to "Outstanding Debts Due To Samuel Lightfoot," with a list of names and monetary amounts. The remaining 28 pages concern an anonymous author's personal finances from June 3, 1786-September 13, 1788. The accounts consist of brief notes about individual transactions, which often involved farm labor, such as haying or threshing, and the sale of potatoes. At least one laborer was a woman. A memorandum on the back of the volume concerns the sale of a tract of land by David Davis to George Davis. The account book also has a note laid inside it, indicating the extent of a lot of land owned by Thomas Lloyd.

Samuel S. Inglee maintained this logbook between 1852 and 1855 during several commercial fishing voyages off the Atlantic coasts of Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. The bulk of the entries record information including the hour, knots, fathoms, courses, winds, low water levels, and traverse tables. Inglee also provided general remarks, documenting nearby locations, weather, handling of sails, hauls of fish, and the latitude and longitude. He also commented on shipboard practices, such as food choices, work tasks related to fishing, encountering other ships, and taking soundings. At times, Inglee mentioned his emotional state, dislike of the fishing trade, and homesickness. Inglee also included several poems and lyrics in the volume with themes relating to seafaring, love, death, and other topics. The volume is bound in hand-stitched canvas covers, possibly sailcloth, with printed images pasted on the inside covers.

Samuel S. Inglee maintained this logbook between 1852 and 1855 during several commercial fishing voyages off the Atlantic coasts of Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. The bulk of the entries record information including the hour, knots, fathoms, courses, winds, low water levels, and traverse tables. Inglee also provided general remarks, documenting nearby locations, weather, handling of sails, hauls of fish, and the latitude and longitude. He also commented on shipboard practices, like food choices, work tasks related to fishing, encountering other ships, and taking soundings. The entries for September 21-23, 1852, mention seeing a shipwreck, trying to navigate the challenging area around Georges Bank, and finding their way to shore. At times, Inglee mentioned his emotional state, referring to homesickness, and on September 27, 1853, he noted his desire to give up seafaring. "...I hope that I never shall be dam fool enough for to go again. I have got enough this summer for to cure me from going to sea any more." On July 22, 1855, he reiterated his fatigue with sea life, calling himself "home sick fish sick and sick of the sea."

While most of the voyages are unnamed, Inglee did identify his trip which began in May 1853 as a "Voyage made from Kingston to the Grand Bank by the good Schooner Cosmus" under Otis Phinney, Master.

Later entries in the volume were written more as journal entries rather than logbook entries, commenting on weather, food eaten, tasks performed (including patching holes in his pants on July 29, 1855). He regularly noted the numbers of fish they caught, the names of nearby ships, their home port, and the size of their hauls. At times, upwards of one hundred other vessels were in sight, and Inglee occasionally referenced passing off letters to home. On June 11, 1855, Inglee recorded their captain going overboard and being successfully rescued.

Inglee also included several poems and lyrics with themes relating to seafaring, love, death, and other topics. The volume is bound in hand-stitched canvas covers, possibly sailcloth. Printed images are pasted on the inside covers, one of a sailing ship, "The Yankee Privateer," and the other of a man on a ship deck holding a sword, "The Smuggler King."

The Schooner Dart Journal documents the voyage of an American privateering vessel under the command of Master Thorndike Symonds from July 16, 1812, to August 8, 1812. The schooner departed from Salem, Massachusetts, and stopped at Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, before ranging along the Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts coasts in search of British prizes. The journal's author notes wind and weather conditions, places passed, and encounters with other ships, which were principally American privateers, merchant vessels, and fishermen.

• Nancy out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire
• Wild Robin out of Boston, Massachusetts
• Regulator out of Salem, Massachusetts

Notes about the various ships' homeports and purposes provide insight into the maritime activity in the region. On July 23, three crewmembers from the Dart were placed aboard the brig George. On July 25, upon encountering the schooner Five Sisters, previously captured by the Maidstone, the Dart took on her prize master and prisoners and sent aboard a new prize master and three crewmembers to take the captured vessel to Salem. The entry for July 25 also notes that the Regulator captured a fishing schooner within sight of the Dart, but the Maidstone had already taken it. News about English cruisers driving ashore American privateers in the region of St. Andrews was recorded on July 30.

The journal's passages also illuminate some of privateers' daily operations, including brief comments on food and drink, examining ships' paperwork, taking stock of water and arms onboard, and hiring pilots to aid navigation.

Thorndike Symonds signed the final page of the journal on August 12, 1812, swearing before Salem's collector William W. Oliver that it was a "full, just and true account of all the transactions on board said privateer during her late Cruise."

A note written on March 22, 1895, by A. F. Hitchings, Deputy Collector, appears on the last page, stating the Dart's tonnage, Thorndike Symonds' command, and the schooner's owners. Hitchings' stamp also appears on the front cover.

The collection focuses primarily on John Tailyour, a Scottish merchant who traveled to North America and Jamaica in the 1770s and 1780s to conduct business, before finally returning to his home in Scotland in 1792. His correspondence is heavily business related, centering especially on his trading of slaves, foodstuffs, and sundry goods. It also chronicles the current events in both Jamaica and the Empire. Many of Tailyour's correspondents debate the meaning and merit of the cessation of the slave trade in the late 18th century, as well as the military events of the American and Haitian revolutions, and of the Maroon rebellion of 1795. The papers also include letters between John and his family in Scotland regarding John's mixed-race Jamaican children. He sent three of his children to Britain to be educated, which caused much family concern. Tailyour's account books and financial papers relate both to his Jamaican estate and business, and to his Scottish estate, from which he received added income from rents. The accounts for this estate continue for several decades after Tailyour’s death in 1815. A number of disparate and miscellaneous letters, war records, photographs, and realia that belonged to various members of the extended Tailyour family date mainly from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

The collection has three substantial parts. The most comprehensive and cohesive section is the one concerning John Tailyour, until his death in 1815. The second part contains business papers and accounts related to the Tailyour estate. The third part is the least integrated, and consists of a variety of family papers, photographs, military memorabilia, and other miscellanea.

The Tailyour papers date from 1743 to 2003, with the majority of the collection concentrating in the period from 1780 to 1840. Within these bulk dates, are the two largest portions of the collection: the correspondence and accounts of John Tailyour until his death in 1815, and the account records of the Tailyour estate after 1815.

Seven boxes contain John Tailyour's personal and business correspondence of 3757 letters. The letters focus on Tailyour's mercantile activities in the Atlantic market, especially on the slave trade, its profitability, and the threat posed by abolitionists. Tailyour's correspondence also chronicles personal and family matters, including the education and provision for his mixed-race children from Jamaica. In addition, the collection contains four of Tailyour's letter books of 1116 copies of retained letters that cover the period from 1780 to 1810, with the exception of the years 1786-7 and 1793-1803. In these letters, Tailyour's focus is business, particularly as it relates to the slave trade, but he also includes personal messages to his friends and family.

Tailyour's business papers contain 32 loose account records, as well as five account books documenting the years between 1789-90 and 1798-1816. These primarily concern his Kingston and Scottish estates, including the expense accounts and balance sheets for each, as well as the finances of his merchant activities during the period. Finally, 38 documents of probate records for John Tailyour mainly relate to his landed estate.

The latter portion of collection within these bulk years (1815-1840) also contains correspondence and accounts, although the 228 letters are almost entirely concerned with business accounts. These focus on Tailyour's estate after his death, with John's brother Robert as the main correspondent. Additional materials include 1761 business papers that chronicle the finances of the estate, 11 account books, and 6 hunting books. The business letters and account books detail the estate's expense accounts and receipts, as well as the balances for their annual crops, salmon fishing business, and profits derived from the rents collected on their land. The hunting books contain descriptive accounts of the family's hunts and inventories of their hunting dogs.

The third, and final, part of the collection consists of Tailyour family records (bulk post-1815), including 49 letters from various family members in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and five letterbooks, kept by Alexander Renny Tailyour and Thomas Renny Tailyour. 4 account books are also present kept by Alexander Renny Tailyour and others. Some of the records concern the First World War, including a group of prisoner-of-war records sent from Germany, and journals kept at home that detail news of the war, and daily domestic activities.

The family history documents include 64 genealogical records and 58 probate records. Many of the genealogical items are brief notes on family history, and sketches of the family tree, including a large family tree that spans several hundred years to the present day. The probate records contain one will from the late-nineteenth century, but are otherwise entirely concerned with John Tailyour's estate in the years immediately after his death.

Of the printed records, Memoirs of my Ancestors (1884), by Hardy McCall is a genealogy of the McCall family, and Tailyour's Marykirk and Kirktonhill's estates are described in two printed booklets, one of which is an advertisement for Kirktonhill's sale in the early-twentieth century. Other printed material includes 14 various newspaper clippings concerning the family over the years, and 12 miscellaneous items.

The illustrations, artwork, and poetry comprise 14 fashion engravings, 12 sailing illustrations, a picture of a hunting cabin, two silhouettes, and a royal sketch, all of which date from the early- to mid-nineteenth century. Kenneth R. H. Tailyour's sketches are represented in two sketch books created in his younger years (1917 and 1920). Loose records of poetry, as well as a book of poems from George Taylor, are in this section.

The 221 photographs are of the Tailyour family from the late-nineteenth to the twentieth century, with the majority falling in the early decades of the twentieth century. Most are portraits of the Tailyour family from the early twentieth century, particularly Kenneth R. H. Tailyour.

The 138 pieces of ephemera are, for the most part, postcards of foxhunts during the nineteenth century. These announce the almost-weekly family foxhunts during the middle years of the nineteenth century. The 19 items of realia, include Robert Taylor's quill pen from 1826.

The audio-visual portion of the collection contains three items: a compact disc with an audio interview of John Dann, Director of the Clements Library, on National Public Radio's "The Todd Mundt Show;" a compact disc with photos of the West Indies; and a collection of photographs of the Tailyour papers in their uncatalogued state, and of the festivities surrounding the acquisition of the collection.

Finally, miscellaneous material of 18 pieces includes Robert Taylor's commonplace book of short stories, letters, and poems; the catalogue of Robert Taylor's books; James Tailyour's 1771 style and form book; and a communion book.

Thomas Duggan managed the British Army's Indian Department storehouse at Fort Michilimackinac and St. Joseph Island with the 24th Regiment of Foot. In the journal, he detailed the outpost's interactions with Ojibwa (referred to as Chippewa in the journal), Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sioux, and Cherokee groups that came to the store for "presents" of food, arms, and supplies, from October 31, 1795 to September 6, 1801.

The Thomas Duggan journal is composed of 120 pages of journal entries and 23 pages of ledgers (128 blank pages), spanning from October 31, 1795 to September 6, 1801. Duggan, a storekeeper and clerk for the British Army’s 24th Regiment of Foot stationed at Fort Michilimackinac, wrote several entries per week, varying in length from a few sentences to 4 pages. Duggan discussed managing the store and detailed his outpost's interactions with the Native American groups that came to the store for "presents" of food, arms, and supplies. He recorded numerous tribes and Indian chiefs by name and the places from which they had traveled. The bulk of the interactions were with the Ojibwa tribe (referred to as Chippewa in the journal) and the Ottawa Indians, but Duggan also mentioned the Potawatomi, Sioux, and Cherokee. Indians traveled from Detroit, Milwaukee (Minowaukee), Thunder Bay, L'Arbre Croche (now Harbor Springs, Michigan), Saginaw, Beaver Island, Grand Traverse Bay, Mackinaw Island, Sault Sainte Marie, Lake Superior, and other locations around the Great Lakes.

The first entry noted the start of Duggan's post of storekeeper and clerk for the Indian Department. In the bulk of the entries, Duggan records information on the groups of Indians visiting the store and recounts their conversations and speeches. He frequently used paternalistic language in discussing the relationship between the British and the Indians, terms also found in his transcriptions of speeches given by Indians. The following excerpt is typical of such language that reinforces the idea of Indian dependency on the British: "Their great father [King George III] would never forsake them as long as they behaved as good Children" (p. 27). Duggan described British charity toward and protection of the Indians, and many entries include reports on the hardships and brutality of the region. Duggan also makes several notes on the Indians’ relations with Americans. In one instance, Duggan wrote about an American Council, during which the Americans threatened the Indians with violence if they did not "behave themselves" (p.22). "That if they stole nets or any thing else from the White people they should pay four times their Value and be imprisoned. That if they killed any One They should be tied by the neck and hung up like dogs[,] in short that They should suffer for the least injury they done to a White man..." (p.22).

• A copy of a "Commission for Indian Chiefs" from Quebec Governor Frederick Haldimand (p.6).
• A translation of a speech by the Ottowa Chief [Mitamianu], addressed to their "Great Father" King George III, which includes a discussion of the relationship between the Indians, British, and Americans in the Michigan region (p.40-43).
• News of a local conflict between the Nadowessies (Sioux) and the Ojibwa, which resulted in 45 Ojibwa and 5 Sioux fatalities (p.54).
• A story from a white trader of Indians, suffering from starvation, who ate their two young children (p.71)

Duggan also noted regular contact with the British military in Detroit and throughout the Great Lakes region. He mentioned William Doyle, Deputy Adjutant-General in Canada, and transcribed a letter sent from Lieutenant Colonel Commandant D. Strong and British Agent of Indian Affairs Jacob Schieffelin, advising the Chippewa not to attack the Cherokee Nation, (p.73-75).

In the back of the journal is a ledger of accounts for trade of sugar, fur, clothing, and other goods, covering the period from 1787-1801. The last five tables document wampum, sugar, and caribou traded by the British at St. Joseph with the Ojibwe and Ottawa tribes. They list the names of the Indian traders. See Additional Descriptive Data for a list of goods traded to the Indians.

The volume holds one unbound letter, in French, from A. Joseph to Duggan (July 4, 1798). The letter concerns a shipment of porcelain and other goods to the outpost (letter is laid in at page 121).

This collection includes two journals kept by Midshipman Thomas Style while on separate patrols with the HMS Révolutionnaire, under Captain Henry Hotham.

This collection includes two journals kept by Midshipman Thomas Style while on separate patrols with the HMS Révolutionnaire, under Captain Henry Hotham (1777-1833).

The first journal (64 pages) covers tours of the HMS Révolutionnaire from April 16, 1804, through November 11, 1804. Style provided daily logs of the crew's activities and ship movements as they made multiple patrols. He recorded work performed at Portsmouth, Spithead, St. Helen's, and Cork, to maintain the ship and assemble crews for their voyage. The HMS Révolutionnaire departed on June 26, 1804, and patrolled along the Portuguese coast, returning to Spithead on August 15, 1804, carrying with them Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843). Departing again on September 5, the crew continued to patrol the coast of Spain and Funchal, Madeira. They then made a transatlantic voyage, mooring at Hampton Roads, Virginia, in November 1804. Throughout the journal Style noted punishments doled out to sailors for various offences, weather, navigational and sailing details, and sightings of other British navy and mercantile ships. He logged ships they encountered and boarded and noted their ports of departure and arrival, including Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, England, the Caribbean, and the United States.

The second journal (76 pages) covers the HMS Révolutionnaire's patrols from July 1, 1805 to March 18, 1806, commencing as the ship passed near Lizard Point, England. Much like the first journal, Style recorded weather and navigational bearings, ship maintenance, discipline meted out to sailors, and ships encountered and boarded. The Révolutionnaire sailed along the French coast before returning to Plymouth on August 21. They set sail again on September 4 to patrol the French and Spanish coasts. Style mentioned privateers and the capture of prizes. He also described the Battle of Cape Ortegal between the English squadron and four French ships on November 4 and 5, 1805, with the Révolutionnaire and the Phoenix taking possession of the French ship Scipion. They took the prizes and prisoners back to Plymouth on November 10 before heading out nine days later to reconnoiter the enemy's position at Ferrol, Spain, the and patrol the coasts of France, Spain, and Portugal. They returned to Plymouth on March 9, 1806. Style disciplined several men for "concealing mutinous Practices & Designs" and two others for writing a disrespectful letter to the Commissioners of the Admiralty concerning Captain Henry Hotham.

This "Missionary Journal" chronicles Congregational minister Timothy Mather Cooley's missionary trip to the New York counties of Oneida, Onondaga, and Chenango between June and October 1803. During his travels, he preached 108 sermons, visited 27 schools, baptized 53 people (of whom 50 were children), and helped establish a church in Verona, New York.

This "Missionary Journal" chronicles Congregational minister Timothy Mather Cooley's missionary trip to the New York counties of Oneida, Onondaga, and Chenango between June and October 1803. During his travels, he preached 108 sermons, visited 27 schools, baptized 53 people (of whom 50 were children), and helped establish a church in Verona, New York. He left his home on June 5, 1803, and headed for Northampton, where he received his formal commission from the Hampshire Missionary Society. From there, he went to Utica, and spent the next several months traveling around rural New York. Throughout his travels, he kept a log of his activities in various settlements, which often included delivering sermons, distributing literature, and talking to local residents; he frequently composed footnotes giving a general outline of each town. These notes usually recorded the year of the town's settlement, the number of families, churches, and schools, and the number of people who belonged to other Christian denominations, most frequently Baptists and Methodists. Though generally optimistic about his mission, he often commented that local residents were "poor, stupid, and ignorant" or, in one case, "stupid and vicious" (June 24). On July 9, he copied two drawings of coins resembling those Judas received for betraying Christ, and on July 23 described a visit to Baron von Steuben's gravesite. He also occasionally met with Native Americans, and described Oneida buildings (August 2) and a tour of an old burial ground (August 25). Often accompanied by the Reverend Peter Fish, he helped establish a church in Verona, New York, in August. He returned home on October 5. The back of the volume contains Cooley’s summary of his trip, a chart of distance traveled, sermons preached, schools visited, people baptized, donations received, and books distributed, and a note by C. Green, MD, a later owner of the journal, providing evidence for Cooley's authorship (December 1876).

• Map of Black River Settlements (June 24) (Housed in the Map Division)
• Map of Chenango County (August 14)
• Map of Onondaga County (October 5)

The William Elgin journal is an account by Elgin about his Civil War service, including serving as chaplain for a regiment of African American soldiers.

Though reflecting the paternalistic views of many of his progressive contemporaries, Elgin was genuinely concerned for the mental, moral, and physical well-being of the men in his regiment and was genuinely aware of the toll that racism and slavery had inflicted upon African-Americans. Most importantly, he considered it his duty to educate the soldiers, to teach them to read and write, before bringing them to religion. He considered the soldiers, at least in some respects, to be equal to whites, though suffering the effects of long oppression. "Some reflections upon the capacity and past disadvantages of the negroe race have today made new impressions upon my mind," he wrote, "respecting the possibility of bringing this people up to a high and satisfactory state of culture. And so strong is my faith in the practicability of these ideas that I feel assured some future day will witness the fullfillment of this opinion" (p. 69). Elgin's emphasis on education, respect and self-respect are felt throughout the journal.

Elgin's "journal", which, at least in part, may be an immediate post-war transcript, consists of five sections. In the first 10 leaves of the journal, he includes newspaper clippings relating to the performance of African American soldiers during the war. The first 9 clippings, dated July 28th, 1868 and following, comprise a serial publication, titled "Colored troops in the war," and are effectively an autobiographical account by Thomas J. Morgan, Col. of the 14th U.S. (Colored), of his experiences in becoming one of the first officers to raise and lead a Colored regiment in battle. Morgan's articles provide great insight into life in the 14th U.S.C.T., and are particularly valuable in understanding the recruitment of the 14th, 42nd, and 44th regiments, and the role of the 14th at the battles of Dalton, Pulaski, and Nashville. Five additional articles clipped between 1874-76, and laid in loosely to the front of the journal, concern books about Africa, freedmen, and James Walker's huge panoramic painting of the Battle Above the Clouds.

The second section of the journal is a transcription of a speech, titled "Discourse on Fast Day," apparently delivered by Elgin to the troops on August 4th, 1864. The address is an unusually direct and clear expression of the attitudes of a white officer in an African-American regiment. In the speech, Elgin discussed the themes of race and religious duty, arguing that African-American soldiers should be humble before God for His mercy, and grateful for the concern He showed to their race during their long years of oppression. He went on, however, to acknowledge the impact the decision to arm African-Americans had on the men, and, optimistically, to claim that "the manhood of your race has been fairly recognized and hereafter you are to take your place among the nations as a people worthy of respect" (p. 16). Typically for him, Elgin stressed the importance of education to freedmen, of freeing the intellect as well as the body.

The third section of the journal consists of a three pages dated 20 October, 1863, titled "Evidences of the truth of the Christian religion," in which Elgin set down arguments along rationalistic lines for the reality of the basis of Christian faith.

Fourth is the journal proper kept by Elgin while Chaplain of the 14th U.S. Colored Infantry, consisting of 43 pages of sporadic entries from November 10th, 1863, when he transferred to the 14th U.S.C.T. to December 7th, 1864, during the Franklin and Nashville Campaign. The entries, most of which are fairly brief, document Elgin's numerous duties as chaplain and teacher to the regiment -- as he put it, his attempts "to do my utmost toward the mental, moral and spiritual culture of the men" (p. 35) -- as well as the activities of the regiment in the field. The journal is particularly interesting for reflecting Elgin's own doubts about his abilities and the direction of his life. Simultaneously elated and frustrated by his attempts to bring education and religion to his men, and troubled by insecurities, Elgin somehow managed never to waver in his belief in the men themselves or the moral correctness of his duties. The journal takes on added significance in that the 14th U.S.C.T. was an unusually active "fighting" regiment, displaying unusual courage and discipline during the period of their service.

The last section of the journal is a 7 page memoir written by Elgin, describing his enlistment and service in the 70th Indiana. The interest in the memoir lies primarily in its detailed description of his attempts to garner a chaplaincy in the regiment, and of his thorough description of the duties and activities while acting as regimental postmaster.

The William L. Curry papers provide excellent documentation of a Union cavalry officer's life in the western theater of the Civil War, as well as some description of being a prisoner of war.

The William L. Curry papers provide excellent documentation of a cavalry officer's life in the western theater of the Civil War. Educated, highly motivated, and occupied with everything from active campaigning to the stultification of awaiting exchange as a prisoner of war, Will Curry's letters evoke the varied emotions felt by many soldiers serving in a conflict that seemed to have demoralized everyone who came in contact. For over three years, Curry fought off his longing for home and family and his repulsion at the degrading influence of the war on soldiers, and remained steadfast in his determination to do his service and see his enlistment through to the end.

While there are comparatively few letters describing campaigns or battles, the collection provides particularly good insight into the non-combatant experience of war -- training, learning to forage, performing scout and guard duty, and idling away in a parole camp. A few scattered letters suggest the depth of feeling cavalry men could hold for their horses, particularly, in Curry's case, his old horse, Billy. Equally valuable are the letters received by Mattie Robinson (later Mrs. Curry) from women friends, describing the home front, local politics, and life during war time, and from friends and relatives in the military service. The overall impression is one of a very tightly knit community, that zealously maintained ties even while separated by the exigencies of war or aging. There are two particularly fine letters discussing battles during the Atlanta Campaign, one written in the flush of "victory" describing Kilpatrick's raid to Jonesboro (1864 August 23) -- although the modern assessment is that the raid failed to accomplish its object -- and another, sadly incomplete, describing the battle of Lovejoy Station.

The collection includes five pocket-sized journals, four of which provide a nearly unbroken record of Curry's service in the 1st Ohio Cavalry. Although the journal entries are very short, the continuity of the documentation constitutes an important record of the activities of the regiment. There is a gap in the sequence of journals, however, from December 31, 1862-March 18, 1863, when Curry was a paroled prisoner of war at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio.

Memorandum book and journal, 1857-1858

Journal, 1862 January 1-December 31

Journal, 1862 October 2 (very sparse entries)

Journal, 1863 March 18-1864 March 1 (much smearing of pencil throughout, some illegible)

Journal, 1864 March 1-December 30

The entries in Journal 4 are longer and more informative than in the other journals, particularly for the Chickamauga Campaign. Journal 4 includes an excellent, though still somewhat brief, account of the battle itself and the withdrawal to Chattanooga.

Will Curry's letters are supplemented by a small number of letters from friends and relatives in other Ohio regiments, including his brother Ott Curry and Stephen B. Cone (both in Co. A, 121st Ohio Infantry), Samuel H. Ruehlen and Will Erwin (Co. K, 1st Ohio Cavalry), James Doig Bain (Co. E, 30th Ohio Infantry), David G. Robinson (Co. E, 86th Ohio Infantry); George P. Robinson (Co. D, 40th Ohio Infantry), Oratio McCullough (Co. K, 136th Ohio Infantry -- 100 days), and Frank W. Post (unidentified regiment).

After the war, Curry was active in veterans' organizations and wrote several historical sketches of his regiment and the campaigns in which they participated. Although the Clements does not have any of these histories in its holdings, a partial list is provided below for reference.