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This collection consists of letters written by James K. Hale sent to his brother George Hale while serving in the 106th New York Volunteers during the Civil War. The letters document the movements and viewpoints of a soldier in this regiment.

This collection consists of 28 letters written by James K. Hale, which he sent to his brother George Hale while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. The letters cover the entire existence of the 106th New York Volunteers and document the movements and viewpoints of a soldier in this regiment. Little personal information was offered outside of discussions of health and comments that he had received letters from Rosina.

In the letters, Hale openly discussed his superior officers, his interactions with other regiments, daily troop movements and battles, army life, and life in a field hospital. In a letter from October 1862, he mentioned that "Mulligan’s regiment are a hard lot of men." In December 1862, he described secondhand reports of a skirmish at Winchester, resulting in 7 prisoners and 12 Union deaths. In a particularly interesting letter from February 2, 1863, Hale expressed a bleak outlook for the outcome of the war, based on the Union's failures in the major battles thus far. Another item from August 1863 contains a vivid description of skirmishing at Manassas in late July 1863.

Hale wrote letters from November 22, 1863, and after from the Central Park Hospital in New York City, after he was shot with a musket ball in the ankle. He remained, however, in good spirits and health: "It is nothing but a flesh wound." While letters from this period record typical life in an army hospital, Hale noted some interesting details. For instance, in a December 28, 1863, letter, he described surgeons "putting on an artificial jaw on a man which is a great thing if they can make it work." He returned to his regiment in late March 1864. In his letter of June 19, 1863, Hale briefly commented on the siege of Petersburg happening in the background and ruminated on the merits of McClellan versus those of Grant. He praised the new Union leadership:

"…the men have great confidence in both Grant and Mead[.] They both keep close along in the front. I do not think Gen Butler has shown himself to be the greatest Gen. that ever was[.] I think he will do better for military Gov than he will for Gen. We have had three Brigade commanders wounded in our Brigade and our corps commander was killed[.] there has been a great many officers killed and wounded which is done by the sharpshooters in trees and other places" (June 19, 1864).

Hale wrote about other Union generals and discussed the merits and drawbacks of their battle strategies. In later letters, he described the progress of the 106th New York toward Richmond and looked forward to the end of the war. The last dated letter of May 21 [1865], briefly describes the reactions of soldiers to Lincoln’s assassination. "Even a greater portion of the South consider it an act beneath the dignity of any true man..."

This collection is made up of typescripts of letters that Thomas D. Willis wrote to his family while serving in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War. The letters concern his imprisonment after the regiment's unsuccessful mutiny in early 1863, his hospitalization in late 1864, and daily conditions in army camps in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.

This collection is primarily made up of typescripts of letters that Thomas D. Willis wrote to his parents and siblings while serving in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment between August 1862 and June 1865. The Willis family also received a small number of letters from John McKee and Walter G. Wilson, also of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and a family friend who encountered Willis during his hospitalization in late 1864.

Thomas D. Willis sent letters to his parents and two of his siblings, Julia and Seth, throughout his Civil War service, writing less frequently as the war went on. From late August 1862 to early April 1863, he discussed his pride in the regiment, his close friendships with a group of other soldiers, and life in camps in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Louisville, Kentucky; and Nashville, Tennessee. He described his daily schedule, meals, equipment, and marches, where he noticed the effects of the war and the graves of soldiers who had died along the road. After arriving in Nashville in November 1862, the regiment became involved in a controversy over their expected and assigned duties. Willis reported that he and others had enlisted to serve as bodyguards for General Don Carlos Buell; upon learning that they were to become a regular cavalry regiment following Buell's removal, the members of the regiment laid down their arms and refused to serve, believing that they had been enlisted under false pretenses. In the absence of obvious ringleaders, Willis and several other men were randomly chosen as representatives at a court martial. Willis described the poor conditions during his imprisonment and expressed his growing discontent with Captain William Jackson Palmer and other military leaders, whom he accused of acting as despots.

After his release from prison in early April 1863, Willis returned to the front, where he continued to describe camp life in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. He mentioned several skirmishes and at least one major engagement with Confederate troops. He noted that the civilian population, including both Union and Confederate sympathizers, had suffered because of the war. His letters also refer to health problems, often related to dysentery, and he was hospitalized with a large open sore on his hip in late 1864. Willis described his treatment in hospitals in Nashville, Tennessee, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, and discussed his appointment as a wardmaster for a branch hospital. Willis wrote infrequently between late 1864 and the spring of 1865, when he anticipated his return home. Along with the Willis family's incoming correspondence, the collection includes typescripts of 2 letters that Willis's mother wrote in August 1864; she discussed life at home, Copperhead politicians, and the presidential election of 1864.

The materials were transcribed by Scott Willis, a descendant of Thomas D. Willis, around 1978.