Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Letters from relatives in New York, New Jersey and Iowa discussing in part plans to migrate westward; letter, 1852, recounting missionary life in India; Civil War letters from Townsend M. Luce (Co. F., Third Michigan Infantry), Rufus Cheney (Co. D, 2nd Michigan Cavalry), Charles O. Reed (probably Co. A, 4th Michigan Cavalry), Philip Segur (Co. A, 7th Michigan Cavalry), and one tentatively identified as Albert H. Freeman (Battery B, 1st Michigan Light Artillery); and miscellanea.

Personal correspondence, 1842-1941; Civil War letters, 1862-1865, of C. V. DeLand of Co. C, Ninth Michigan Infantry, later Colonel of the First Sharpshooters during the Civil War; correspondence concerning early Jackson history, indentures, school records, temperance and abolition material and other records pertaining to family affairs and the town of Jackson, Michigan. Also contains photographs, with family portraits and photo of an old mill in Jefferson, Mich.

De Witt Clinton Spaulding (circa 1841 or 1842-1926) was a white Michigan resident who served in Company G. of the Union Army's 8th Michigan Infantry regiment during the American Civil War. Included in the collection is Spaulding's physical Civil War diary (which includes comments on his capture and confinement at Andersonville Prison), a transcription of the diary with additional information and images, digitized copies of Spaulding's military service and pension records, scattered physical correspondence and miscellanea, and a DVD-R containing related materials.

The De Witt C. Spaulding papers (0.1 linear feet and 42.5 MB) include scattered correspondence and miscellanea, digitized copies of Spaulding's compiled military service and pension records from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, and Spaulding's diary. The physical diary—dated from 1861 to 1864—provides information about Spaulding's Civil War experiences, including his capture and confinement at Andersonville Prison. A digital transcription of Spaulding's diary by Clare M. Cory is also present in this collection. It contains additional biographical and genealogical information, as well as images of Spaulding and his relatives.

Finally, the collection includes a DVD-R containing a transcription of the diary with additional biographical information and photos.

Dwight J. Brewer served in the Michigan Twentieth Infantry during the Civil War. Collection includes family correspondence and Brewer's military papers and diary.

Letters written to the family by Dwight Brewer during the Civil War. Some letters were written together with Edwin Stearns, who served with Brewer. Photocopies and originals of Brewer's military papers and a modern color photograph of an original 1898 family photo.

Residents of Plymouth, Michigan. Three Eddy brothers, Willard, William Hannahs, and Clark, served in the Michigan 2nd and 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiments in the Civil War. This collection contains family portraits (mostly tintypes, with a few daguerreotypes and ambrotypes as well), wartime correspondence among the Eddy siblings and parents (including several digital scans and transcriptions), family genealogical materials, and a family Bible.

This collection contains family portraits, genealogical material, correspondence among the Eddy siblings and parents, and a family Bible. The correspondence consists of approximately 120 letters, most of which were written during the American Civil War (1860-1865) between the three enlisted brothers, Willard, William and Clark, and their parents, Otis and Lucy. Three of the letters contain accounts of the Battle of Williamsburg (letter dated May 12, 1862), the First Battle of Fredricksburg (letter dated May 26, 1863), and the Second Battle of Fredricksburg (letter dated May 26, 1863). There are also digital scans of six of the letters and digital transcriptions of ten of them.

The family Bible is also included, and the loose leaf genealogical and family record materials that were once interleaved within it have been foldered separately for preservation reasons. There are also two official Union Army documents conferring promotions on Clark Eddy, one for the rank of corporal and the other for the rank of sergeant.

The collection also includes a box of family portraits taken using various early photographic methods. There are four 1/6th plate size portraits framed in “Union Cases,” two of which are tintypes and two of which are daguerreotypes. There are also two 1/9th plate size ambrotypes. The box also contains a leather-bound photograph album of fifteen later portraits of family members, as well as a small Maple Grove Candies box which holds five unframed and uncased tintypes.

Niles, Mich. businessman and officer in the Sixth and Nineteenth Michigan Infantry regiments during the Civil War. Includes correspondence, diaries, and photographs related to Griffin's personal life and military service in addition to genealogical information and miscellaneous materials.

The Eli A. Griffin papers are organized into a single Personal Papers series, which includes family genealogical information, correspondence, personal diaries, photographs, military records, and other materials. The collection documents Griffin's various travels (including trips to the California gold fields in 1849 and 1853 and other trips to Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, and Utah), service in the Union army during the Civil War, and information about his family.

The Franklin H. Bailey collection contains correspondence, diaries, a scrapbook, photographs, and other materials (including military discharge papers, Civil War songbooks, and scientific papers). 56 letters written to his parents in Adrian, Michigan from 1861-1865 detail his time in the military, with references to camp life, religion, sickness, concern over money matters, and skirmishes in which he was engaged, including a graphic account of the battle of Pittsburg Landing. An additional undated Civil War letter from Minerva Bailey's first husband, Levi Greenfield, reports on rumors of victories at Richmond and Vicksburg. Later correspondence includes letters he wrote to his wife while on a trip abroad in 1873 and a scrapbook of letters, 1880-1901, primarily concerning educational matters. Diaries (1865-1883) at least partially written in Pitman shorthand provide additional information on his war service, student life at Hillsdale College, finances, and teaching and scientific interests. A poem titled "Big Yank" refers to the Peninsula Campaign in 1862.

Vermontville, Michigan, family. Civil War correspondence and diaries of Joseph B. Griswold, musician in the Second Michigan Cavalry, and later Assistant Surgeon in the Fourth Michigan Infantry; also material concerning the land transactions of Roger W. Griswold; and miscellaneous clippings, photograph, correspondence, and printed material.

The Griswold family papers includes materials for both Roger W. and Joseph B. Griswold. The bulk of the collection consists of letters, diaries, and other materials of Joseph B. Griswold relating to his Civil War service. There is a diary concerning his year as a musician in which he notes the weather, the days when they played for dress parade and guard mounting, and an occasional serenade for someone such as General Pope. He comments on camp duties, food, a trip down the river, some hospital duties, saying, "This hospital business I detest ... wish I was back in the regiment," his own bout with dysentery; and his wanting to go home. "I'm sick of soldiering. Wish I was out ... but what's the good of wishing."

In the 4th Infantry, he wrote some thirty letters to his sister. He describes quarters, their moves from camp to camp from Huntsville, Ala. to San Antonio, Texas, and caring for the sick and wounded. There is much chit-chat about home folks and affairs; his occasional dinners out with Southern families in which there are young ladies, with perhaps a musical evening to follow; church services; and Christmas southern style.

The diary, which supplements these letters, also tells of social calls, dances, a fox hunt, card games, church services, rides into the country on his horse, drinking among the men, and horse racing in their camp in San Antonio in which his horse is entered. The drinking water is bad, and he is often sick with diarrhea. Mosquitoes bother both men and horses. He comments on food or the lack of it and on camp gardens. He thought some of setting up a medical practice in San Antonio, but instead returned to school.

Otsego, Michigan, family. Letters to Mrs. Sabra Hager discussing personal and family affairs, including mention of neighbors leaving for the Pikes Peak gold rush; also ninety letters from her husband, Phineas A. Hager, of Co. B, Nineteenth Michigan Infantry, twenty-five from her son, William H. White, Sixth Michigan Infantry, and three from Henry Stark of Sixth Michigan Infantry, concerning their service in the Civil War.

Letters to Mrs. Sabra Hager discussing personal and family affairs, including mention of neighbors leaving for the Pikes Peak gold rush. 90 letters from her husband, Phineas A. Hager in which he tells of camp life and duties in the army of the Cumberland, the weather, food, sickness, and news of the Otsego men in his regiment. He comments on the death of his stepson, William White, on bushwhackers, slavery and the Southern people, and on the officers in his regiment. He describes the fighting before Atlanta in which action he was killed. Much of each letter is given over to home and business affairs. Also includes 25 letters from William H. White in which he describes camps Fort Wayne and McKim and camp life and duties; ship transportation to other camps such as Ship Island and Baton Rouge; and a Thanksgiving dinner. He tells about food and exchanging food with the natives, picket duty, sickness, and the use of contrabands in camp. He comments on officers and on slavery.

The collection includes two diaries, for 1864 and 1865. In the 1864 diary, Dean tells of directing and supervising men in erecting and operating sawmills and building storehouses, hospitals, bridges, etc. around Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga. He also writes of the move from there to the siege of Atlanta and the occupation of Atlanta; of deserters, prisoners, destruction of railroads, regimental inspections, and camp life in general; and of the return march to Chattanooga in six and one-half days. The 1865 diary (Jan.-June), kept while he was in Chattanooga, tells about the weather, building barracks, duties, social activities, the surrender of Lee, death of Lincoln, and mustering out. Also includes miscellaneous citations, commissions, legal documents relating to his military service and his work as regent, and a statement (notarized by Dean) of Victor C. Vaughan pertaining to the Douglas-Rose dispute, 1878.