Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Reminiscence of an officer in the 1st Michigan Cavalry describing the campaign in June and July 1863 centered on the Battle of Gettysburg. Fragmentary copy, including leaves 1-9, 12-19, 76-81, 85, and 2 unnumbered leaves.

Correspondence, 1861-1864, of family members who served in the Civil War, including brothers William Baird (Co. C, 6th Michigan Cavalry and later Co. K, 23rd U.S. Colored Infantry) and Henry C. Baird (Co. L, 7th Michigan Cavalry), cousins William E. Baird (Co. E, 22nd Michigan Infantry) and Frederick Diem (Co. C, 6th Michigan Cavalry); other family correspondence of the Civil War era, a reminiscence by William Baird of his family history and Civil War experiences, and miscellanea. William Baird's reminiscence includes an account of his parentage, life on a farm in St. Clair County, early schooling and teaching experiences, and his experiences in the Civil War. He enlisted in Company C, 6th Michigan Cavalry in 1862, and was in winter camp in Washington. The highlights of his journal are the battle of Gettysburg, where he was wounded; studying in a Philadelphia hospital to become a commissioned officer; the granting of his commission through the help of Representative Francis W. Kellogg, and his assignment as first lieutenant to Company K, 23rd U. S. Colored Infantry.

Correspondence and miscellaneous business papers including Civil War letters exchanged between John C. Buchanan and his wife, Sophia Bingham Buchanan, while he was serving as first lieutenant in Co. D. of the 8th Michigan Infantry. Many of the letters are almost sermons and philosophical essays about his home and family, religion, his country and the war and its leaders. Others are detailed descriptions of camps and camp life, such as Seabrook plantation in South Carolina and its Negroes, James Island and its reptiles; his quarters and food; sea transports; marches, skirmishes and battles with the Army of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign and around Fredericksburg. The collection also includes letters from Claude Buchanan while he was a student at the University of Michigan; letters (1847-1858) of J. Irwin Beaumont of Mississippi and Minnesota to Angie Bingham (Gilbert); notebooks, speeches, business papers, and a diary of a trip to the South in 1884 made by Claude Buchanan.

Settlers in Englishville, Michigan. Family correspondence, diaries, legal papers, newspaper clippings and other materials relating to farm life, personal affairs, and the Civil War.

The Buck family collection includes correspondence, diaries, legal papers, newspaper clippings, and other materials relating to farm life, personal affairs, and the Civil War. Included are letters of Curtis Buck and Andrew Buck relating to the Civil War. Also of interest is a letter of John Bettis, June 10, 1864, regarding his running a saw and grist mill in Chattanooga during the war. Other family members represented in the collection are Charles W. Buck and Myron and Susan Field Buck.

Genealogical materials as well as Civil War letters relating to Captain Ebenezer Butterworth of Co. C, 1st Michigan Infantry. Correspondence includes a letter (Apr. 29, 1861) from the "Coldwater Young Ladies" presenting Butterworth's regiment with a token; also includes letters relating to Butterworth's death from George Rhodes (Aug. 21, 1861) and from Wells Walbridge (Dec. 27, 1861). The collection also contains family portraits, including ones of Captain Ebenezer Butterworth.

The collection consists of an autobiography, portraits, and a steel engraving plate. His personal recollections of his and his division's part in the war were written for his family. The chapters include: "Preliminary--Enlistment--Rendezvous"; "Going to the Front"; "Washington to Fredericksburg"; "Fredericksburg, "with a vivid description of the "bloody and lamentable" battle of Fredericksburg, and an analysis of McClellan as a general; "From Fredericksburg to Louisville, "with an explanation of the demoralization of Col. A. W. Williams; "Louisville to Horse Shoe Bend," with an account of the squabble between Colonel Doolittle and Colonel Mausar over slaves to be or not to be returned to their owners, and the issuing of the paper Union Vidette; "The Battle of Horse Shoe Bend, Ky."; "Down the Mississippi to Vicksburg" and "The Jackson Campaign"; "From Mississippi to Tennessee" and "East Tennessee Campaign" with "The Battle of Campbell Station"; "Siege of Knoxville"; "The assault on Fort Saunders"; "some Incidents of the Siege of Knoxville"; "After the Siege of Knoxville"; "East Tennessee to Virginia" and "Back to the Army of the Potomac"; "Through the Wilderness"; "To Ny River and Spottsylvania"; "Hospital Experience"; "In Front of Petersburgh" and "The Battle of the Crater"; "Incidents of the Battle of the Crater"; "After the Crater"; "Weldon Railroad and Ream's Station." "Poplar Springs Church and Beyond"; "Peebles Farm to Fort McGilvery"; and "The Winter in the Petersburg Trenches."

Native of Ann Arbor, Mich. and officer in the U.S. Civil War; served as a Regent of University of Michigan and Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Collection includes a diary, 1862-1865, written while serving in Co. D, 20th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War and recounting daily activities and the sieges of Knoxville and Petersburg; correspondence, mainly with his mother and wife, while a student at University of Michigan and during the Civil War; papers of other family members; and portraits of Grant and members of his family as well as and water-colors of Civil War.

The Claudius Buchanan Grant papers provide insight into the Civil War as experienced by a Union officer and also document life in the United States during the first half of the nineteenth century. This collection is comprised of three series: Personal Papers, Family Papers, and Visual Materials.

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.