Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

Martin Webster's journals record his service with Battery I, 3rd New York Light Artillery, from 1863 to 1865, during which the regiment was stationed in northeastern North Carolina, primarily at New Bern.

Martin Webster's journal offers an insightful venture into the thoughts and experiences of a working class man drawn into the back waters of the Civil War. The two volumes record his service with Battery I, 3rd New York Light Artillery, from September, 1863, through the beginning of March, 1865, during which the regiment was stationed in northeastern North Carolina, primarily at New Bern. The volume contains fine descriptions of two expeditions undertaken by the regiment from December, 1864 through March, 1865, and a fair, but myopic view of the Confederate assaults on New Bern in February and May, 1864. With these exceptions, however, the diary is more a chronicle of the doldrums of camp life and the effects of ill discipline, abysmal sanitation, and alcohol, than it is a record of martial achievement.

Of particular note are an excellent, long and detailed account of the mass execution of a group of deserters at New Bern (1864 August 14), and a memorable account of Webster and his friends stealing Thanksgiving dinner from local Black families (1864 November 23). The constant refrains of Webster's world are drill, drink, and (particularly in the fall of 1864) disease, and through these emerges a vivid picture of the seamy side of the war that many soldiers preferred to deemphasize. He is, for instance, one of the few soldiers in the Schoff Collection who admits to having taken a body part as a souvenir, the scalp blown off the head of a man hit by a 100 pound shell (May 9, 1864), and he is a soldier who plans openly to get even with his colonel for what he perceives as a slight.

The longest and perhaps most significant part of the journal spans the period from December, 1864, through March, 1865, when Webster was engaged in expeditions to Rainbow Bluff, N.C., and in the vicinity of Plymouth and Colerain, N.C., the latter a half-hearted offensive led by Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Jones Frankle, and conducted as a northern extension of Sherman's Carolinas Campaign. The journal ends shortly before the engagement at Wise's Fork, and thus includes little information on the role that the 3rd N.Y. Artillery played in this decisive stage of the war.

Laid in the front of the first volume of Webster's journal are several loose manuscripts, including an 1876 deposition relating to Webster's work in the machine shop at Auburn Prison, and a series of documents relating to his application for an invalid's pension in 1890. The journal also includes a newspaper clipping dating from 1896, pertaining to the attempted murder of Isabelle Webster, probably a relative of Martin's.

Virtually all of Henry Pippitt's surviving Civil War correspondence consists of letters addressed to his mother, Rebecca, documenting two intertwining themes: the Petersburg Campaign from start to finish, and Pippitt's personal campaign to keep himself and his family in good order.Pippitt's letters offer commentary on the last year of the war as seen through the eyes of a young working class man, grown up far beyond his years.

Virtually all of Henry Pippitt's surviving Civil War correspondence consists of letters addressed to his mother, Rebecca, documenting two intertwining themes: the Petersburg Campaign from start to finish, and Pippitt's personal campaign to keep himself and his family in good order. Well written, if not particularly polished, Pippitt's letters offer fine commentary on the last year of the war as seen through the eyes of a young working class man, grown up far beyond his years.

Pippitt's personal struggles weave throughout the collection, surfacing at numerous points, and his various ways of dealing with his ragged home life are reflective both of the depth of his difficulties and his resourcefulness. He alternately castigates, cajoles, threatens or ignores his dead beat father, does his best to assuage his mother's depression over losing her son to the army, and her jealousy of the woman he courts, and he does his best to deal with or explain away his financial problems and his own lapses into drink. Throughout all of his experiences, military and personal, Pippitt matures physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Of particular interest is the letter of September 4, 1864, in which Pippitt describes why he is (again) out of cash. After sketching a somewhat fantastic tale of heavy rains, floods, and an entire camp swept away in the deluge, he swears that the story is the truth and not a lie. This and other letters illustrate an interesting dichotomy in Pippitt's character. Having grown up in a lower-class family, he is constantly aware of the shortage of money, both in camp and at home, but despite his frequent promises to send home sizable sums, he manages to fritter away most of his pay and at times, dips liberally into the already slender family purse to supply himself with what he calls "necessaries."

In more narrowly military terms, the collection contains several brief, but powerful letters describing the hard life in the Petersburg trenches, skirmishes, and the battles of Petersburg, the Crater, and Cold Harbor. A curious side note is Pippitt's tale of the Confederate defenders of Petersburg under-mining Union forts facing the city following the Crater disaster. The series of letters written from Point of Rocks and Chafin's Farm illustrate not only the constricting stagnation of the siege effort during the winter of 1864-65, but the gradually deteriorating morale of the Confederate forces, seen in a flood tide of deserters.

Finally, Pippitt's use of language is often as interesting as what he says. His use of phrases such as "dead beat" (24:45), "helter skelter" (24:66), "if he don't like it, he can lump it" (24:37), or "let [the landlord] know that you haint a going to be shit on by him" (24:38) seem thoroughly up to date, and are an excellent record of urban, working-class patterns of speech.

The Vinaca papers consist of Civil War letters written by Francis Vinaca to his parents; correspondence from his cousins Henry Chase and James Miner; and from a friend, Martin Dealing. Francis and Martin served in the 186th New York Infantry and Henry in the 1st New York Mounted Rifles. Francis' letters are a valuable resource for examining the attitudes of a soldier entering the war in its latter stages.

The Vinaca papers contain 46 letters written by Francis Vinaca to his parents during the Civil War; 10 from his cousin, Henry Chase addressed to Francis; two letters from Francis' close friend, Martin Dealing (also of the 186th N.Y. Infantry); and two from a cousin, James Miner of the 35th New York Infantry. Although he is not the most observant writer, Francis' letters are a valuable resource for examining the attitudes of a soldier entering the war in its latter stages. His motives for enlisting appear to have been as much tied as much in profit and personal advancement as they were in patriotism, and the time that he spent in the unglamorous work of building roads or digging for fortifications was typical of the experiences of many soldiers, as were the periods of inactivity. Vinaca's unsuccessful attempts to secure a commission in a "colored" regiment are meagerly documented.

Henry Chase's rough-edged and occasionally offensive letters include some colorful descriptions of the theatre of action near New Bern, N.C., with particularly negative comments reserved for discussions of African Americans and the idea of fighting for the end of slavery.

Vinaca's letters from March and April, 1865, provide an indication of how low Confederate morale had sunk, as measured by the large number of deserters crossing the lines, and the level of desperation they must have felt. The most interesting letters concerning military action are the two in which Francis discusses his bloody experiences in the assault on Fort Mahone and the fall of Petersburg -- the last major engagements of the war in Virginia.

As a soldier in the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War, Charles Maxim wrote to his family about his and his fellow soldiers' political beliefs, the morale and motivations of soldiers, and opinions on the performance of African American troops.

The Charles Maxim papers shed light on the attitudes of a Union soldier in the trenches during the last year of the war and the earliest period of Reconstruction in the South. An outstanding reporter of political views -- both his and his fellow soldiers' -- Maxim is at his best in discussing the morale and motivations of soldiers and the formal and informal politics during the election years of 1864 and 1868. Not inclined to extremes in his politics, he plied a middle road between the abolitionists and racial equality persons on one side and the much-despised copperheads on the other, yet never foregoing his strong Unionist principles. Even the postwar letters continue the thread of opposition to Democratic copperheadism.

Few letters in the Maxim papers contain discussions of military activities in the limited sense, though two letters include interesting discussions of the Battle of the Crater and what Maxim perceived as the failure of African-American soldiers under fire. More generally, several other letters, however, include discussions of generalship, morale, and soldiery, and the palpable increase in his resolve as the war winds down in the late spring, 1865, makes an interesting case study.

Finally, two letters from Maxim's friend and fellow veteran, J.C. Bolles, are worth special mention. In the first (July 17, 1869) Bolles describes his new homestead in Ottawa County, Kans., and the absurd fear on the parts of whites of Indian attack. The second letter (1870 June 1) includes an emotional reflection upon their service during the war, sparked by a Memorial Day celebration by members of the Grand Army of Republic.

A fervent patriot and devout Christian, Benjamin Lincoln's strong abolitionist beliefs led him to take a commission with the 2nd U.S. Infantry (Colored). His papers contain 437 letters written by and to him through the course of the Civil War, revealing the effects of war on the relationships of friends, relatives, and lovers.

A fervent patriot and devout Christian, Benjamin C. Lincoln was also a remarkably regular correspondent. The Lincoln papers contain 437 letters written by and to Benjamin Lincoln between 1861 and 1865, including letters to and from his fiancée, later wife, Dora, letters from his brothers, Sam, Alfred, Irving, Ernest and Eugene, and from friends, Fred Gage, H.O. Walker, Charles H. Mann, Sam Hall, Amy Halliday, and Rev. Samuel Winkley, among others. The high literary quality of much of Lincoln's writing is matched by the quality of his friends' writing. Ideologically, temperamentally, and literarily they are a well matched set. There is a gap in letters written by Lincoln between November, 1863 and October, 1864, caused in part by his visits home. This period, however, is represented by letters to Lincoln, through which some of his activities can be reconstructed. The correspondence ends shortly after Ben's death at the Battle of Natural Bridge in March, 1865.

The collection is a valuable resource for examining the effect that the war had in shaping the relationships of friends, relatives and lovers. Throughout the separations imposed by military service, Lincoln remained in close contact with his fellow members of the Pine Street Chapel Association (many of whom served with him in the 39th Massachusetts Infantry), and his relationship with his brothers remained intimate. The early letters between Lincoln and his then-fiancée Dora provide a depiction of the pain of separation and the psychological hardships placed on these devout and devoted people, and the entire correspondence provides a fascinating portrait of the vicissitudes in their relationship up to and following their marriage in November, 1864. Lincoln and Dora discussed their relationship almost obsessively, whether it was going well or poorly, and the frequency of their letters makes for an unusually dense coverage of the course of one war-time love match. Dora's tendency toward depression was a problem throughout their relationship, and culminated in what appears to have been a mental breakdown early in 1865, probably over the stress of renewed separation from her husband. The collection also includes a wrenching letter from Julia M. (1864 November 21), mourning the loss her fiancé, Sam Lincoln, and several letters from Amy E. Halliday (see especially 1864 November 25) coping with the loss of her fiancé, James Schneider, an officer in the 2nd U.S.C.T.

The military content in the Lincoln papers includes far more on camp life than combat, with a few notable exceptions. During Lincoln's time with the 39th Massachusetts, the regiment was stationed in a comparatively calm part of Maryland or in Washington, D.C., and thus lacks first hand descriptions of skirmishes or battles. Lincoln's letters contain speculation on his own religious convictions, as well as on the spiritual and moral condition of his fellow soldiers, and there are comments on the hostile local citizenry, on his duties as a clerk, and occasionally on the war and the military itself. Once Lincoln receives his commission in the 2nd U.S.C.T. in September, 1863, however, the letters contain more of general interest. The collection is a significant resource for studying the attitudes and activities of a white officer in a "colored" regiment, particularly during the six weeks during which the regiment was filling up at Camp Casey, and during the period in which they were stationed at calm Key West. Lincoln was not always immediately forthcoming in his letters with descriptions of his experiences with his African American troops, partly for fear that Dora would think that he was ignoring her if he discussed anything other than their relationship. Lincoln does, however, provide good descriptions of racial tension surrounding the regiment as it was forming, and some spirited accounts of religious attitudes among the troops, along with several good accounts of their Methodist-style worship. In all, Lincoln's correspondence provides an excellent portrait of the motivations of a white soldier for seeking a commission in a colored regiment, his racial attitudes, and his experiences in camp and, to a lesser degree, in the field.

Equally valuable from the military point of view are the numerous letters from friends and relatives in the service, including those from Ben's brother Sam, a private in the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry and later as a civilian employee of the Quartermaster's Department in New Bern, N.C., and from a friend, Samuel Hall, of Co. G, 39th Massachusetts. Sam Lincoln's letters are filled with information about his regiment, and about life in the garrisoned town of New Bern. His position as a former soldier become civilian makes for an unusual perspective on Union-occupied North Carolina. Letters from Lincoln's other brothers create an impression, somewhat less fleshed-out, of the stresses endured by the members of the Lincoln family during the war, the losses they incurred, and their attempts to cope. The 15 letters from Charlie Brown, initially also a member of the 39th Massachusetts Infantry, but later an officer in the 7th U.S.C.T, are particularly noteworthy. Brown was one of Ben's closest personal friends, as was his wife Ellen, and his writing ability combined with his candor make his letters a particularly important resource for the study of one of the most active "colored" regiments in the Union army. Brown provides a description of the rout at the Battle of Olustee, of engagements near Jacksonville, Fla., and the Battle of New Market Heights, and comments throughout on life in the 7th U.S.C.T.

The 22 letters from Lincoln's civilian friend and fellow Bostonian, H.O. Walker, are also uniformly lively and interesting. A fiery abolitionist and an early advocate of arming African Americans, Walker was a man with strong opinions on the war who seldom demurred from expressing himself. Included among his best letters are a long discussion of electoral politics, radical Republicans, Frémont, Lincoln, and Johnson (1864 June 24 and September 8) and a detailed description of a public meeting held at Cambridge on the subject of conscription (1864 July 26). "We must have black troops," he wrote, "and a limitless number of them too -- paid and treated like their white brothers" (1863 September 5). The four letters from Rev. Samuel Winkley provide an interesting insight both into the powerful force that religious convictions held for some soldiers, but also the bonds of friendship and mutual assistance that tied Winkley and his former Chapel Associates, even across the separations of war. Winkley's letter of September 5, 1863, includes a fine discussion of the duties of a Christian chaplain, written with regard to the African American soldier.