Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Collection of correspondence belonging to De Witt and Sarah Clarke, who were residents of Battle Creek, Michigan during the Civil War. Bulk of collection consists of letters Sarah sent De Witt from Michigan while he was serving in the 2nd Missouri Cavalry. Remainder of the collection includes personal correspondence with other family members and friends as well as De Witt's business correspondence. Bulk of business correspondence dates after De Witt relocated the family to the developing town of Le Mars, Iowa in 1871, where he was a prominent merchant and community leader.

The collection consists of Sarah and De Witt Clarke's personal correspondence and De Witt's business correspondence. The bulk of the collection consists of letters from Sarah to De Witt, written from Michigan while De Witt was away with Merrill's Horse in Arkansas and Tennessee from 1864 to 1865. In her letters, Sarah expresses anxiety for her husband, reports on home and family life, and describes caring for their child in his absence. The collection includes De Witt Clarke's letters to his wife and personal correspondence with other family members and friends during and after the war. De Witt Clarke's business correspondence dates from after the Civil War and includes receipts, ledgers, price lists, notices, and advertisements, as well as correspondence with typewriter manufacturers in New York and Ohio.

Also included in the collection are typewritten transcriptions and lists of letters compiled by Anne Meis Knupfer.

Chadwick's diary (Mar. 10, 1864-Mar. 14, 1866) tells of camp and scouting duties in Missouri and Arkansas and forays against General Shelby; a steamer trip to take part in the engagement against Mobile; the overland march in "mopping up" operations in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana; the trek to San Antonio, Texas where they were part of the Military Department of the Southwest under General Sheridan, guarding the Mexican border and engaging in garrison and scouting duties. Special mention is made of the trouble with Colonel Mizner; the mutiny over rations and "unfair" orders with resulting court martial; a review of troops by General Sheridan; and a description of San Antonio.

Soldier in the 6th Michigan Cavalry, Company M., during the Civil War. The collection includes a diary containing entries that describe camp life, Civil War soldiering, and the weather. Also, portraits.

The Frank P. Grommon papers consists of a diary containing entries that describe camp life, Civil War soldiering, and the weather. Also includes portraits.

A diary (1864-1865) written while Carpenter was serving in Company E, 4th Michigan Cavalry. Includes a concise report of each day's activities; entries describe army life (including foraging and skirmishing), his daily job of horseshoeing, the battle of Selma, and the capture of Jefferson Davis in May 1865.

Comments on wartime activities, including description of Sherman's Georgia Campaign.

Ten letters written while he was serving in Company D, 9th Michigan Infantry, September 1864-June 1865, Most of the letters are written from Chattanooga. He tells of cutting logs to build shanties; of voting in the regiment (with 500 out of 506 votes cast for Lincoln); and of drilling new recruits. He likes soldiering in fair weather, but five men in a small cloth tent on rainy days have to keep jokes going to be happy. The camp on the banks of the Tennessee River was a pleasant place for watching steamboats and trains. On November 18 he went on detached service guarding prisoners. One prisoner was shot for disobeying orders, but he himself had no trouble with the about 200 prisoners in the camp. In January he remarked that "full rations is something I have not seen since I have been down here." Though costly, they sometimes bought butter, cheese, cakes, pies, and sometimes were given soft bread instead of hard tack. He tells of a Negro regiment doing picket duty for a white regiment. He hopes some of the men back home get caught in the draft soon to take place. The weather is cold with rain and snow, but the boys are well. In February he and a friend built a shanty with a bed and a fireplace. They took turns getting dinner-eggs, sausages, meat, bread, butter, coffee. Ninety new recruits arrived in camp. They had a great time February 20th when guns were fired. "Then all the locomotives and steamboats and mills and furnaces and everything that could make a noise set up a whistle for about 10 minutes. There was quite a howl in the city of Chattanooga." In April they were in Nashville. They had news of Lee's surrender, and there was "tall canonading to celebrate."

25 letters (Jan.-May 1864) to his wife describing his wartime experiences.

Soldier from Battle Creek, Michigan who served as captain in the Second Michigan Infantry during the Civil War. Diary of his war-time activities.

Diary of his war-time activities.

Soldier in the 24th Michigan Infantry during Civil War, later civil engineer concerned largely with construction of bridges and canals, especially improvements of St. Mary's Falls Canal, and consultant engineer to Panama Canal project. Correspondence, Civil War diaries, essays on proposed Nicaraguan Canal, printed materials, maps, and other miscellanea; also photographs.

The Alfred Noble Papers collection consists of several letters and diaries documenting his service with the 24th Michigan Infantry during the Civil War and correspondence, construction documents and other material relating to his work as a civil engineer on a number of major projects including the St. Mary's Canal, the Harlem Tunnel in New York, Panama Canal, Alton Bridge on the Mississippi and a proposed Nicaraguan Canal. The collection is organized in two series, Papers and Printed Works, 1853-1906. The Papers series is available on microfilm.

Collected materials include Civil War diary (1863) of William Harts, soldier with Co. B, 1st Michigan Infantry; also papers of Leon Bell, member of 339th Infantry (Polar Bears) sent to northern Russia after World War I.