Collections

The Andrew Knox papers are comprised of 6 letters from Andrew Knox, a lieutenant in the 1st Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery, to his wife Sarah in Danbury, Connecticut.

The Andrew Knox papers are comprised of six letters from Knox to his wife Sarah, written between July 31, 1862, and October 2, 1864. The letters convey rare and perceptive details about his locations and equipment, as well as deep affection for his wife and infant. In his letter of July 31, 1862, Knox described his pride in his regiment’s accomplishments after receiving accolades from Gen. George McClellan. In the next letter in the collection, dated August 3, 1864, and written from Union Headquarters in City Point, Virginia, Knox mentioned a nearby prison with 600 Confederate soldiers and a ride on a tugboat, on which he had “a pleasant little sail.”

Knox seemingly took a great interest in his equipment and wrote a detailed description of it for his wife: “The 13 inch mortar I have charge of is on a car made especially for it to be fired from. The mortar is a big thing. I weighs 17,185 # without the bed, and throws a shell when loaded weighing 230 #” (August 5, 1854).

Knox also speculated about strategy and future movements, as in his September 19, 1864, letter: “In regard to the expected battle down here, I do not think there will be any serious one for a long time unless the enemy makes the attack… My own observations lead me to think we will hold these lines for a long time. Many forts of a permanent nature are being made along the whole front. And the front lines are being retired in the rear of the forts in many places” (September 19, 1864).

This collection consists of 186 letters and documents concerning Heman H. Gillett's participation in the Civil War as a surgeon for the 8th Vermont Volunteers.

Heman H. Gillett papers consist of 186 letters and documents concerning Gillett's participation as a surgeon in the Civil War. The items are primarily incoming general and regimental orders, circulars, and administrative letters addressed to Gillett. Throughout the collection are records, receipts, invoices, and copies of returns; these track medical expenditures, resources, and finances, as well as the maladies of the troops. For example, a document dated December 31, 1862, records the types of illnesses and numbers of persons affected for that month and lists the names of dead for his regiment that month. A June 14, 1863, report logs the sick and wounded for that week. Other documents list the supplies needed for the hospital or brigade. Gillett signed off on the prices and invoices for medicines, hospital stores, bedding, etc. and submitted them to various suppliers and departments. The reports show that Gillett was stationed in Louisiana (Algiers, New Iberia, and New Orleans) in 1863 and 1864. In 1864, he requested supplies from James A. Holmes at the General Hospital at Brashear, Louisiana, which was the primary receiving depot for sick Union soldiers in the area. In 1865, Gillett was stationed at Summit Point, Virginia (January-April 1865), Munson Hill, Virginia (June 1865), and back at Camp Babcock in Summit Point, Virginia, by June 1865.

Throughout the collection are general and personal orders and circulars, including many letters from the Surgeon General's office in Washington. Some reports are assessments of the conditions of the facilities of Gillett's division (December 1864), while others are accounts of how coordinating hospitals are accommodating the wounded. One long circular from September 1864 lays out new policies for how the regiment will account for the sick, including updates of required types of personnel and their new paperwork responsibilities. This circular also details the accoutrements and personnel for each medical wagon. The provisions are very carefully measured out and regulated.

The collection's sole personal letter is from Heman’s brother, S.H. Gillett, but even this letter focuses mainly on medical issues, while touching on .H. Gillett's political opinions (August 5, [1865?]).

Fourteen undated items and fragments document the need for or use of supplies for medical units during the war. One undated item is a list of fallen soldiers. The three post-war documents are all testimonials for solders that were wounded in battle who were petitioning for pensions. The collection's oversized items include 15 reports of sick and wounded and inventories and invoices for medical supplies.

In general, this collection provides much evidence for the management, supplying, and policies of Union hospitals in the South during the Civil War. The Gillett papers demonstrate the high level of administration and infrastructure used by Union medical troops, which, in policy if not practice, relied on organization, accountability, and reports.

This collection is made up of correspondence, writings, a journal, a scrapbook, and published material related to George Clary Wing of Bloomfield, Ohio, and two account books kept his father, Joseph Knowles Wing, during his military service in the Civil War. George C. Wing's correspondence pertains mostly to his career in the United States government in the late 19th century, and his writings cover topics such as history, literature, and travel.

This collection is made up of correspondence, writings, a journal, a scrapbook, and published material related to George Clary Wing of Bloomfield, Ohio, and two account books kept by his father, Joseph Knowles Wing, during his military service in the Civil War.

The Correspondence series (32 items) consists of personal and professional correspondence related to George C. Wing. Most items are incoming letters that Wing received from acquaintances and politicians who discussed Wing's career in the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of State from 1872-1884. Some items are signed by prominent politicians, including George Henry Williams, Charles Devens, Benjamin Brewster, and Frederick T. Frelinghuysen. The series also contains a small number of draft letters from Wing to various individuals, also concerning his career in Washington, D.C. George C. Wing received personal letters from his father, Joseph K. Wing, and one letter and one telegram from his brother, Francis J. Wing; both provided news from North Bloomfield, Ohio, and offered professional advice. The final item is a brief personal letter from "George" to "Julia" (July 23, 1923).

The Journal and Notebooks series contains 2 notebooks and 1 journal. George C. Wing kept two notebooks from 1872-1924 (280 pages) and 1884-1920 (150 pages, not all of which are used). These contain quotations, essays, and notes about many subjects, including lectures at Georgetown Law School, English-language literature, classical history and literature, American history, and scientific subjects. Wing also composed some poetry. The second volume includes some one-line journal entries about Wing's business trips and family news from 1884-1910. He laid newspaper clippings, loose essays, photographs, and notes into the volumes.

George C. Wing's journal includes 51 pages of daily entries describing the scenery during his railroad and steamship journey from Ohio to Valdez, Alaska, and back between June 5, 1901, and July 9, 1901. He mentioned his daily activities and sometimes noted the types of plants prevalent in different areas of the country. The later pages (around 15 pages) contain a drawing of "Jake," a sketch of the Alaska coastline along a glacier, additional trip notes, memoranda, a railroad ticket and steamship purser's ticket, and a photograph of a woman.

The Writings series consists of three items. George C. Wing compiled a group of manuscript writings and draft letters in a volume entitled "Brands- from the Burning!" from the mid-1880s to the mid-1910s. Included are stories, essays, translations, and poems about history, literature, and other topics. Wing's draft letters include an opinion piece about the country's relationship with Germany in 1915. The series also includes a manuscript draft of Wing's book, The Western Reserve Home and The Manuscript Letters of Ephraim Brown and Family, 1805-1845 (1915, later published as Early Years on the Western Reserve) and a group of correspondence and essays about a road in Bloomfield, Ohio, and a related property dispute, entitled "The Lane in Section Sixty, Bloomfield, Trumbull County, Ohio" (1925).

The Joseph K. Wing Account Books (320 total pages, fewer than half of which are used) contain financial records and supply lists related to Wing's service in the 16th Army Corps during the Civil War (1863-1864). Wing, a quartermaster, compiled records about purchases of horses, including the price of each animal; lists of supplies, including the number of items and occasional remarks about items' condition; lists of clothing items available, including remarks about whether each item was damaged or new; a list of forage vouchers cashed by Wing, including the name of the soldier who claimed each voucher; and lists of supplies held by various regiments. Notes regarding prison returns mention a few female prisoners. The volumes also contain notes about army transportation and food supplies.

The collection's Scrapbook (27 pages) primarily contains newspaper clippings about many different subjects, including articles and photographs pertaining to steamship travel to and around Alaska, particularly regarding the ships Dolphin and Bertha. Other clippings concern various members of the Wing family, such as George C. Wing and Francis J. Wing, and the history of Bloomfield, Ohio. Items laid into the back of the volume include printed Personal Instructions to the Diplomatic Agents of the United States in Foreign Countries (1874), George Wing's manuscript report about "Proceedings for the Extradition of Criminals (June 14, 1883), George Wing's drawing of "The Encyclopedant" (February 1895), and a menu for the Alaska Steamship Company vessel Dolphin (July 4, 1901).

Printed Items (4 items) include a copy of George C. Wing's book Early Years on the Western Reserve with Extracts from Letters of Ephraim Brown and Family, 1805-1845 (Cleveland, 1916), inscribed to his sister Elizabeth and to a niece, and a copy of Neighborhood: A Settlement Quarterly containing several articles about pottery (July 1930). George C. Wing also collected court briefs from his time with the United States Court of Claims (1879-1882), and received a United States Senate report about the relationship between Great Britain and the United States with regard to each country's naval presence on the Great Lakes between the War of 1812 (1892).

Papers of a U.S. Civil War Paymaster, consisting mostly of account books, correspondence, vouchers, disbursement accounts, returns, pay records for numerous Michigan, U.S., and U.S. Colored regiments.

The collection is organized alphabetically by format and size, and then chronologically, 1861-1865. It consists of Hunt’s Pay Master records, a wide variety, for a large number of troops including Michigan, U.S. Colored Troops, and non-Michigan troops. Michigan units documented in the collection include: Michigan Engineers and Mechanics Regiment, 1st , Michigan Infantry Regiment, 7th, Michigan Infantry Regiment, 13th, 1863-1865, Michigan Infantry Regiment, 21st, Michigan Infantry Regiment, 22nd, 1864-1865. U.S. Colored Troops including: 1st U.S. Infantry, U.S. Colored Infantry, 14th Regiment; U.S. Colored Infantry, 18th Regiment; and the U.S. Colored Infantry, 44th Regiment are documented in the collection. Non-Michigan units documented in the collection include some from Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Iowa, New York (state), Wisconsin, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Connecticut. Materials for different units are sorted by year, not by month and day.

This letterbook contains the copied outgoing correspondence of Cincinnati lawyer William Disney between 1859 and 1870. These items cover the period when he was the correspondence secretary of the Guthrie Greys militia during the Civil War, and his post-war career as a lawyer.

The Disney letterbook contains transfer copies of Disney's outgoing correspondence beginning in 1859, when he was correspondence secretary in the Guthrie Greys (pages 8-40). The letters include some interesting information on the Guthrie Greys in the two years before the Civil War, and a few letters from Disney while in the 137th Ohio Infantry. These letters mostly concern the status of volunteers under Disney's command, accounts for ordnance stores, and other routine administrative information (pages 60-82).

The bulk of the volume consists of post-war letters concerning Disney's legal practice, debt collection, and his investments. Along with other miscellaneous client letters, are four letters sent to Memphis and Cincinnati from a former farrier, Ed Whitehead, who was advertising his newly developed pavement type. The letterbook opens with a complete name index.