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Daniel B. Hutchins was raised in Wayne County, N.Y., and worked as a school teacher prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1864, Hutchins was enrolled as a sergeant in the 111th New York Infantry, serving in eastern Virginia. In two pocket diaries, covering the years 1864 and 1866, Hutchins recorded his singularly awful experiences as he was transported through a succession of Confederate prison camps, including Libby, Andersonville, Charleston, S.C., and Florence.

The Daniel B. Hutchins collection consists of two pocket diaries, covering the years 1864 and 1866. In 1864, Hutchins was enrolled as a sergeant in the 111th New York Infantry, serving in eastern Virginia. After his capture at the Battle of Spotsylvania on May 10, his journal records his singularly awful experiences as he was transported through a succession of Confederate prison camps, including Libby, Andersonville, Charleston, S.C., and Florence. Hutchins' entries throughout the year are quite brief, due partly to the constraints imposed by the size of the diary page, and partly by exhaustion. These entries, though, are highly literate, with frequent literary touches and pithy quotes, and they include several allusions to his life prior to his imprisonment.

The heart of this diary is the five months in which he is imprisoned at Andersonville. From the moment of his arrival, Hutchins considered the conditions at the prison severe and inhumane, suggesting that "the treatments of State's Prison would be far preferable to this," adding, "The fiery elements of hell would be to[o] good for men that would treat a brute in this way" (1864 June 4). His writing is impassioned, and he carefully includes important details on the amount of food, living conditions, relations with other prisoners and guards, and morale.

The 1866 journal includes some retrospective commentary on his prison experiences, but is consumed more with Hutchins' search and discovery of a suitable university at which to study.

The George Ballantine collection contains 8 letters that Ballantine wrote to his brother, William A. Ballantine, in 1865, as well as 1 letter by an officer in Ballantine's regiment. The letters concern Ballantine's internment in Libby Prison and his subsequent imprisonment by the Union Army for unspecified reasons.

The George Ballantine collection contains 8 letters that Ballantine wrote to his brother, William A. Ballantine, in 1865, as well as 1 letter by an officer in Ballantine's regiment. The letters concern Ballantine's internment in Libby Prison and his subsequent imprisonment by the Union Army for reasons unknown. One broadside is also present.

George Ballantine wrote 8 letters from June-November 1865, while attempting to muster out of the Union Army following his lengthy imprisonment. He discussed his detention by the Union Army and his ongoing efforts to clear his name. Ballatine often mentioned the legal aspects of his case, which he believed put him in double jeopardy. In his letter of June 10, 1865, he asked William to write to the commanding general on his behalf and included a brief history of his imprisonment, suggesting that his arrest related to an escape from Libby Prison; he did not provide further details about the specific charges against him. Throughout the summer, he tried to return to his regiment and muster out, despite the fact that his term of service had expired the previous October. As of November 4, 1865, Ballatine was at Richmond, where he anticipated being mustered out within the week. The collection includes a letter from a Union Army major regarding George's case, as well as a printed memorial broadside for members of the 3rd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery Regiment, Battery F.

This collection is made up of 7 letters that Private George H. B. Young wrote to his family while serving with the 26th Ohio Independent Light Artillery Battery in Vicksburg, Mississippi, between April 24, 1864, and September 16, 1864.

This collection is made up of 7 letters that Private George H. B. Young wrote to his family, while serving with the 26th Ohio Independent Light Artillery Battery in Vicksburg, Mississippi, between April 24, 1864, and September 16, 1864.

Young addressed his letters to his parents, George H. and Rebecca Young, and to his brother, Jacob B. Young. He occasionally signed his letters "Hardesty." He described his experiences at Vicksburg during the Union occupation, and recorded his impressions of African Americans and captured Confederate soldiers (April 24, 1864). Young expressed fondness for military life, which he preferred to farm work, and provided details about camp life and the size of his battery. In one letter, he suggested that his brother Jacob ride to Vicksburg to collect his pay, though he anticipated difficulties along the route, such as possible capture by Confederate forces (April 24, 1864). He drew a picture of a person carrying a letter (May 2, 1864), and wrote 3 letters on stationery from the United States Christian Commission.

The Marshall Hilliard diary contains Hilliard's account of his experiences as a non-military prisoner of war of the Confederacy in Mississippi and Alabama, as well as his escape back to Ohio in 1864.

The Marshall Hilliard diary contains brief, near-daily entries covering January 11 to December 31, 1864, with the exception of January 26-March 3, 1864, for which the pages are missing. The bulk of the pocket-sized, 350-page diary documents Hilliard's experiences as a non-military prisoner of the Confederacy in Mississippi and Alabama, as well as his escape from prison at Meridian, Mississippi, and return home to Ohio. The diary opens with brief accounts of Hilliard's activities in the South prior to his capture, including letter writing, several financial transactions, and the arrival of his brother Frank's wife from Yazoo City, Mississippi (January 21, 1864). On January 23, l864, he wrote that he had been arrested near "the Fortifycations," but had eventually received permission to leave. At some point in the spring, likely during the late-winter period not covered by the diary, Confederates again arrested Hilliard and imprisoned him first at Yazoo City, where he was held until he could be transferred west by a steamship (March 17, 1864). He then spent time held in unnamed, likely makeshift prisons in Demopolis and Mobile, Alabama, and Meridian, Mississippi.

During his imprisonment in various locations in the Deep South, Hilliard frequently commented on the food he received and the general conditions in which he and his fellow prisoners lived. He and his friends frequently suffered from food poisoning due to the rottenness of the provisions they received. On May 27, 1864, in a typical entry, he wrote "We drew sour molasses for breakfast and they made me sick all day." On June 8, 1864, he noted that the prisoners had received "very bad beef for breakfast," but he had eaten a small enough amount of it that he avoided becoming sick. On many other days, Hilliard was not so lucky, as his frequent complaints of diarrhea and other digestive ailments bear out. Hilliard described the poor conditions in which he stayed, often noting that the rooms were dirty and cold. On March 15, 1864, he gave an account of staying in a large room with no fire: "Most all of the boys could not sleep at all and had to walk and dance to keep warm." He also remarked about traveling through the rough terrain, which he called worse than the pine woods of California (March 12, 1864).

Hilliard frequently expressed his belief that he would be exchanged soon, and the need became more urgent as he suffered increasing health problems in the spring of 1864. Eventually, he became too impatient to wait longer, and escaped on July 24, 1864, writing in his diary, "I broke out of Prison at Meridian Miss last night at 9 oclock…. We got out under the Posts." He then began a journey to the North that included such adventures as stealing chickens for sustenance (July 26, 1864) and escaping a pack of hounds (July 28, 1864). After more than a week as a fugitive, he encountered Union soldiers and took an oath of loyalty (August 5, 1864), eventually making his way north along water routes, which he described in several entries in August. The volume closes with Hilliard's return to ordinary civilian life, including social visits and church attendance.

The typescript of William Putney's history of Battery I, 2nd Illinois Artillery Regiment, bound and stamped in gold with the title, was presented to the captain of the battery, Charles M. Barnett, as a Christmas gift in 1897. Putney was only the final editor and compiler of the history, which was based on the recollections, letters, and diaries of a number of men in the regiment, with snippets culled from sources as diverse as Sherman's memoirs, reminiscences from soldiers in other regiments, and popular histories.

The typescript of William Putney's history of Battery I, 2nd Illinois Artillery Regiment, bound and stamped in gold with the title, was presented to the captain of the battery, Charles M. Barnett, as a Christmas gift in 1897. Putney was only the final editor and compiler of the history, which was based on the recollections, letters, and diaries of a number of men in the regiment, with snippets culled from sources as diverse as Sherman's memoirs, reminiscences from soldiers in other regiments, and popular histories. The full, and rather complex history of authorship of the volume is discussed in his preface.

In many ways, Putney's narrative is characteristic of the genre of post-war reminiscences, in its selectivity and its tendency to gloss over or reimagine certain events. It is not, however, as thoroughly sanitized as many memoirs, and presents some of the unpleasantries of military service and the war with a surprising freshness. Inclined toward a literary style, Putney balances small, humorous anecdotes, mostly personal in nature, with larger-scale perspectives on the campaigns and conflicts in which the Battery was embroiled. The intrusion of narratives drawn from high ranking officers (such as Gen. Sherman) provides some insight into the average soldier's post-war opinions on what was significant about their experience, but it is the recollections of the minutiae of service, the practical jokes played by soldiers, their everyday coping, that makes Putney's memoir so valuable.

The History of Battery I includes a roster of the battery, with brief notes on the post-war activities of each member. The manuscript maps are probably copies of some printed works rather than recreations from memory. They depict 1) Route of Battery I from 1862 to 1865; 2) military and naval operations about Island No. 10; 3) the last day of the battle of Chickamauga and the route of Battery I; 4) Chattanooga Campaign; 5) the Atlanta Campaign.