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Civil War Resources in Archives and Special Collections

This exhibit includes a sampling of the many published and unpublished sources in Archives and Special Collections relevant to research on the United States Civil War. This material, which documents the lives of soldiers and their families in East Central Indiana before, during and after the war, includes diaries, letters, photographs, memoirs, regimental histories and government records.

Unpublished Civil War era family collections in the Stoeckel Archives include the Fred and Penny Prow Family Collection, the Cassidy-Nelson Family Papers, the Stradling, Ryan, and Tuhey Family Papers, the General William Harrison Kemper Collection, the Frederick Putnam Diaries and the Thomas Neely Diaries. Local church records are an often overlooked source of information on life on the home front. The Unitarian Universalist Church Records, the Church of the Brethren Records, and the First Baptist Church Records all reflect the impact of the war on those at home.

Published sources in the Archives include regimental histories and correspondence, and government records include muster rolls, bounty records, soldiers families request for relief, the veterans enrollments of 1886 and 1894, military expenses, discharge certificates, and material relating to area militia companies. This material provides a glimpse into daily lives of those on the battle front and on the home front during the Civil War.

Philander and Sarah Smith

Philander and Sarah Allee Smith
May 1864 at Indianapolis

The Philander Smith Papers are comprised of an 96-page manuscript diary, dated April 8 to October 12, 1864, 10 letters from him to his wife, 1 letter from another officer to his wife, 3 letters from others to him, 3 documents detailing his Company B equipment, a typed family genealogy showing his place in the family, and 7 photographs (2 of him in uniform) showing him and his wife (PSC 225)

Auld Lang Syne, the Song of the New Year

Song Souvenir of Old War Songs and G.A.R. and Patriotic Songs, 1894

	left: Envelopes to Mrs. Sarah Nelson of Laurel, IN from Derastus Smith dated 1861.

Derastus Nelson survived numerous battles only to be murdered four months after he mustered out. He wrote to his parents on November 2, 1865 to thank them for an American Express of $15.00 and to let know that he planned to leave for Gilman that evening. He also wrote that "I shall write to you often by the way-you need not look for me for some time for I shall not be at home until I can bring some. A Chicago Tribune article reported that the murder took place on the night of November 2nd between Gilman, IL and Onarga, IL. It appears that the accused murderer thought Smith, who worked as a stencil engraver, was a peddler of jewelry.

Civil War era government records include muster rolls, bounty records, soldier's families' request for relief, the veterans enrollments of 1886 and 1894, military expenses, discharge certificates, and material relating to area militia companies.

Bounty certificates were issued to men who volunteered before the final muster. State governments used the bounty system to meet their enrollment quotas without resorting to the draft. Federal, state and local governments paid a total of $600 million dollars in bounties.

Books featured in this exhibit:

Civil war letters of the Gantz Family by Lucille Lussenden, 2002. E601.L977 2002

From Philippi to Appomattox; narrative of the service of the Seventh Indiana Infantry in the war for the Union by Orville Thomson, nd. E506.5 7TH.4

History of the Third Indiana Cavalry by W.N. Pickerill, 1906. E506.6 3RD.P5 1906

Indiana Quakers confront the Civil War by Jacquelyn S. Nelson, 1991. E540.F8 N45 1991

Recollections of a private soldier in the Army of the Potomac by Frank Wilkeson, 1887. E601.W68 1887

A stupendous effort: the 87th Indiana in the War of the Rebellion by Jack K. Overmyer, 1997. E506.5 87TH.O94 1997

Yours in love : Joseph Manson's letters from the War of the Rebellion, 1864-1865 edited by Miriam Doody, 1996. E601.M347 1996

The books are only a sample of the Civil War material in Archives and Special Collections.

The exhibit ran from March to May, 2003.

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