Civil War Finding Aids

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MS-074: Thomas B. McGaffick, Co. F, 101st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Christopher M. Gwinn

The letters of Thomas B. McGaffick, a corporal in Company F of the 101st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry range in date from January 19th, 1861 to February 11, 1863. The collection contains twenty two pieces of correspondence, including two fragments of letters along with a number of official documents relating to McGaffick’s discharge from the army. The letters are all addressed to members of Thomas’s family, including his sisters Belle and Mary, his brother Benjamin and his parents. The letters address a variety of subjects ranging from the rigors of army life to McGaffick’s constant battle with his own health. Thomas rarely received enough correspondence to keep him satisfied and was constantly after family members to write more. He described his thoughts on General McClellan, his desire to return home and the various women to whom he wrote during the conflict. Also of interest is McGaffick’s view towards the African Americans he encountered while in the south. “If I thought I was fighting to free the niggers I would go home and let and let Lincoln fight it out himself.”

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-075: Henry W. Siebert, Company E, 16th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry

Christopher M. Gwinn

The Henry W. Siebert journals, of which there are two, cover the years 1863 and 1865 respectively. The journals themselves are leather bound notebooks closed with straps, the whole measuring 3 inches by 6 inches. The 1863 volume numbers 90 pages, with entries for every day. The 1865 diary numbers 150 pages and has entries for January 1, 1865 through May 24, 1865. The entries are generally short in nature, not exceeding a paragraph in length. The text is normally limited to a discussion of the morning weather, general activity of the day and the geographic location reached by nightfall. A number of battles are mentioned, including Chancellorsville, Aldie, Upperville, Gettysburg, Petersburg and Appomattox.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-076: George C. Wynkoop, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Dept. of Pennsylvania

Christopher M. Gwinn

This collection consists of records from George Wynkoop’s service as a Brigadier General in the three month Pennsylvania Volunteers. Over three hundred pieces of correspondence, orders, forms, and daily reports make up the collection. The correspondence and reports come from a variety of locals at which the Department of Pennsylvania set up camp. Locations include Camp Scott and Camp Chambers, Pennsylvania, Hagerstown, Maryland and Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (Today West Virginia).

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-078: John B. Young, Company H, Pennsylvania 5th Heavy Artillery Regiment

Amy Sanderson

This collection contains the diary of John B. Young from October 30, 1864 to May 20, 1865, mainly commenting on the day to day happenings in his regiment during the winter picket post and guard duty. Entries include daily comments on the weather and the pace of work. Some entries include mention of men captured by rebels, rebel deserters/prisoners, and the progress and frustrations of building the stockades with some comments regarding the African Americans who worked with the timber train.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-079: Captain Benjamin F. Lee Collection regarding 28th Pennsylvania Infantry and John W. Geary

Amy Sanderson

The Benjamin F. Lee Collection consists of three series which contain documents relating to requisitions by the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry and correspondence of Lee and John W. Geary between themselves and various other individuals.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-093: John Henry Wilbrand Stuckenberg Papers

Tara R. Wink

The John Henry Wilbrand Stuckenberg collection consists of materials relating to the life and works of J.H.W. and Mary Gingrich Stuckenberg. This material includes correspondence, publications, articles, newspaper clippings, and personal papers—such as diaries, biographical material, and photographs of both J.H.W. and Mary Gingrich Stuckenberg.
MS-096: John W. Miner Letters

Matthew R. Gross

This collections includes the letters of John W. Miner to his wife Anna throughout his service in the Civil War with the 7th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry at Petersburg, Virginia and his service in the 4th US Cavalry at Fort Griffin, Texas. Miner’s letters are most valuable when used as a tool to study the perceptions of the Civil War soldier regarding battles and national events.
MS-100: Reuel Williams Waters, 1st Battalion, Maine Light Artillery, 6th Maine Battery

Chelsea M. Bucklin

This collection consists of three letters and a twenty-two page diary penned by Reuel Williams Waters. The letters are written by Waters to his sisters. Additionally, a photograph of Reuel Waters, several newspaper clippings concerning members of Waters’ family and reunions of the 6th Maine Battery, letters penned by Waters’ mother and sister-in-law after the war, and notes concerning Waters and Bentley (Waters’ wife Emily Bentley) family genealogy are included in this collection.
MS-105: John L. Barry Civil War Letters

Kate Boeree

This collection contains 47 letters, 37 of which are written by John L. Barry during his time in the Civil War between 20 June 1861 and 7 June 1862. The letters are written to his family in Dunkirk, New York, addressing his mother, father, sister Ellen, and brother Robert.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-107: Michael Jacobs Collection

Katherine Downton

The collection consists primarily of letters about the publishing, distribution, and sale of Michael Jacobs’ book Notes on the Rebel Invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania and the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 1863 (J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1864) from sales agents, his publisher, family members, and other individuals interested in the book. The letters date from September 22, 1863 – March 4, 1864. They were later transcribed with a typewriter and the transcriptions are included. Other items in the collection include lecture notes and other notes about the battle (partially transcribed), a photograph of Michael Jacobs, biographical information, testimonials and promotional materials about the book, and a later edition of the book (4th edition, revised, published by “Star and Sentinel” Printer, 1884).

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-116: 1864 Diary of Corporal Robert Ridge

Thomas P. Lester

The diary contains information on the activities of Robert Ridge during 1864, and the first two months of 1865. It contains daily entries, list of proverbs, important events and dates, mail sent, mail received, members of Company B 95th Illinois Volunteers, money sent home, clothing acquired, addresses, rations, and Army Corps commanders.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-125: Samuel E. and Clara Turner Papers, 1861-1865

Devin McKinney

This collection consists of 10 dated letters and one undated letter fragment, all written by either Samuel Epes Turner or Clarinda (“Clara”) Turner of Baltimore, Maryland, to their cousins Mary Holyoke (Ward) Nichols and Mehitable Ward of Salem, Massachusetts, between April 29, 1861, and January 13, 1865.

The letters include the Turners’ firsthand impressions of Baltimore’s historic anti-Union riot of April 19, 1861; reflections on other events of the Civil War, local, regional, and national; statements of their own pro-Union and abolitionist views; responses to the secessionist sentiment prevalent within the city; and discussions of family matters, finances, church business, mutual acquaintances, etc.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-129: Burlew Letters

Rachel B. Hammer

This collection consists of letter written between Aaron E. Burlew, John W. Burlew, and Carrie Burlew, all siblings from Atkinsons Mills, Pennsylvania, during the Civil War.
MS-133: John F. Kent Collection, Company D, New York First Cavalry Regiment

Julia D. Marshella

The John F. Kent Collection contains two manuscript diaries of his experiences during the Civil War. The first was written in 1862, the second in 1863. The entries are brief and mention battles in passing, casualties and skirmishes with the rebels. There are 16 letters, one to his parents during the war, 9 between Helen Lund and her sister Francesca, and six between John Kent and Caroline Kitchel about purchasing plots of land in a cemetery. There are assorted documents, ranging from Kent’s father’s naturalization certificate, to recipes, to pension certificates. There are nine photographs, six that are mounted, and three that are in small cases, ranging from portraits to group photos. It also contains Kent’s Grand Army of the Republic Veteran kerchief.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-150: Battle of Gettysburg 150th Commemoration Collection

Chelsea M. Bucklin, Bryan G. Caswell, and Amy E. Lucadamo

This collection contains physical items and documents as well as digital resources. It seeks to preserve the course and experience of the commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and other related historical events. The documents and publications contained within the collection not only record the many commemorative events that were held over a two-year period but also how those events progressed. Detailed coverage in the form of DVDs has been collected of many events, while the outline of many more has been captured through the compilation of their programs and other event information. Much of the official battle reenactment has been recorded in an extensive array of digital photographs, and the guides provided for and used by visitors demonstrate the resources available to assist in choosing which of the dazzling array of events to attend. The collection of artifacts and memorabilia serves as but a sample of the all that was available to the public to obtain from the commemoration, and thus offers a glimpse into how some may themselves remember the Sesquicentennial festivities in years to come.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-161: Ellen Wild Letters

Savannah G. Rose

The Ellen Wild Letters Collection contains 21 letters, primarily featuring letters written in 1862 to 1865. The majority of the letters come from 1862, but several also come from her time following the Civil War. The letters recount Mrs. Wild’s time during the Civil War, waiting for news from her husband as well as surviving on the home front. She recounts Edward Wild’s adventures during the war, his life in camp, and his numerous woundings and ailments. Mrs. Wild discusses her husband’s involvement in North Carolina as well as with the free African Americans. She briefly mentions the Battle of Gettysburg and defends Joseph Hooker’s actions at the Battle of Chancellorsville. She gives her opinion about how the Civil War could be ended; saying that all that was required was the defeat of Robert E. Lee. In 1864, she follows Edward, taking residence in Norfolk, Virginia while her husband reports to Benjamin Butler. Mrs. Wild comments on Butler’s actions during this period of the war, and makes short mention of the battles occurring around Petersburg and Richmond. She continues to write about Edward Wild’s service in the American Army, noting his actions in Virginia as well as his state of mind during the late stages of the war.

Following the American Civil War, letters from 1891 and 1892 recount Mr. Wild’s life during Reconstruction in Massachusetts. The letters pick up just a few months after Edward’s death, with many recounting the decisions Mrs. Wild had to make for herself as well as the struggles of living without her husband. She must decide what to do with the body of her husband as well as locating and processing his will to receive his estate. The will had been lost in Canada, and her letters recount her finding it once more with the help of her friends and Edward’s wartime contemporaries. Throughout these years, she is very ill, weak and fragile in the aftermath of her husband’s death. She also is taking care of her cousin Katy Wild, who is slowly dying of Pancreas cancer. Mrs. Wild goes into detail in almost every letter about Katy’s condition, with the series of letters ending before Katy passes. This group of letters talks about life after the Civil War and the affects Mrs. Wild can still see from it, even from the state of Massachusetts.

Many years are missing in the series, including everything from 1866 to 1890. Several letters from each year are missing as well, and there is no continual narrative throughout. There are no replies back to Ellen Wild, just the letters written by her but she manages to answer many of the questions raised in a previous letter.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-162: Col. William Brisbane Papers

Bryan G. Caswell

The Col. William Brisbane Papers consist of 133 documents covering a span of thirty-three years, from 1858 to 1891, with the bulk of these springing from Brisbane’s service in the American Civil War from 1861 to 1863. The early documents of the collection illustrate Brisbane’s personal service, containing such items as his own commission and discharge papers for the Pennsylvania Volunteers as well as an invitation to dinner at the house of his brigade commander, Winfield Scott Hancock.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-167: Hiram Parker Jr. Letters

Rachel B. Hammer

There are 52 letters total in the collection spanning from 1862-1874. The bulk of the letters are written by Hiram most of which are to his father, mother Mary Sparks. However, there are a couple to another member of the Sparks family and a few other friends. Six are letters written to Hiram from his friends and the collection also includes 12 handwritten and printed reports on the construction of the gunboat Tacony. Hiram’s letters are very detailed (some of his letters are over a dozen pages), and he wrote to people very often even adding on to some letters after he originally finished writing them. Many of the letters still have their original envelopes with them.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-176: Hoadley George Hosford, 44th New York Papers

Steven J. Semmel

This collection consists of diary entries spanning three years of Hoadley G. Hosford’s enlistment in the 44th New York and a brief time in the 146th New York and the 1st Division Sharpshooters during the Civil War. The entries give details about what camp life was like, the experience of battle, and the distance a Union soldier would march in the Eastern Theater during the war.
MS-181: Papers of Aaron Andrews (Andreas), 16th PA Cav., Co. E

Steven J. Semmel

The collection contains 31 letters from Aaron Andrews (Andreas) to his wife over a 3 year span during the war (1862 to 1865). Andrews was a Pennsylvania merchant from Luzerne County who enlisted in the army in August 1862. He followed his unit through the Eastern Theater, and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant before mustering out in August, 1865. The collection also contains biographical information done by a family member, census records, and marriage records. Each letter is accompanied by a typewriter transcription by the same family member.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.
MS-225: Joshua Blake Civil War Naval Journal

Laurel J. Wilson

In this journal, Blake details his experiences aboard the USS Preble, which was one of the ships that were deployed to the Gulf Coast as part of the Eastern Gulf Blockading Squadron. His time on the USS Preble is detailed in the first 41 pages of the journal. On page 46, Blake switches to detailing his time aboard the USS Augusta from 1866-67, and also details his 1869 passage to Genoa aboard a ship called the Magdalene. On page 132, Blake switches back to 1862, detailing his two months aboard the USS Connecticut. A possible explanation for this pattern of date jumps may be that Blake stopped using this journal at the end of his time on the USS Preble and began using a different journal to document his experiences in 1862. He eventually resumed using this journal to document later voyages, and may have decided to re-copy the contents of his 1862 journal into this journal in order to consolidate the two. Blake includes small drawings of anchors in the margins next to some of his entries. He has also pasted newspaper clippings into the journal, as well as a photo of his wife Lizzie inside the front cover. Also included are Blake’s orders to report aboard the USS Preble as Captain’s Clerk and his orders from the Preble’s surgeon sending him north with Capt. French.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.