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Wall Family Papers (Sc 1094), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1094. Documents mainly of Wall family members of Cynthiana (Harrison County), Kentucky, and Dallas, Texas. The family correspondence includes three Civil War era letters. The financial receipts include one for the cost of an 1841 servant’s coffin.

Coombs Family Collection (Mss 349), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 349. Correspondence, photographs, business records and miscellaneous papers of the Coombs, Robertson and related families of Warren and Simpson counties in Kentucky and of Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. Includes correspondence, personal papers and research of Elizabeth Robertson Coombs, librarian at the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University. Several documents from this collection have been scanned are available for viewing by clicking on the "Additional Files" below.

Civil War, 1861-1865 - Draft (Sc 1090), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1090. Commutation money receipt given to Henry J. McLean, Owensboro, Kentucky. McLean, a colonel drafted into the Union army from Kentucky’s 2nd Congressional District, paid $300 to receive a discharge from further liability for the draft. Receipt signed by George D. Blakey.

Simons, J. R. (Sc 1092), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid, scans and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1092. Three letters, June-December 1863, from J. R. Simons, serving with the Union army near Vicksburg, Mississippi, to his cousins Harriet and Nancy Trout, Elkton, Todd County, Kentucky. He describes the fighting at Vicksburg as well as conditions before and after the battle.

Burch, James W., B. 1808? (Sc 1088), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1088. Letter, 23 November 1862, written by Burch, Henry County, Tennessee to his brother, Benjamin D. Burch, relating the economic impact of the war and describing guerrilla activities in his home area. Includes photo of Burch and his wife.

July 3, 2013 Reflection: A Chance Encounter, Ian A. Isherwood

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

In a July 4 letter to his father-in-law, General Alexander Hays expressed reserve. “Yesterday was a warm one for us,” he wrote. “The fight of my division was a perfect success […] We are all sanguine of ridding our soil of the invaders.”

The “perfect success” for Hays was his command’s role in the repulse of Pettigrew’s division in what has become known as Pickett’s Charge. It was an unquestionable victory for his division and the Army of the Potomac. Yet Alex Hays’s matter-of-fact letter was not buoyant with the egoism so easily ascribed to generals after their victories. Hays …

“A Great Weight At My Heart:” A Personal Reaction To Pickett’S Charge, Rebekah N. Oakes

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

“When our great victory was just over the exultation of victory was so great that one didn’t think of our fearful losses, but now I can’t help feeling a great weight at my heart. Poor Henry Ropes was one of the dearest friends I ever had or expect to have. He was one of the purest-minded, noblest, most generous men I ever knew. His loss is terrible. His men actually wept when they showed me his body, even under the tremendous cannonade, a time when most soldiers see their comrades dying around them with indifference.”

When twenty-one year old Henry …

A New Birth Of Freedom, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

The president of the United States had been more than usually agitated ever since the news of a major collision of the Union and Confederate armies around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, first flew along the telegraph wires to the War Department on July 1, 1863. For days, he was clouded with “sadness and despondency” until the message arrived, announcing a great victory for the Union. That was followed almost at once by news from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles: another dispatch had come in, “communicating the fall of Vicksburg [Mississippi] on the fourth of July.” At once, Abraham Lincoln’s mood changed, …

Mad Dan, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Did Daniel Sickles, the Union's most notorious general, save the day for the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg? That's exactly what he wanted you to believe.

Gettysburg College & The Battle Of Gettysburg: A Civil War Walking Tour, John M. Rudy '07

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Originally compiled by John Rudy as a student project in 2007 at Gettysburg College, this new, revised edition of the Civil War Walking Tour booklet guides a visitor on a truly unique campus tour. Visitors can walk among buildings from the war era and learn how they were pressed into service during and after the Battle of Gettysburg. Likewise, many college figures such as President Henry Baugher, John "Jack" Hopkins (janitor), and many students are part of this complex and heroic story of Pennsylvania College's story in July 1863.

George Meade’S Mixed Legacy, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

George Gordon Meade was 47 years old the morning of June 28, 1863, when command of the Army of the Potomac was unceremoniously dumped into his lap by General in Chief Henry Hallcck, and there is no reason to doubt Meade's protest that the move rendered him the most surprised man in the entire Union Army. Meade had never wanted to be a soldier in the first place, much less take direction of an army that at that moment was facing perhaps its most daunting challenge. But compared to his immediate predecessors, Maj. Gens. Ambrose Burnside and Joseph Hooker, what …

Civil War, 1861-1865 - Military Life (Sc 1029), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1029. Undated letter written by "Tom," from Headquarters of the 1st Regiment, to his father. He discusses the conditions and lack of food within the camp. The location of the camp is unknown.

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter (May 2013), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Dumarey?, J. R. (Sc 1017), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text scan of transcription (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1017. Civil War letter written by J. R. DuMarey?, Lexington, Kentucky, to his father in Delta (Fulton County, Ohio), relating camp news. Mentions an owner reclaiming his enslaved African American who had been working for one of the army captains.

J. W. Cardwell & Company (Sc 2702), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2702. Blank agreements for the services of J.W. Cardwell & Company to procure contracts and make out claims of sundry persons for slaves in the military service of the United States. Includes the terms of compensation. One agreement is undated; the other is dated 1865 and references claims to be made in Warren County, Kentucky.

Civil War, 1861-1965 - Military Service (Sc 2703), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2703. Circuit judge’s order, affidavit and statement relating to applications for discharge or exemption from military service in the U. S. Army. An underaged apprentice is discharged for enlisting without the consent of his master, one of three sons seeks exemption to care for aged parents, and an unnamed officer seeks a discharge due to poor health.

Bowles, Orlando Charles, 1839-1896 (Mss 455), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 455. Correspondence, accounts, land surveys, and miscellaneous business and legal papers of Orlando C. Bowles, a Civil War veteran, lawyer, farmer, and timber trader of Pike County, Kentucky. Includes some material relating to the Cecil family of Floyd and Pike counties.

Smith, Charles Ferguson, 1807-1862 (Sc 1011), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1011. General Order Number 32, 11 November 1861, issued at Paducah, Kentucky, by Brigadier General Charles Ferguson Smith. Order contains reports of the troops under the command of Brigadier General Eleazer Arthur Paine that had recently marched to Milburn, Kentucky. They are described as a “mere armed mob” and reprimanded for looting. Includes data about Smith.

Fox-Walthall Letters (Sc 1007), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only and scan (Click on "additional files" below) Manuscripts Small Collection 1007. Family letters of the Fox and Walthall families, chiefly of Mildred P. (Walthall), Joseph, Rachel M. and William S. Fox of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. The collection includes family correspondence, Civil War letters, 1861-1862 (34), and courtship letters.

Carter, Chillon Conway, 1830-1891 (Mss 112), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescripts of selected material for Manuscripts Collection 112. Correspondence, chiefly written by Monroe County, Kentucky native Chillon Conway Carter, to his wife, Lucinda E. and his two daughters Nancy G. and Louisa A., during the Civil War. Also includes letters written to Carter by his brother, John B. Carter, who lived in White County, Illinois.

Clark, William T. (Sc 939), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 939. Letter, 28 November 1861, written by William T. Clark, Camp Nolin, Hardin County, Kentucky, to his aunt, Elisabeth Thompson, East Nottingham, Pennsylvania. He describes the setting up and moving out of a camp; estimates there are about 40,000 to 50,000 troops in the area; and mentions Simon Bolivar Buckner’s presence in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Barren County, Kentucky - History (Sc 930), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 930. Notes related to the early history of Barren County, Kentucky, and the establishment of the county seat, Glasgow. Also, copy of the record of the organizational meeting of Barren County’s Confederate Aid Society, 8 June 1872. Includes a list of the veterans and citizens who joined that day.

Dean, Jefferson, 1824-1864 (Sc 941), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 941. Civil War letters (5), by Tennessee Confederate Jefferson Dean, to his wife, Sophia. His regiment was stationed in southeastern Kentucky, then Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He describes his company’s activities in preparation for the Battle of Mill Springs and with Felix Zollicoffer’s forces at Johnson’s Island, where he died. Other items include war records and photographs concerning Dean and Johnson’s Island cemetery.

Gunnon, John (Sc 948), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 948. Pension certificate issued to John Gunnon, a private in Company F, 34th Regiment, Kentucky Volunteers. Dated 28 January 1883, the certificate awards $4.00 per month to Gunnon commencing on 28 March 1865, and $6.00 per month from 22 March 1882, the pension being “for piles.”

Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864 - Relating To (Sc 952), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 952. Photocopy of script (31 p.) used from radio program “Our America” broadcast on WLW Cincinnati about John Hunt Morgan. Also original letter regarding script.

Hagerman Family Papers (Sc 2693), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2693. Enlistment papers signed by Lee Hagerman and Perry Hagerman at Bowling Green, Kentucky on 19 June 1864 for three years’ service in the United States Colored Volunteers. The papers were prepared by Captain A. G. Hobson and furnished to Mrs. Ruth Hagerman as owner of the services of the recruits.

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter (April 2013), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Civil War, 1861-1865 - Letters (Sc 956), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 956. Letters, 1861-1864 (3), written by three soldiers from Indiana. Two are stationed in Virginia and describe recent battles and camp life. The letter writer from 1864 speculates that the war is almost over and describes Raleigh, North Carolina, and military affairs there.

King, Stephen Lynn, B. 1954 (Mss 110), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 110. Correspondence, 1994-1997 (31); lists of Confederate soldiers in Bowling Green, Kentucky; and research materials, 1861-1997 (46); used by King in writing his book Confederate Dead at Bowling Green, Kentucky and Vicinity, 1997.

Schenck, William T. Y., 1844-1904 (Sc 2690), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of letter (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2690. Letter, 22 March 1866, to a newspaper editor from Captain William Schenck, encamped near Bowling Green, Kentucky with the 119th Regiment, U.S. Colored Infantry. He denies the editor’s claim that an outbreak of smallpox in the town was attributable to “careless Negro soldiers” and describes the measures taken to control the disease among his troops.