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Civil War Resources in the Norwich Archives: Personal and Family Collections

Overview

The focus of these selections are materials reflecting the personal Civil War experiences of individuals and not necessarily the overall service of NU alumni in the Civil War.

Collections that are not available online are usually described in a linked guide or "finding aid" but otherwise require researchers to visit or contact the Norwich Archives to access.

Personal Papers of Students and Alumni

John Badger Bachelder Papers:

  • 4 folders
  • Includes correspondence relating Bachelder’s impressions as an artist accompanying the Army of the Potomac to family members, 1862-1865.
  • Available online

George Williamson Balloch Papers:

  • 1 Box (.25 linear feet)
  • Includes memoirs, autobiographical sketches, and drafts of two speeches: “How an Army is Fed” and “General Harrison as a Soldier,” reflecting Balloch’s experiences as commissary of subsistence under General Oliver Otis Howard during the Civil War. Also contains limited correspondence (3 items) written while Balloch served as chief disbursing officer of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
  • Civil War materials in the collection are available online

William Strong Dewey Papers:

  • 5 folders
  • Contains compositions, grade reports, letters, and other papers reflecting William Strong Dewey’s experiences as a cadet at Norwich University, 1860-1863. Also included is his 1862 discharge from the 7th Squadron Rhode Island Cavalry ("College Cavaliers") and a brief history of the unit.
  • Collection is not available online

Charles Arthur Hoyt Letters:

  • 1 folder
  • Consists of letters between Norwich University student, Charles Hoyt, and his parents in Deerfield, Massachusetts, ca. 1861-1863.
  • Available online

Charles Nelson Kent Papers:

  • 1 item
  • After-action report summarizing Kent’s service with the Norwich University Corps of Cadets at Newport, Vermont, following the St. Albans Raid in October 1864.
  • Available online

Oscar Eugene Learnard Papers:

  • 4 folders
  • Scrapbook assembled of letters, ephemera, photographs, newspaper articles, and clippings documenting Oscar Learnard’s life from his education in Vermont through his experiences in Kansas before and during the Civil War.
  • Collection is not available online

Charles Hildreth Lewis Papers:

  • 3 boxes (3 linear feet)
  • Contains correspondence and papers overlapping with Charles Lewis' service with the 16th United States Infantry in the Civil War, ca. 1861-1864. Due to the fragile condition of much of the collection, additional advance notice may be required for researchers to access and handle materials.
  • Collection is not available online

Collection on the Truman Bishop Ransom Family:

  • 1 box (1 linear foot)
  • Includes copies of pension claim records, correspondence with former university historians, and other records containing biographical and military service information on the sons of Truman Bishop Ransom, particularly Thomas E. G. Ransom’s Civil War service.
  • Collection is not available online

Collection on Edmund Rice:

  • 1 box (.5 linear feet)
  • Contains articles, news clippings, correspondence, and other primary and secondary sources assembled by researchers interested in Edmund Rice and his military service in the Civil War.
  • Collection is not available online

Edward Bancroft Williston Memoir:

  • 1 box (.5 linear feet)
  • Manuscript volume (288 pages), created ca. 1897, with content that is a cross between a memoir, scrapbook, and photograph album focused on Williston’s Civil War career and post-war military service.
  • Collection is not available online

9th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment Correspondence:

  • 1 Volume
  • Ledger containing transcriptions of official correspondence sent and received by Lieutenant Colonel Edgar A. Kimball (NU Class of 1844) or the 9th New York Volunteers more generally from July 1861- December 1862. Also related broadside, “To the veterans of the late war,” by members of the 9th Regiment, New York Volunteers.
  • Collection is not available online

Personal Papers of Faculty, Staff, and Others

Allan Danvers Brown Papers:

  • 2 boxes (1.25 linear feet)
  • Contains a scrapbook of naval orders, commissions, and official correspondence reflecting Brown’s naval career starting during the Civil War and continuing through his retirement from the U.S. Navy in 1891. Also includes excerpts transcribed from personal correspondence between Brown and his wife, Gertrude Tyler Brown, 1863-1878.
  • The excerpts transcribed from letters between Allan Danvers Brown and Gertrude Tyler Brown are available online

Loring Chase Letter:

  • 1 item
  • Undated letter written by Loring Chase of Peacham, Vermont, to his brother during the Civil War.
  • Available online

Augustus A. Decelle Papers:

  • 1 folder
  • Photocopied letters written by Augustus Decelle to his mother while serving as Captain of Company K, 2nd Vermont Regiment, ca. 1864-1865. Also includes other papers associated with his Civil War service. Copied from originals in private hands.
  • Collection is not available online

James Evans Memoirs:

  • 1 folder
  • Manuscript memoir (33 pages), “Jimmie Evans’s Camp-fire, or Fifteen Months in Rebel Prisons,” narrating Evans’ capture at the Battle of Chickamauga on 20 September 1863 and fifteen months as a prisoner of war in Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina.
  • Available online

George B. Fisher Papers:

  • 2 folders 
  • Includes papers, photograph, and pocket Bible, from the Civil War service of George B. Fisher in the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. 
  • Available online

Albert H. Gallatin Letters:

  • 1 Volume
  • Six photocopied letters reflecting the experiences of faculty member, Albert H. Gallatin, at Norwich University in February and March 1864. Copied from original letters at the New York Historical Society.
  • Collection is not available online

John Henry Hopkins Letter:

  • 1 item
  • Letter from John Henry Hopkins to Nahum Capen on 16 October 1863, in which Hopkins defends the right of the southern states to secede from the Union.
  • Available online

Alonzo Jackman Papers:

  • 1 Box (1 linear foot) 
  • Includes two letters and a record book with orders, rosters, and journal entries relating to the Vermont militia, 1859-1862, and Jackman’s role in organizing volunteer regiments for service in the Civil War.
  • Civil War materials in the collection are not available online

Alden Partridge Records:

  • 19 boxes and 32 volumes (24 linear feet)
  • Collection contains personal papers of Alden Partridge's son, Henry Villiers Partridge, including miscellaneous and Civil War papers (1 folder) from his time as captain of Company H, 39th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (10th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment) and family photographs from the 1860s.
  • Henry Partridge's Civil War papers are not available online

Benjamin F. Shepard Letter:

  • 1 item
  • Civil War letter from Benjamin Shepard of Company I, 11th Vermont Volunteer Infantry, to his uncle, 3 November 1862.
  • Available online

Charles E. Shepard Letter:

  • 1 item
  • Civil War letter from Charles Shepard of Brattleboro, Vermont, to family on 8 October 1862.
  • Available online

Doran H. Stearns Letter:

  • 1 item
  • Civil War letter describing the Battle of Hanover Court House, written by Doran Harding Stearns (1st United States Sharpshooters) to his sister, 31 May 1862.
  • Available online

Frank Tompkins Papers:

  • 2 boxes (2 linear feet)
  • Collection of personal and family papers of a former Norwich commandant containing commissions, diary, and other papers from the Civil War service of his father, Charles Henry Tompkins (1830-1915), particularly as colonel of the 1st Vermont Cavalry, April-September 1862.
  • 1862 diary is available online