Civil War Manuscripts ProjectAlphabetical Name list O - P |
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A-B || C || D || E-F || G-H || I-J || K-L || M-N || O-P || Q-R || S-T || U-V || W-X || Y-Z |
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Photocopies of letters written to his cousin,
Mary Walker, 1861 May 20-1865 June 7; enlistment and
pension papers and death certificate. O’Brien
enlisted and was mustered-in a Private, Company F, on 23
May 1861. He was promoted Corporal on 14 April 1862 and
Sergeant on 10 June 1863. He was promoted to First
Sergeant on 24 August 1863 and to Second Lieutenant,
Company A, on 29 December 1863. O’Brien was promoted
to First Lieutenant, Company M, on 8 November 1864. He
was transferred to Company I on 19 December 1864 and was
breveted Captain on 9 April 1865. He was mustered-out on
25 September 1865. The First Connecticut Heavy Artillery
was originally designated the Fourth Connecticut
Infantry. The collection also contains detailed
information taken from his compiled military service
record in the National Archives. O’Brien was born in
Ireland. |
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Three letters from near Petersburg and Fort
Darling, VA, to his mother and sister. O’Sullivan
enlisted and was mustered-in on 16 December 1863. He was
mustered-out on 25 September 1865. On 14 March 1865 he
writes, "There were a great many deserters came in
in fact they are coming in every night it is impossible
for them to hold out much longer." |
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P
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Diary. The front pocket of Paddock’s
diary holds an envelope, made from letterhead from the
Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind in Raleigh, NC,
and which bears two five-cent Confederate stamps. Inside
the envelope is a manuscript Confederate poem. In the
back pocket of the diary is a newsprint copy of the
Emancipation Proclamation and two small pieces of cloth,
one a deep orange and the other a dark blue. Paddock, an unmarried clerk,
enlisted on 4 September 1861 and was mustered-in on 6
September 1861. He was wounded in action at the battle of
Olustee on 20 February 1864 and was captured at Bermuda
Hundred, VA, on 2 June 1864. Paddock was discharged on 12
September 1864. He was in the meat market business with
his father and was reportedly the first to introduce
"refridgerator" beef to Meriden. Later, Paddock
removed to Jackson, MN, where he acquired large real
estate holdings. |
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Correspondence and papers including letters to
his friends and family from Thibodeaux, LA; Winchester,
VA; and Augusta, GA. Some correspondents include Fannie
A. Rollins, Nellie Blood, John Gideon Palmer, Estelle
Darrow (1868-1897, his future wife), cousin
"Libby," sister Arabella Palmer (b.1849),
brother Frank Loomis Palmer (b. 1851), brother Edward A.
Palmer (b. 1843, Edward served as a private soldier,
Company K, 11th Rhode Island Infantry, from October 1862
- July 1863), father Elisha H. Palmer (1814-1895) and
mother Ellis Chapel Palmer (1822-1893). Palmer, a farmer, enlisted
at age sixteen on 3 January 1862 and was mustered-in a
Private, Company D, on 7 January 1862. He was promoted
Corporal on 1 November 1864 and was transferred to
Company B on 29 December 1864. He was appointed Hospital
Steward on 13 February 1865 and was mustered-out on 25
April 1866. The collection also contains obituary notices
and pension and service records of his brother, Elisha
Loomis Palmer (1840-1912), who served with the 57th
(Company I) and 61st (Company G) New York Infantry
regiments. Collection also includes a Book of Psalms
(New York: American Bible Society, 1860) and a file
containing genealogical information. This is a very
large, complex and interwoven family collection. |
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Correspondence, ca. 550 items. The entire collection documents the Parker family from 1776-1880 and includes the letters of sea captain Timothy Parker (ca. 1736-1797), 1776-1796; however, only those materials pertaining to Timothy Parker's Civil War service were analyzed. Sergeant Parker enlisted on 23 July 1862 and was mustered-in a private on 18 August 1862. He was promoted to Corporal on 6 November 1862 and was appointed Commissary Sergeant on 9 November 1862. Parker was captured at Winchester, VA, on 15 June 1863 (parole not recorded) and was mustered-out on 27 June 1865. The collection also includes some Parker genealogy, military songsters, a photograph of Parker, age 28 (ca. 1864), in military uniform and several photographs of young women friends (Mollie F. Kerney, Fannie Doll and Rose Billmire) he met while stationed in Martinsburg, WV. Also included is ephemera pertaining to the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and Hospital in Philadelphia (small folded card, 4 pp., ca.May 1864) and to a lecture by Rev. V. A. Cooper, Chaplain of Parker's regiment, delivered 28 January 1863, probably in Martinsburg. The collection also includes obituaries and letters written to Parker's second wife, Clementine E. Moseley, upon Timothy's death in May 1905, one of which is from the Norwich GAR, Post Number One. |
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Peck, H. E. Letter, 1 p., to Major Foster, Chief of the
Bureau of Colored Soldiers, Washington, DC, recommending
John S. Might, then of Company F, 103rd Ohio Infantry,
for an appointment. Peck was a professor at Oberlin
College. |
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Peck, Tracy (1838-1921) Letters to Tracy Peck: 1856 September 9, from
"Beckwith"; 1860 March 24, from sister Kezia
Peck, which speaks of the organization of the Wide
Awakes; and 1863 July 5, from brother Josiah Peck to
Tracy, then in Paris, which tells of Vicksburg and the
Confederate army in Pennsylvania. A cousin, Richard, was
serving with the 25th Connecticut Infantry, then at Port
Hudson, LA. Josiah mentions the death of Charles Cook
(25th Connecticut Volunteers), Henry Wright and John
Francis, all Bristol boys. Letter also mentions brother
Lt. Henry A. Peck (later Captain), 10th Connecticut
Volunteers, at Seabrook Island. Relays opinion on Lincoln
and his Cabinet's management of the war. Josiah writes
that Copperheads discourage enlistments and encourage
desertion and disloyalty. He notes that General Meade,
recently appointed to the command of the Army of the
Potomac, was pushing his army forward. Finally, Josiah
tells his brother that Kennie Bronson, a Lieutenant in
the 23rd Connecticut Infantry at New Orleans, is ill.
Tracy was a Yale graduate (valedictorian of the Class of
1861) and Yale's published Obituary Record contains more
information on the family, the life and the career of
Tracy Peck. |
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Papers and correspondence. Pelton, an unmarried printer, enlisted on
4 September 1862 and was mustered-in on 18 November 1862.
He was mustered-out of his nine-months unit on 30
September 1863. He served six months detached service as
a printer at General Auger’s headquarters at Baton
Rouge and Port Hudson, LA. Collection includes
Pelton’s Corporal’s commission; military pass
dated 7 June 1863; descriptive list dated 29 January 1863
wherein Pelton is described as 19 years old and 5 feet 9
inches tall; letters from his father, C. H. Pelton, dated
8 February, which tells of brother John’s First
Lieutenant’s commission in the 14th Connecticut
Infantry, and 27 April 1863; Letter from Kate, his future
wife, dated 22 February 1863, "wonder if it’s
wicked to write letters on Sunday, don’t believe it
is to soldiers. . ."; and broadside "Roll of
Honor" containing the names of soldiers from
Middletown who died in service during the war. |
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Letter to his wife from Miner’s Hill, VA.
Phelps, a merchant, enlisted on 2 September 1862 and was mustered-in
on 20 September 1862. He was mustered-out of his
nine-months unit on 7 July 1863. A nice letter which
enclosed money for the Soldiers’ Wives of Windsor
fund. He writes of how difficult it was to leave his
family and mentions Private Norris Griswold’s
[Company A] broken arm, insinuating the break may not
have been accidental. |
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Diary (1863), letters, photograph and
military papers. Phillips, an unmarried machinist, enlisted on 28 July 1862 and
was mustered-in a Private on 28 August 1862. He was
promoted Corporal on 1 October 1862 and was wounded and
captured at Chancellorsville on 2 May 1863. He was
paroled on 15 May 1863 and was taken very ill to
Washington, DC’s, Armory Square Hospital on 14 June
1863. He was transferred to Portsmouth Grove Hospital
(Lovell General Hospital), RI, on 7 July 1863, but ran
away from this hospital on 13 August 1863. He returned to
the hospital on 28 August 1863 and was placed under
arrest in his ward. He writes of using opium to ease his
pain. He received a disability discharge on 29 June 1865.
Collection includes six passes given to Phillips as
"Coxswain" of the mail barge and as clerk in
the Quartermaster’s Department, Fort Wood, New York
Harbor, December 1864-June 1865; two letters, 24 November
and 20 December 1863, to Emma A. Krinks, written while
convalescing at Portsmouth Grove Hospital from a wound
received at Chancellorsville; his 1863 diary was only
sporadically kept and seems to contain entries of a later
date. On 30 April 1863 he wrote, "marched at 10 on
the Fredricksburg Plank Road marched 14 miles to
Chancellorsville & halted for the night. Many of the
boys suffered severely from blistered feet." |
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Pierce, George E. Letters, 1861-1864, to Henry Burke Stiles (1804-1871) of Southbury. Early in the correspondence, Pierce reveals that he had three sons in Colorado and notes many of his Ohio acquaintances were enlisting in the army. Also, discussed are soldiers' benefits and the difficulty of finding hired help as so many were in the army. His son, Charles Pierce, was in the battle of Vicksburg and later died (see letter of 8 March 1863). His son John Pierce was confirmed on 13 March 1863 by the Senate as Surveyor General of the Colorado and Utah Territories and son Henry Pierce served as a First Lieutenant in the 3rd Colorado Volunteers. Collection also contains a letter (14 January 1863) to Henry B. Stiles from William Pettingill, Treasurer of Western Reserve College, which notes that College President Henry L. Hitchcock's son had been killed in battle [Folder D]. A folder index is filed with the collection.
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Documents; predominantly pension materials.
Includes letter from Pierce, Berlin, CT, to the Adjutant
General of Rhode Island, dated 20 February 1886, asking
for a copy of his discharge papers. Also contains a GAR
application to Stanley Post, No. 11, dated 188?.
Application stated he was born in Guilford, VT, that his
occupation was a mechanic, that he enlisted on 26 May
1862 and was discharged a Private at Providence, RI, on 1
September 1862. Pierce died in Kensington on 25 April
1892. Collection also includes a certificate from the U.
S. Bureau of Pensions dated 31 March 1893, granting
Pierce's widow, Emma J. Pierce, a pension of $8.00 per
month. Pierce himself received a pension of $10.00 per
month from September 1890 to April 1892. |
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Plumly, Benjamin Rush
(1816-1887) Letter, 3 pp., to President Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865), Washington, DC, recommending Louis Henry
Carpenter (1839-1916), "the noted leader of the
Scouting force in Missouri and of the 'Jessie Scouts' in
Virginia," for a colonelcy in an African American
regiment. Plumly claimed Carpenter would effectually and
wisely reach the slave with Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation and enlist him in the Union army. An
endorsement in Lincoln's hand, dated 3 February 1863,
indicates that the recommendation was submitted to the
Secretary of War. A brief biographical sketch of Plumly,
in the hand of the donor Gilbert A. Tracy, is included on
a separate sheet with the letter. Plumly was an author
and abolitionist who also served on the staffs of General
Fremont and General Banks during the Civil War. |
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Letters from Warrenton, "Stoney
Mt.," Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom,
Hatcher’s Run, and Burkeville, VA, and Washington,
DC, to his mother, Emily F. Pollard, and his brother.
Pollard was a substitute. He enlisted on 23 July 1863 and
was mustered into the 14th Connecticut Infantry on 25
July 1863. He was captured at Reams’ Station, VA, on
25 August 1864 and was paroled on 8 October 1864. He
transferred to the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery on 30
May 1865 and was mustered-out on 18 August 1865. His
letters reveal a strong reliance on his religious faith
to see him through the war. On 1 November 1863, Pollard
wrote, "I carried the painkiller till partly used up
& sold the rest.... I was tied up to the tree by arm
hands behind me 5 minutes at that time for going to the
sutlers & missed being on dress parade.... Had scouse
for breakfast hard tac soaked in water & fried in
pork fat." He notes, on 19-20 January 1864, that the
14th "is a hard regiment pretty rough men in
it." According to his letter of 1 February 1864, he
wanted to learn to play the fife. In writing about an
engagement at Deep Bottom, VA (15-16 August 1864), on 18
August, Private Pollard noted that he "came near
getting hurted in the head by a small piece of
lead." In a philosophical frame of mind on 1
February 1865, he wrote, "Grown persons cannot do as
they would like always," and on 22 February 1865,
"I want to see the end of this war with a whole
hide..." His chances of accomplishing this must have
been reduced by officers described thus: "Our Div.
commander Alek Meags never goes into battle unless he is
nearly dead drunk..." Finally, his letter of 29
April 1865 contains a tribute to Brigadier General Thomas
A. Smyth (3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Corps). |
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Correspondence with his family in Suffield
and his friend Horatio Eaton regarding the activities of
the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery and the 6th
Connecticut Infantry. Pomeroy enlisted and was
mustered-in on 23 May 1861. He resigned on 7 November
1861. Horatio Eaton of Hartford enlisted on 16 April 1861
and was mustered-in a Private, Company A, 1st Connecticut
Infantry, on 22 April 1861. He was mustered-out on 31
July 1861. He reenlisted in the 6th Connecticut Infantry
on 23 August 1861 and was mustered-in a First Lieutenant,
Company B, on 12 September 1861. He was promoted to
Captain, Company E, on 8 April 1864 and was killed on 16
May 1864 at Drewry’s Bluff, VA. Pomeroy’s war
letters run from 11 June to 16 October 1861. On 12
October 1861, he wrote his sisters from Camp Ingalls,
"...we devote Saturday afternoon to a general
cleansing and preparation for inspection which always
takes place Sunday morning.... Col. Tyler is liked pretty
well but creates some dissatisfaction by his
appointments." The two letters from Eaton are dated
22 June 1862, in which he writes of skirmishes on James
Island and at Secessionville, SC, and 11 November 1862
wherein he details the 6th’s losses in the battle of
Pocotaligo, SC, and notes, "...but the Sixth Rgmt is
not a Newspaper regiment ... the 7 Rgt is a 2d Conn Rgmt
in regard to Newspapers &c &c" Willis
Pomeroy wrote home from Chicago on 11 June 1865 about the
"Fair" and noted Generals Grant, Sherman,
McCook, Pritchard, Stiles "and a dozen more are in
town." The collection also includes a letter to
Willis from his brother Chauncey S. Pomeroy (b.1837) in
Alabama dated 30 December 1860. Chauncey asks his brother
for a pistol, "get a 4 or 5 inch Barrel without
cartriges please get it immediately as I do not know how
soon we shall have to go to Fighting, as Alabama
will secede on the 8th or 9th of next month -- if the
North attempts to coercive [sic] us we shall be obliged
to fight.... While you are sending that Revolver you
might as well send some other goodies along with
it Do you understand?" Also included is a letter, 2
pp., from Eliphalet S. Morron (d.1886), from Kaneville,
IL, to Chauncey Pomeroy, Sr. (1801-1861), dated 11 March
1861, in which Morron writes of his fear that there might
be foul play during President-elect Lincoln’s
inauguration and discusses the problems of the grain
farmer in Illinois and his Irish hired help. Morron
writes, "the Cotton States are acting a foolish part
in my opinion..." |
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O’Brien,
John (1839-1931)
Paddock, George
Byron (1843-1913)