Tag Archives: African Americans

24 March 1863: “To-day the lines have been open, and the women of the suburbs have been thronging into town to buy a little sugar, coffee, snuff, &c., especially snuff.”

Posted on 24 Mar ’13 by

Item description: Published letter, dated 24 March 1863, written by Corporal Zenas T. Haines, Company D, 44th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. The letter is an excerpt from Haines’ account, Letters from the Forty-Fourth Regiment M.V.M.: A Record of the Experience of a Nine … Continue reading →

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21 March 1863: “Her bondage, if such it can be called, sits lightly upon her; but she has no sympathy for rebels…”

Posted on 21 Mar ’13 by

Item description: Published letter, dated 21 March 1863, written by Corporal Zenas T. Haines, Company D, 44th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. The letter is an excerpt from Haines’ account, Letters from the Forty-Fourth Regiment M.V.M.: A Record of the Experience of a Nine … Continue reading →

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19 March 1863: “It makes a man feel strong to know that he is all the world to somebody”

Posted on 19 Mar ’13 by

Item Description: Letter,19 March 1863, from Charles W. Hill, serving with the 5th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in New Bern, N.C., to his wife Martha Hill in West Medway, Mass. Letter mentions military movements of his regiment and brigade, dislike of a superior officer’s … Continue reading →

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30 January 1863: “much of the County on the opposite side of the sound from us, is now guarded and held by armed negroes…”

Posted on 30 Jan ’13 by

Item description: Letter, dated 30 January 1863, from D.G. Cowand to William S. Pettigrew. Item citation: From the Pettigrew Family Papers #592, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Item transcription: Hd. Qrs. 32nd Reg. N.C.T. Near Goldsboro … Continue reading →

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26 January 1863: “…for my part I want them all free and I should like that the war was over for I would like to be at home…”

Posted on 26 Jan ’13 by

Item description: This letter, dated 26 January 1863, was written by Andrew Sproul to his wife in Ohio. Sproul, a private in the Union Army, describes activities near the mouth of the Yazoo River in Mississippi. Of particular interest are … Continue reading →

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1 January 1863: “Today is the period fixed for Mr. Lincoln’s unwise and unconstitutional emancipation proclamation…Thousands of the Poor deluded Negroes have left their homes…”

Posted on 1 Jan ’13 by

Item Description: Rev. Overton Bernard depicts the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation on the enslaved African Americans. Item citation: From folder 2 of the Overton and Jesse Bernard Diaries #62-z,  Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Item transcription: … Continue reading →

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21 November 1862: “Some of the citizens of Martin thought that they had carried off no less than 3000 negroes…”

Posted on 21 Nov ’12 by

Item description: Letter, 21 November 1862, from Robert D. Graham to his father William A. Graham. Robert writes about marching from North Carolina into Virginia, the destruction of property by Union soldiers, and African Americans leaving with the Union troops. … Continue reading →

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19 November 1862: “I have to-day sent over to Charleston three negroes belonging to Nassau, West Indies. They formed part of a crew of a small schooner which, loaded with salt, was endeavoring to run the blockade…”

Posted on 19 Nov ’12 by

Item description: Report of Brigadier-General Whiting, C. S. Army, commanding defenses of Cape Fear River. To read more from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, click here. Item citation: Official records … Continue reading →

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13 July 1862: “Noble Vicksburg, I am proud of her, she still holds out, though the large Yankee fleet before the city is constantly bombarding her”

Posted on 13 Jul ’12 by

Item description: From the diary of Sarah Lois Wadley, 13 July 1862. In this entry, Wadley talks about the battle of Vicksburg and about hearing reports of formerly enslaved African Americans in Union camps that want to return to their … Continue reading →

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12 June 1862: “1. When slaves are taken from the possession of their legal masters, by violence offered by armed men and negroes, what redress shall be afforded to the owners and what protection for the future?”

Posted on 12 Jun ’12 by

Item description: This letter was written by Edward Stanly, Military Governor of North Carolina, in response to a request for information from Edwin Stanton, United States Secretary of War. In it Stanly asks for guidance on governing the relationships between … Continue reading →

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