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Collection Number: 03532

Collection Title: Homer A. Cooke Military Records, 1863

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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Size 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 120 items)
Abstract Records, December 1863, of Homer A. Cooke, a U.S. Army quartermaster in the New Bern, N.C., area, including financial and personnel records, accounts of clothing, camp and garrison equipage, and records of quartermasters' stores. Many of the personnel were former slaves hired as laborers.
Creator Cooke, Homer A., fl. 1863.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Homer A. Cooke Military Records #3532, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Purchased from Erle K. Richards of Lawrence, Mass., in May 1961.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, September 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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Financial and Personnel Records

Summary financial statements, December 1863, of Cooke's quartermaster activities and pay rolls of employees of the Quartermaster Corps, including clerical workers, laborers, and "hired men," most of whom seem to have been former slaves, then called "contrabands" by the United States Army. There are also lists of persons hired, both clerical and manual workers, and lists of employees and detailed soldiers transferred to Cooke by other officers. Some of the laborers worked in logging camps or at saw mills around New Bern.

Supply and Equipment Records

Records, December 1863, relating to clothing, camp, and garrison equipage. There is a tabular statement that shows Cooke's monthly return of equipage received and issued. There are also lists of equipment received from other officers, abstracts of equipment transferred to other officers, and requisitions and vouchers. The vouchers and requisitions submitted by unit quartermasters or other officers give some information on military units, including the 19th Wisconsin Volunteers, the 2nd Battalion 2nd Massachusetts Artillery, the 132 New York Artillery, the 3rd New York Cavalry, the 12th New York Cavalry, the 17th Massachusetts Volunteers, the 92nd New York Volunteers, and the 5th Rhode Island Artillery. There were also some units which were being recruited locally from Unionist sympathizers and former slaves in the occupied region, including the 2nd North Carolina Volunteers, the 1st North Carolina Cavalry, and the 2nd U.S. Colored Cavalry. These units were serving in and near New Bern and at Washington, Plymouth, Morehead City, Hatteras Inlet, and Roanoke Island. Other records in this section deal with issue of clothing and with clothing sold to officers and "contrabands."

Quartermasters' Stores Records

Records, December 1863, relating to Quartermasters' Stores including a tabular statement for the month showing items on hand and received. There are lists for forage; stationary; means of transportation; building materials; blacksmiths', carpenters', masons', and others' tools; and "Stores for Expenditure," which included items such as brooms, hardware, wagon grease, harnesses, kerosene, and paint. Accompanying this tabular statement are explanatory abstracts showing how the articles were received and issued. The missing first page apparently contained records relating to fuel; the supporting requisitions and vouchers for fuel issued are filed as Abstract F.

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Contents list

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Folder 1-4

Folder 1

Folder 2

Folder 3

Folder 4

Financial and personnel records

Folder 5-9

Folder 5

Folder 6

Folder 7

Folder 8

Folder 9

Supply and equipment records

Folder 10-12

Folder 10

Folder 11

Folder 12

Quatermasters' stores records

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