Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

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 William Courtney and William O'Neel Letter #5403-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Stuart Lutz of Short Hills, N.J., in March 2008 (Acc. 100891).

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.

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.

• Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis, Marquis, 1738-1805.
• Courtney, William, fl. 1780.
• Greene, Nathanael, 1742-1786.
• O'Neel, William, fl. 1780.
• United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Prisoners and prisons.
• United States. Continental Army--Officers--Correspondence.

• Nathanael Greene Letters (#290-z)

William Courtney and Major William O'Neel were in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. They were taken as prisoners of war by forces led by Lord Cornwallis, possibly in North Carolina during the summer of 1780.

The collection consists of a copy of a letter written by William Courtney and William O'Neel while they were prisoners of war. The letter, written to General Nathanael Greene on behalf of more than 100 fellow prisoners, asks that Greene take up their cause and relieve them from inhumane treatment.