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No restrictions. Open for research.

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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 Charles Darwin Elliot Diary and Surveyor Field Books #5457-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Michael Brown Rare Books, Philadephia, Pa., in March 2010 (Acc. 101262).

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.

• Connecticut--Maps.
• Diaries (Blank-books)
• Elliot, Charles Darwin, 1837-1908.
• Families--Massachusetts--Social life and customs.
• Louisiana--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Louisiana--Maps.
• Massachusetts--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Surveyors--United States.
• Travelers--Diaries--History--19th century.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Maps.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Military life.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Social conditions.
• United States. Army--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• United States. Army--Military life--History.
• United States. Army--Officers--Diaries.
• United States. Army. Dept. of the Gulf (1862-1865)

Charles Darwin Elliot was born in Foxboro, Mass., on 20 June 1837. He studied civil engineering and served as assistant topographical engineer with the 19th Army Corps, Department of the Gulf, 1862-1864. Prior to his Civil War service, he worked as a civil engineer in the greater Boston area. He and his wife, Emily Jane (Hyer) Elliot, lived in Massachusetts after the war, probably settling in Somerville.

The collection consists of Charles Darwin Elliot's diary and two surveyor field books. The diary begins with his entries in March 1864; his wife continued the diary until September 1864. Charles Darwin Elliot's portion of the diary describes troop movements around southern Louisiana, the threat of Confederate guerillas and Jayhawkers, correspondence with his wife, and brief observations on his daily activities. Emily Jane Elliot's contributions to the diary detail the journey from New Orleans, La., to Massachusetts following Charles Darwin Elliot's discharge; daily life and household activities; and relationships with her husband's family while the couple lived in Foxboro immediately after the war. In the diary, there is a list of tasks related to Elliot's surveying work, December 1863-March 1864. Included in the surveyor field books are topographical sketches of and notes from May 1863 about Bayou Boeuf, La., and undated information about eastern Connecticut.