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 W. R. Gwaltney Papers #1636, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed 2005-2006) available.

• Reel 1: Entire collection

Alternate Form of Material

Handwritten transcription of parts of the diary are available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. K. C. Menzies and Mrs. Paula G. Love of Hickory, N.C., in August 1949.

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.

• Baptists--Clergy--Diaries.
• Bible--Publication and distribution--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Chaplains.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 1st.
• Diaries.
• Gwaltney, W. R. (William Robert), 1835-1907.
• Soldiers--Religious life--Confederate States of America.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Chaplains.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Confederate.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

William Robert Gwaltney (1835-1907) was born near Taylorsville, N.C. During the Civil War, Gwaltney served as colporteur and chaplain with the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment in Virginia. In 1863, he was ordained a Baptist minister. Gwaltney married Amelia Ellen Staley in 1866, and the following year he received his diploma from Wake Forest College. For the next four decades, Gwaltney lived, preached, and built churches in various counties around the state, including Orange, Wake, Guilford, Forsyth and Catawba counties. William and Amelia Gwaltney had nine children.

Diary, 1862-1875, of William Robert Gwaltney (1835-1907), a Baptist minister of Taylorsville, N.C., who served as a colporteur and chaplain with the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment in Virginia during the Civil War. The diary chiefly concerns Gwaltney's religious and educational activities among the soldiers, but also includes a brief summary of his life in the decade after the Civil War. Also included are three notebooks, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous other items.