Restrictions to Access

This collection contains additional materials that are not processed and are currently not available to researchers. For information about access to these materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff. Please be advised that preparing unprocessed materials for access can be a lengthy process.

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 Eli Spinks Hamilton Papers, #3226, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of Originals

Originals returned to private owner in 1956.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A more complete finding aid for this collection is available at the Southern Historical Collection.

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.

• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 12th.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 38th.
• Confederate States of America. Navy--Sea life.
• Hamilton family.
• Hamilton, Calier G., d. 1863.
• Hamilton, Eli Spinks.
• Hamilton, Oliver Clark, 1839-1918.
• James River (Va.)--History--19th century.
• Military training camps--Confederate States of America.
• Raleigh (N.C.)--History--19th century.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Riverine operations.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Eli Spinks Hamilton of New Hope Academy, Randolph County, N.C.

MICROFILM ONLY. Letters to Eli Spinks Hamilton from his sons, Oliver Clark Hamilton, with the 38th North Carolina Regiment (Pender's Brigade, A. P. Hill's Division), and Calier G. Hamilton, with the 12th and 38th N.C. regiments. Thirteen letters from Oliver Hamilton, tell of his position in northern Virginia during 1862-1863, fighting, camp life, health, prices of food and daily necessities, news of friends, marches and travel, and his opinion of the morale and fighting spirit of the troops and officers. Two letters, dated April and May 1864, tell of being transferred to the Navy for service on the ironclad "Fredericksburg" in the James River between Richmond and the Federal fleet. Calier Hamilton's twenty-four letters were written from his training camp near Raleigh, N.C., in July 1861, and then from the Potomac River and Fredericksburg area, where he was with Company L, 12th N.C. Volunteer Regiment. These letters describe weather conditions, the health of his company, drilling, goods received from home, camp life, his bout with rheumatism and fever, and his transfer to the 38th North Carolina Regiment in the winter of 1862-1863. Later letters mention some fighting, his company's casualties, and the death of Stonewall Jackson.