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 William Whann Mackall Papers, #1299, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Deposit 1947

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.

• Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893.
• Bragg, Braxton, 1817-1876.
• Confederate States of America--History, Military.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
• Fathers and sons--Georgia--History.
• Gilmer, Jeremy Francis, 1818-1883.
• Johnston, Joseph E. (Joseph Eggleston), 1807-1891.
• Mackall family--Genealogy.
• Mackall, William W.
• Mackall, William Whann, 1818-1891.
• Mexican War, 1846-1848--Personal narratives.
• United States. Army--Military life.
• United States. Army--Officers--Correspondence.

Mackall, a West Point graduate, served in the United States Army from his graduation in 1837 until 1861, and in the Confederate Army, 1861-1865, attaining the rank of brigadier general. After the war he lived at Langley, Va. He married Aminta Sorrel of Savannah, Ga., and had a son, W. W. Mackall (b. 1853), who was a lawyer in Savannah.

Letters during the early period, 1839-1849, include those written from Florida while Mackall was on his way to Mexico, and from Mexico, discussing the military situation. Letters during the Civil War period include those written by Mackay to his family discussing skirmishes and battles and also the family's welfare, and letters written to Mackay from other Confederate officers discussing army politics and military actions in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. Correspondents include Joseph Eggleston Johnston (27 letters), Braxton Bragg, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, and Jeremy F. Gilmer. Post-war papers largely concern Confederate military history and recollections, and include also the papers of Mackall's son, W. W. Mackall, who published privately "A Son's Recollections of his Father." Also available are scrapbooks and commissions and, on microfilm, genealogical and biographical data on the Mackall family.