Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4403
JULIUS FREDERIC RAMSDELL PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: A diary, letters, and other material of Julius
Frederic Ramsdell, member of the 39th Massachusetts
Regiment, from Woburn, Mass. Letters from Ramsdell to
members of his family and the diary that he kept while
in Virginia during the war constitute the bulk of
these papers. The letters and diary discuss fellow
soldiers; marches; drills; fighting, especially the
Battle of Globe Tavern, Va., August 1864 (Battle of
Weldon Railroad); Ramsdell's imprisonment at Belle
Isle Prison, Richmond, Va., August and September 1864;
Southern dialect; the friendliness with which Union
soldiers were treated; blacks; and other matters.
Online Catalog Terms:
Belle Isle Prison (Richmond, Va.).
English language--Dialects--Southern States.
Ramsdell, Julius Frederic, 1845-1910.
Soldiers--United States--Correspondence--History--Civil War,
1861-1865.
Soldiers--United States--Diaries--History--Civil War,
1861-1865.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Afro-Americans.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal
narratives.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and
prisons.
United States. Army--Military life--History--Civil War,
1861-1865.
United States. Army. Massachusetts Regiment, 39th (1861-1865).
Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives.
Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and
prisons.
Weldon Railroad, Battle of, 1864.
Size: About 40 items (0.5 feet)
Provenance: Received from Edith (Mrs. Johnston) Bird of York,
Maine, in November 1984.
Access: No restrictions
Copyright: Retained by the writers or the heirs of the writers
of these items, as stipulated by United States copy-
right law.
Table of Contents:
Biographical Note
Series Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence
Series 2. Diary
Series 3. Pictures
Series 4. Other Material
Shelf List
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Julius Frederic Ramsdell was born 29 October 1845 in Lynn,
Massachusetts. Estranged from his father at an early age,
Ramsdell moved to Woburn, Massachusetts, to live with his aunt
and uncle, Lydia and Charles Choate.
In December 1863, at the age of nineteen, Ramsdell enlisted as
a private in K Company, 39th Regiment of the Massachusetts
Infantry. He served in eastern Virginia until August 1864 when
he was taken prisoner by the Confederate Army after the battle of
Weldon Railroad. He was a prisoner at Belle Isle in Richmond
until he was paroled and exchanged in October 1864. After time
in a hospital at Annapolis, Maryland, and a brief furlough at
home, Ramsdell returned to eastern Virginia where he served until
the end of the war.
After his discharge from the army in June 1865, Ramsdell
returned to Woburn and resumed an apprenticeship in the leather
trade that he apparently had begun before he entered the army.
He remained in the leather business for a number of years,
managing his own factory until it merged with another company.
He also served at various times as an officer in three local
banks.
When Ramsdell died in early October 1910 he was survived by
his wife, S. Elmira Ramsdell, and three daughters.
For further information, see the photocopy of Ramsdell's
obituary in folder 8 of these papers.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Correspondence
1864-1865. Approximately 30 items.
Letters from Ramsdell to members of his family in Woburn,
Massachusetts, particularly his aunt, Lydia Choate. Ramsdell's
correspondence primarily concerns such topics as friends and
fellow soldiers, personal health, the weather, such military news
as he was allowed to mention, and his duties in camp or at a
military hospital where he convalesced in May and June 1864. He
did not write of his experiences in the Confederate prisons,
Libby (22-23 August 1864) and Belle Isle (23 August - October
1864), in great detail, except to hint at the tremendous hardship
of his weeks in Richmond (19 October 1864).
Folder 1 January-May 1864
2 June-December 1864
3 1865
Series 2. Diary
1864-1865. 2 items.
The original of the diary Ramsdell kept during his military
service, and a photocopy of a typed transcription of the diary.
The transcription was presented to the Southern Historical
Collection along with the original. The original diary consists
of four sections: the first three contain entries for 1864; the
last, a leather-bound volume, documents events to August, 1865, a
point shortly after Ramsdell's discharge from the army.
Ramsdell wrote in his diary almost daily during his military
service except for the period 14 September - 31 December 1864.
Entries largely document military activities, including marches,
drills, setting up camps and fortifications, guard duties,
battles and skirmishes (particularly the battle of Weldon
Railroad in mid-August 1864), his experience as a prisoner from
19 August to 14 September 1864, and news of fellow soldiers.
Each entry also notes the weather and Ramsdell's health for the
day. Occasionally Ramsdell commented on such topics as Southern
dialect and vocabulary, high prices in the Confederacy, and the
friendliness with which northern soldiers were treated by blacks.
Personal notes and accounts at the back of the 1865 section
and a drawing of Ramsdell's camp (26 January 1864) are not
included in the typed transcription.
Folder 4 January-May 1864
5 June-22 August 1864
6 22 August-14 September 1864
Volume 1 1865
2 Typed transcription (photocopy) of the
material in folders 4-6 and volume 1.
Series 3. Pictures
Ca. 1865, 1910. 3 items.
P-4403/1. Julius Frederic Ramsdell, January 1865.
Carte-de-visite.
Knowlton's Photographic Gallery, Woburn, MA
P-4403/2. Julius Frederic Ramsdell, ca. 1868.
Carte-de-visite.
A. Rankin, Woburn, MA
P-4403/3. Ramsdell's childhood home, Woburn, MA
Color print (ca. 1910): 19.6 x 27.5 cm.
Series 4. Other Material
1865-1911. 6 items.
Documents relating to Ramsdell's military service, including a
24-hour pass, his discharge certificate, and his widow's pension
certificate (1911). Also included are a ticket to a National
Peace Jubilee (1869), an obituary of Ramsdell, and the New
Testament which he kept with him during the war.
Folders 7-8
SHELF LIST
Box 1.
Series 1. Correspondence, 1864-1865 (folders 1-3)
Series 2. Diary, 1864-1865 (folders 4-6, volumes
1 and 2)
Series 4. Other Material (folders 7-8)
Items separated:
Series 3. Pictures. P-4403/1-3 (1 folder)