Inventory of the Benedict Joseph Semmes Papers, 1848-1865
Collection Number 2333
Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Contact Information:
- Manuscripts Department
- CB#3926, Wilson Library
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
- Phone: 919/962-1345
- Fax: 919/962-3594
- Email: mss@email.unc.edu
- URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
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Descriptive Summary
- Repository
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
- Creator
- Semmes, Benedict Joseph, 1823-1902.
- Title
- Benedict Joseph Semmes Papers, 1848-1865.
- Call Number
- 2333
- Language of Materials
- Materials in English
- Extent
- About 410 items (0.5 linear feet).
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Administrative Information
- Additional Descriptive Resources
- A more complete finding aid for this collection is available at the Southern Historical Collection.
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the Benedict Joseph Semmes Papers, #2333, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Copyright Notice
- Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- Atlanta Campaign, 1864.
- Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
- Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
- Confederate States of America. Army--Supplies and stores.
- Courtship--United States--History--19th century.
- Family--Tennessee--Social life and customs.
- Georgia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
- Grocery trade--Tennessee--History--19th century.
- Kentucky--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
- Love-letters--19th century--History and criticism.
- Memphis (Tenn.)--History--19th century.
- Memphis (Tenn.)--Social life and customs.
- New York (N.Y.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
- Semmes, Benedict Joseph, 1823-1902.
- Semmes, Jorantha Jordan.
- Tennessee--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
- Washington (D.C.)--Social life and customs.
Biographical Note
Wholesale merchant of Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tenn., and Confederate commissary officer.
Back to TopCollection Overview
Letters for the period 1848-April 1849 (62 items) were written by Jorantha Jorden of New York City and Benedict J. Semmes of Washington, D.C., during their engagement. Topics included family and social affairs, religion, and their ideas about life and marriage. Letters from the period June 1849-1859 (31 items) mostly discussed family matters and social life but also the wholesale grocery business and moving to Memphis, Tenn. Letters for the period 1862-1865 (128 items) concerned Semmes's experiences with the Confederate Army in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia, discussing supplying the army, camp life, military engagements (especially the Atlanta Campaign of 1864), rumors, and news of friends. Jorantha's letters discussed family life, the grocery business, reports of rumors, conditions in Memphis under Yankee occupation, and the family's removal to Canton, Miss.