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 Charles Spencer Diary, #1904, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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.

• Diaries.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Parker, Mary.
• Soldiers--United States--Diaries.
• Spencer, Charles, 1841-1917.
• Spencer, John.
• United States. Army--Military life--History.
• United States. Army. Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, 6th (1861-1864)
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

MICROFILM ONLY. Diary, 4 pocket volumes, 1862-1865, kept by Charles Spencer before, during, and after his service in the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, United States Army. In his very brief daily entries, Spencer always recorded the weather and his activities for the day; he often noted his petty expenses and mail he received. Spencer's entries before 1862 chronicle his activities outside his employment in a bank in Massachusetts. Entries from August 1862 to April 1865 describe his activities as a clerk in the army, stationed near Suffolk, Va., and briefly near New Bern, N.C. A few entries report skirmishing nearby, but more are devoted to the illness of his brother, John Spencer, in 1863; the illness of his fiancee, Mary Parker, in 1865; and to his work and social activities. Entries after April 1865 describe Spencer's work and family life in Portsmouth and Richmond, Va. Printed matter at the beginning of each volume includes an almanac with postage rates, interest rates, eclipses, a calendar, the phases of the moon, and other similar information.