Primary Sources of Freeman Colby Vol. 2

ABOUT THE BOOK: This historical graphic novel details the continuing adventures of a young school teacher from NH who enlists in the Union Army during the Civil War.  The events of the story are all based on actual letters Freeman Colby wrote home about his experiences, plus several other period primary sources documenting the experiences of the 39th Massachusetts Volunteers.

Civil War letters of Freeman Eri Colby & family

Archived by Henniker Historical Society, and in some cases provided by the family.  (There are even a couple texts by Jonas Bacon and Newton Colby in the collection, and one rare valuable letter from the home front, written by Colby’s Mom!)

The 39th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers (Roe, 1914)

This official regimental history features hundreds of pages of stories collected by a memorial committee, including several sections of diaries, journals, and other primary source texts.

Other resources for the 39th MA Volunteers:
Resource page for Co. K @ YeOldeWoburn.net

Civil War Letters of Sarah Low

Sarah Low (of Dover, NH) wrote numerous letters describing her experiences working as a nurse at Washington, DC hospitals.  Her papers, ephemera, notebooks, & photographic collection are all archived by the NH Historical Society. 

Some letters have also been transcribed & posted by Dover Public Library.

Memoranda During the War (Walt Whitman, 1875-6)

Poet Walt Whitman’s accounts of serving in Washington hospitals in 1863, at the same time as soldiers from the 39th Mass.

Hardtack and Coffee (Billings, 1887)

An invaluable source of information and memories by a veteran campaigner.

The Civil War letters of Wilbur Fisk

Like Colby, Wilbur Fisk was a rural New England schoolteacher who volunteered in a local regiment — in Fisk’s case, the 2nd Vermont.  Throughout the war, he wrote eloquent & extensive reports to the Green Mountain Freeman, sharing valuable ground-level details & reflections on the evolving conflict.  I use Fisk’s letters in several places to fill in gaps in the accounts of Colby & Bacon.  (Collected & edited by Emil & Rosenblatt.)

Three years in the Sixth corps. A concise narrative of events in the Army of the Potomac, from 1861 to the close of the rebellion, April 1865 (George T. Stevens, 1866)

Stevens’ account contains invaluable details about African Americans escaping from Southern slavery with the help of Union forces; see “Refugees” (p.273-275)

Battleground adventures, the stories of dwellers on the scenes of conflict in some of the most notable battles of the civil war (Clifton Johnson, 1915)

Detailed observations & accounts from enslaved people & freedmen along the Rappahannock.  Andrew Ward has tracked down the names of some of Johnson’s storytellers in his book, The Slaves’ War.

See especially the narratives of:

• Joseph Lawson: “The Colored Cooper” (p.143)
• Fannie Dawson: “A Slave Woman’s Troubles” (p.150)

 Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison (Bell Boyd, 1865)

A young woman’s autobiographical account of spying for the Confederacy, including stints in Washington, DC prisons in 1862 [p.195+] and again in summer 1863 [p.263+], at a time when soldiers from Colby’s regiment were posted as prison guards…

Hospital Sketches (Alcott, 1863)

Louisa May Alcott’s fictionalized stories based on her letters home from hospital duty at Georgetown, DC (1862-3). [wikipedia >>]

HARPER’S WEEKLY Vol. 7 (1863)

Week-by-week accounts in words & pictures from all fronts of the war, plus news from around the world!

[1863 Article text digitized @: SonOfTheSouth.net >>]

Life Studies of the Great Army by “special artist” Edwin Forbes

[Forbes @ wikipedia]

“Drawing the War: Edwin Forbes”

Thirty Years After : an artist’s story of the great war : told, and illustrated with nearly 300 relief-etchings after sketches in the field… VOLUME 1 | VOLUME 2 (Edwin Forbes) 

Essays on various subjects, accompanied by wartime drawings and later artwork based on Forbes’ experiences alongside the Union Army.

SEE ALSO:

Alfred Waud: “Drawing the War: Alfred Waud”

Articles & collections from the US Library of Congress:

• COLLECTION: Civil War
• COLLECTION: Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints
• Documentary drawings of the Civil War
• “Civil War Sketch Artists: Pencils on the Front Lines” ~ “When is the pencil mightier than the camera? When it is recording the action on a Civil War battlefield.”

Pension application depositions of Hester Tuckson & al. (Fall Hill, Spotsylvania County, VA) [full text] 

These documents give us the voice of one African American soldier’s widow, and, perhaps surprisingly, corroborating testimony from a former slaveholder.

The CAMBRIDGE CHRONICLE online archives >>
(An astoundingly complete collection of newspapers, 1846-2015!  The Civil War era papers contain lots of letters, reports, & news of the 39th Mass, both at the front and at home in New England.)

MILITARY MANUALS:

• Rifle and light infantry tactics; for the exercise and manoeuvres of troops when acting as light infantry or riflemen (Hardee, 1861) = “System of tactics … approved by the President… adopted for the instruction of the troops…” ~ JEFFERSON DAVIS, Secretary of War / March 29, 1855
•  Revised United States Army Regulations of 1861 (1863) = “Nothing contrary to the tenor of these Regulations will be enjoined in any part of the forces of the United States by any commander whatsoever.” ~ SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War / Washington / August 10, 1861
• Baxter’s “VOLUNTEER’S MANUAL: containing full instructions for the recruit, in the schools of the soldier and squad, with one hundred illustrations of the different positions in the facings and manual of arms and the loadings and firings, arranged according to Scott’s system of infantry tactics” &c. &c. = “The instructions here given are of the greatest importance to the Recruit, and therefore should be thoroughly understood, being indispensable to the instruction of the Company…”

(More Civil War era primary sources >>)