21. The Third Brigade, 1:1, May 19, 1865, Danville, Va., p. 2, LOV. The Third Brigade was the paper of the 122d N.Y. See also Soldier’s Letter, February 13, 1865, Fort Riley, Kans., p. 3, KSHS.
22. Pvt. G. Haven Putnam, 176th N.Y., to Mary Loines, May 29, 1865, Savannah, Ga., Papers of the Low-Mills Family, LC. For just a few of many enthusiastic letters about black education, see Sgt. William Bradbury, 129th Ill., to wife, January 2, 1865, Chattanooga, Tenn., William H. Bradbury Papers, PAW, Coll. 26, Reel 6; Pvt. Justus Silliman, Seventeenth Conn., to mother, October 18, 1864, Jacksonville, Fla., and to cousin, January 13, 1865, Jacksonville, Fla., in Marcus, A New Canaan Private in the Civil War, 80 and 91.
23. David Williamson, Eleventh U.S. Heavy Artillery, to Editor, March 1865, Fort Banks, La., A-A, April 8, 1865, p. 2.
24. The postwar backsliding did not happen right away. In the 1860s and 1870s, black Americans voted, enjoyed economic advances, and held political office. By 1870, both the Fourteenth Amendment (guaranteeing citizenship rights to African Americans) and the Fifteenth Amendment (guaranteeing the right to vote to black men) had passed. In 1875 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. But the tide turned in the 1880s. In 1883 the Supreme Court struck down the Civil Rights Act, and a series of decisions progressively weakened the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. In the 1890s, segregation became the law in many southern states. As Frederick Douglass bleakly noted, white racism and its manifestations rose in direct relation to “increasing distance from the time of the war.” In other words, the further away in time Americans moved from the war, the more willing whites proved to forget and abandon racial equality. See Frederick Douglass, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, Written by Himself: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History (1892), quoted in Blight, “For Something Beyond the Battlefield,” 1159. For the end of Reconstruction, the fading of its gains, and the onset of segregation, see William Gillette, Retreat from Reconstruction, 1869–1879 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979); Heather Richardson, The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the post–Civil War North 1865–1901 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001); C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, commemorative edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).
PRIMARY SOURCES
Secondary sources may be found in Notes.
Manuscripts, Soldiers’ Letters, and Diaries
Alabama
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alpheus Baker Diary
Branscomb Family Letters
Edward Norphlet Brown Letters
Newton N. Davis Letters
Henry J. Hunt Letter
William Lowery Diaries
Mark Lyons Letters
W. E. Riser Letter
C. A. Ryder Diary
James T. Searcy Letters
Reuben Martin Searcy Letters
Thomas S. Taylor Letters
E. W. Treadwell Letters
Turner Vaughan Diary
Thomas Warrick Letters
Robert A. Williams Civil War Letters
Henry Wilson Letters
H. B. Wood Letter
Hoole Library, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Allen Family Papers
Cameron Collection
Ross-Searcy-Snow Papers
Arkansas
University of Arkansas Special Collections
Jonathan W. Callaway Civil War Letters and Papers
Milton Chambers Correspondence
James M. Harrison Letters
Thomas Jefferson Jobe Diary
Elihu G. Martin Letter
Robert and Sephronia Clark McCollom Papers
Minos Miller Papers
Thomas R. Stone Diary
SELECTED ARKANSAS MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTION (MICROFILMED AND HELD AT UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS SPECIAL COLLECTIONS)
Mason Brayman Papers
J. W. Gambill Letters
E. C. Hubbard Papers
J. B. Hubbard Letters
James I. Lawrence Letters
Robert Mitchell Diary
Connecticut
Connecticut Historical Society
Orra B. Bailey Letters
Milton Humphrey Bassett Papers
Caleb Blanchard Letters
Andrew Byrne Diary
Charles Henry Camp Letters
Leander Chapin Letters
George Clary Papers
Charles S. Crain Letters
Joseph Orin Cross Letters
John Best Cuzner Papers
Charles Greenleaf Letters
John Holwell Letters
Leroy D. House Letters
Robert McNaughton Diary
Augustine Sackett Letters
Homer S. Sackett Letters
Henry D. Sexton, Isaac H. Tuller, and Martin L. Wadhams Papers
Francis Simpson Papers
Henry Snow Letters
George Wetmore Letters
Georgia
Atlanta History Center
James P. Crane Letters
John Dunlap Letters
Colin Dunlop Letters
Hosea Garrett Letters
A. T. Holliday Letters
John Matthew McCrary Letters
Leander Parker Letters
Roderick Gaspero Shaw Letters
Samuel J. Spencer Letters
Jim L. Wilson Letters
Chickamauga National Military Park Vertical Files
Thaddeus Marion Brindley Letters, Twenty-second Alabama File
John Forbes Davenport Letters, First Alabama Battalion, Hilliards Legion File
Richard B. Ledbetter Letters, Fortieth Alabama Infantry File
Francis Livingston Wadsworth Letters, Hilliards Alabama Legion File
Emory University
John D. Babb Family Papers
William Baugh Letters
Thomas Stuart Birch Papers
Henry S. Campbell Family Letters
Thomas M. Carter Papers
William A. Chunn Letters
CONFEDERATE MISCELLANY
James Atkins Papers
Thomas Carson Letter
Thomas R. R. Cobb: Petition
J. C. Daniel Poem
Isaac Domingos Letter
J. R. Garber Letters
Lewis Groce Papers
Joseph Hilton Letters
Dickerson Holliday Letters
G. H. Keahey and Niel Godwine
Letters
John and W. F. Price Letters
Henry Crydenwise Letters
Andrew J. Edge Correspondence
John A. Everett Papers
James Garrison Letters
John A. Harris Letters
Honnoll Family Papers
William McFall Letters
Peter Oswald Letters
William Parkinson Papers
Reid-Jordan Family Papers
Oliver Strickland Letters
Charles Brown Thurston Papers
UNION MISCELLANY
Daniel Ammell Letter
John English Papers
Henry W. Hart Letters
Gideon Merritt Letter
George W. Pennington Papers
Elias Prichard Papers
Georgia Department of Archives and History
Noble John Brooks Letters and Diary
Addison M. Burnside Letters
Thomas and Warren Campbell Confederate Letters
William Smith Carson Collection
CIVIL WAR MISCELLANY, PERSONAL PAPERS
Stand Watie Papers
Wilkinson Family Papers
Jeremiah Jefferson Davis Letters
William P. Davis Diary
Ivy Duggan Letters
Berrien W. Durden Family Papers
Thomas Forrester Letters
Malachi Henry Foy Collection
Jasper A. Gillespie Family Papers
Hagan/Roberts Family Paper
s
Roderick Henry Harper Civil War Letters
Daniel Andrew Jackson Sr. Collection
William H. Johnson Letters
Megarity Family Papers
Jasper Norris Letters
Thomas Omary Letters
Josiah Blair Patterson Letters
Andrew Perkins Letter
Photostat File: Civil War Collection A–M and N–Z
Prescott/Jones Family Papers
Felix W. Prior Letters
James Snell Diary
United Daughters of the Confederacy:
LaGrange Chapter: Miscellaneous
Letters and Diaries
Wright Vinson Letters
John Wilson Civil War Letter
Illinois
Chicago Historical Society
Sullivan Ballou Letter
M. A. Barber Letters
Henry Brimhall Letter
Raleigh Edward Colston Folder
Judson Crary Letter
J. H. Dennard Letters
Jacob T. Esher Letters
Michael Gapen Letters
Gustav Haller Papers
Frederick H. Harris Letters
Charles Jarvis Letter
Delazon Ketchum Letters
George W. Little Diary
John J. Lynch Letters
Hugh McGrath Letters
William McMullen Letters
James A. Mulligan Papers
D. Myers Letters
John A. Nurse Papers
Cyrus Randall Letters
William H. Ross Letters
Frederick W. Russell Papers
Joseph F. Ward Papers
James Westervelt Papers
John Winterbotham Papers
Illinois State Historical Library
Andrews Family Papers
John Andrews Letters
Adin Ballou Letters
Henry Bandy Letters
Alphonso Barto Letters
Newton Bateman Papers
Sylvester Beckwith Letters
Ransom Bedell Papers
Thomas B. Bourne Letters
Carpenter Bull Papers
Samuel L. and George D. Carpenter Papers
Civil War Letters 1863–64 Written by
Indiana Soldiers
Landsden Cox Letters
John Gayle Davis Letters
Charles Deamude Letters
John C. Dinsmore Letters
James F. Drish Papers
Engleman-Kircher Papers
Everson Letters
John A. Griffin Papers
John L. Harris Papers
William Hinshaw Letter
Amos Hostetter Letters
Edward Howe Letter
August Kautz Papers
King Family Papers
Tilmon D. Kyger Letters
Christian E. Lanstrum Papers
Henry Newhall Letters
Anson Patterson Papers
W. H. Price Letters
I. V. Reynolds Letter
Edwin Sackett Diary and Letters
M. W. Shanahan Letter
James B. Turner Papers
Augustine Vieira Letters
Robert M. Woods Letter
Kansas
Kansas State Historical Society
Aaron Beck Diary
C. S. Bolton Diary
David R. Braden Diaries
Charles Dennison Brandon Diary
George Brinsmaid Papers
John S. Brown Family Papers, Reels 2 and 3.
John M. Brunt Papers
T. H. Connell Letters
Warren and Mary A. Day Letters
George E. Flanders Letters
George Fleischer (Collector) Civil War Letters
James H. Guthrie Diary
Daniel B. Holmes Papers
Webster Moses Letters and Diaries
Margaret Price Papers
William B. and Lewis Sherman Collection
William Smith Diary
Joseph Trego Collection
Samuel Worthington Papers
Kansas Collection, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas
John C. Belleville Papers
James Denver Papers
Henry C. Fike Correspondence
Isaiah Morris Harris Journal and Correspondence
William P. Harrison Letters
Isely Family Correspondence and Documents
James W. Jessee Diaries
Charles Oren Letters
Louisiana
Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series B: Holdings of Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Israel Adams and Family Papers
William M. Allen Correspondence
Michel Thomassin Andry and Family Papers
Henry Baines Papers
Albert A. Batchelor Papers
John W. Bell Papers
George M. Dixon Papers
William Y. Dixon Papers
James and John Durnin Papers
E. P. Ellis and Family Papers
William H. Ellis Family Papers
James Foster and Family Correspondence
G. W. Giles Letters
Arthur W. Hyatt Papers
William H. Ker Letters
Josiah Knighton Family Papers
Lemanda E. Lea Papers
Edwin Leets Letters
Thomas Railey Markham Papers
Robert H. Miller Letters
John A. Morgan Papers
Robert A. Newell Papers
William Nicholson Letters
Frank P. Peak Narrative
Prudhomme Family Papers
W. G. Raoul Letters
Major John Reid Papers
W. P. and Joseph Renwick Papers
Henry Brown Richardson Family Papers
John N. Shealy Letters
John F. Stephens Correspondence
Frederick R. Taber Papers
William Tamplin Letters
William Terry and Family Papers
George Tichenor Diary
Black Soldiers Collection
Massachusetts
Boston Atheneum
Cutter, Orlando Phelps. Our Battery; or, The journal of Company B, 1st O.V.A. Cleveland: Nevins Book and Job Printing, 1864.
Foxcroft, G. A. A Trackt for the Soldiers. Walpole, Mass.: May 1, 1863.
Cornelius Johnson Letter
Kirwan, Thomas. Soldiering in North Carolina; being the experiences of a ‘typo’in the pines, swamps, fields, sandy roads, towns, cities, and among the fleas, wood-ticks, ‘gray-backs,’ mosquitoes, blue-tail flies, moccasin snakes, lizards, scorpions, rebels, and other reptiles, pests, and vermin of the ‘Old North State.’ Embracing an account of the three-years and nine-months Massachusetts regiments in the department, the freedmen, etc, etc., etc., By “one of the Seventeenth.” Boston: Thomas Kirwan, 1864.
L. N. Peters Letter
“Petition to Abraham Lincoln for exchange of officers held as prisoners of war in Texas, 1864”
Massachusetts Historical Society
Edward J. Bartlett Correspondence
George H. Baxter Letters
Caleb Hadley Beal Papers
Edwin Bearse Correspondence
Lorin Low Dame Papers
Edward L. Edes Correspondence
Stephen G. Emerson Correspondence
Thomas S. Howland Papers
Oliver Ricker Diary
Samuel Storrow Papers
J. Chapin Warner Papers
Henry F. Wellington Papers
Michigan
Schoff Collection, Clements Library, University of Michigan
Numa Barned Papers
Hacker Brothers Papers
Charles Henthorn Letters
Levi Hines Papers
Cornelius Hulsapple Papers
Henry Johnson Letters
Christopher Keller Papers
Henry Grimes Marshall Papers
Charles M. Maxim Letters
Miller Brothers Letters
Hugh P. and George Roden Papers
Henry H. Seys Letters
William Henry Shaw Letters
C. Frank Shepard Papers
Ezra Stearns Papers
Minnesota
Minnesota Historical Society
George R. Adams Papers
Joseph Allen Letters
Peter Daniel Anderson Letters
Lyman Warren Ayer Papers
John Reed Beatty Papers
Brookins Family Letters
Pehr Carlson Papers
William Z. Clayton Papers
Loren Collins Papers
Elijah Evans Edwards Civil War Journals
FIRST MINNESOTA INFANTRY LETTERS
Capt. Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana Letters
Edward L. Davis Letters
Edward A. Walker Letters
Lucius F. Hubbard and Family Papers
John B. Leo Letters
Adam Marty Correspondence
Hans Mattson and Family Papers
William McGrorty and Family Papers
John Nelson Papers
Axel Hayford Reed Diaries
Jesse A. and Luman P. Washburn Papers
Mississippi
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Barry Letters
J. A. Bigger Manuscript
CIVIL WAR PAPERS (MISCELLANEOUS) 1861–65
R. W. Banks Letters
G. W. Bynum Letters
W. D. Cobb Letters
Sgt. A. Fishe Cove Letters
B. H. Develin Letters
Thomas Hemphill Letters
Conrad Anderson Lusk Letters
Arch McLaurin Letters
Samuel E. Rankin Letters
W. H. Simrall Letters
Thomas Trotter Weathersby Letters
William L. Davis Letters
A. G. Fraser Papers
George L. Hiatt Diary
T. J. Koger Collection
T. McNamara Diary
McWillie-Compton Papers
John C. Rietti Papers
W. A. Rorer Letter
J. B. Sanders Papers
J. F. Sessions Papers
John A. Wilson Letters
Missouri
Jackson County Historical Society, Independence, Mo.
Isaac Adair Papers
James H. Booth Letter
Tina May Doud Collection