Nineteenth-Century American Military Collection

The Nineteenth-century American military collection is an artificial collection that contains 1.6 linear feet of American military records spanning the period 1846-1903. The bulk of the collection dates from the American Civil War (1861-1865). Additional records are from the Reconstruction period (1865-1877) and the remainder of the nineteenth century.

There are also five items pertaining to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and two documents from the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers from 1856-1858. The records primarily document the administrative and bureaucratic logistics of waging a war and maintaining an army. Items include official correspondence between officers; orders; morning, tri-monthly and consolidated reports of unit manpower and supplies; food inspections; cargo and livestock manifests; provisions for supplies; and discharges and appointments of individual soldiers. Some personal letters (11 items) to and from Civil War soldiers are also present, as are a number of personal letters to and from Civil War veterans written during the post-war period.