Each entry includes the town from which the soldier enlisted, or to which his name was credited--not necessarily his hometown. The summaries also include, in most cases, the highest rank achieved by the soldier during the war, excluding brevet ranks. Both the rank and town of enlistment are derived from Theodore S. Peck’s Revised Roster of Vermont Volunteers. The names of all soldiers who authored materials in each collection appear in boldface, as do the names of civilian authors who played official or quasi-official roles. All boldfaced names appear in the indexes; the names of those who are mentioned in the descriptions but who did not write anything in the collection are not indexed.

Abbott, Peter M.
Barnet
Third Vermont Infantry, Co. K, Sergeant
1864 October 25
1 letter
Shortly after the battle of Cedar Creek, Peter M. Abbott wrote to a friend to tell of the casualties and give a brief account of the battle.   A large collection of Abbott letters can be found in the Vermont Historical Society.
Location: Manuscript files

Aldrich, Harlan P.
Northfield
First Vermont Cavalry, Co. C, Sergeant
1864
1 volume
Sergeant Aldrich, returning to the front from parole after being exchanged early in 1864, briefly described conditions on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor and the voyage to Washington.  He recorded the names of books he read while waiting to rejoin his regiment.  During the summer and fall he noted the ongoing engagements of the cavalry in the upper Potomac region and the Shenandoah Valley, including remarks on the battles of Winchester, Tom’s River, and Cedar Creek.  Mustered out of service soon thereafter, he attended a meeting in Vermont for Democratic presidential candidate George B. McClellan, but voted for Lincoln.
Location: Manuscript files

Amadon, John Q.
Marshfield
Eleventh Vermont Infantry, Co. I, Sergeant
1863 November 8-1865 April 30
8 letters
John Q. Amadon’s letters to his wife cover his service at Fort Stevens in the Washington defenses, with a gap for most of the twelve months that his regiment joined the Old Vermont Brigade in the field.  His final letter from Danville, Virginia, gives some description of that place and the local citizens.  His letters from Washington concern the sickness of his son, John H. Amadon, who joined his company in late in 1863, bounties for recruits, and issues at home.
Location: Manuscript files

Averill, John W. (b. 1841)
Barre
Eighth Vermont Infantry, Co. E, Musician
1864-1865
2 volumes
John Averill joined the Eighth Vermont as a musician early in 1864 and wrote in his diary about his voyage to New Orleans that winter.  He traveled with the regiment on foraging and guerilla-hunting expeditions up the Mississippi River.  The Eighth was sent to Washington for service in the Shenandoah Valley in the summer of 1864 but Averill received a leave due to illness.  He rejoined the regiment in Virginia after hostilities ceased in April, 1865.
Location: Small bound manuscripts

Ayer, Dana
Mount Holly
Sixth Vermont Infantry, Co. C, Private
1861 Nov. 17-1866 March 28
Dana Ayer’s correspondence with family members mainly concerns the soldiers’ pay and affairs at home.  Dana’s brother Perry wrote with advice after Dana enlisted against his father’s wishes.   Hospitalized some time in 1862, Dana was eventually transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps.  He wrote the remainder of his letters from various hospitals, including a few from the Burlington Marine Hospital.
Location: Manuscript files

Baker, Harvey P. (b. 1840)
Eighth Illinois Cavalry
1862 Feb. 9-1864 Feb. 27
15 letters
Letters of Harvey P. Baker, possibly of Hinesburg, Vermont, to Cyrus G. Pringle, a Vermont Quaker and draft resistor.  Bake wrote about his regiment’s experiences in the Peninsula campaign and other campaigns as well as the dangers of picket duty.  He commented on Pringle’s pacifism and pledged to remain his friend despite disagreeing with Pringle’s resistance to the draft.
Location: Manuscript files, Cyrus G. Pringle

Baker, Joel C.
Danby
Ninth Vermont Regiment, Co. K, Lieutenant
August 30, 1863
1 letter
This letter was presumably written by Joel C. Baker to fellow Danby resident Silas Griffith, a merchant who later became a lumber baron and Vermont’s first millionaire. Baker sarcastically congratulated Griffith on avoiding the draft and wrote contemptuously about acquaintances who had won exemption for phony medical conditions, then defended the efforts of Union military leaders.
Location: Manuscript files

Ballou, David S. (1837-1908)
Wilmington
Sixteenth Vermont Infantry, Co. F, Corporal
1862 December 7-1865 June 18
11 letters
Three letters of Corporal Ballou concern family matters, his arresting some fellow soldiers for assaulting a free black woman, and events of the first two days of the battle of Gettysburg.  He wrote his letter of July 2, 1863, while in line of battle.  One letter from his brother, Private William M. Ballou (Sixteenth Vermont, Co. F), concerns camp duties in December, 1862.  The collection includes seven war-dated letters from Zeph[aniah?] S. Moore, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1864 as a Paymaster Sergeant aboard the gunboat U.S.S. Juliet on the Mississippi River.  Moore wrote about his enlistment, the Juliet’s patrols, his salary and duties, and end-of-war activities.
Location: Manuscript files, Ballou Family 

Barstow, John Lester (1832-1913)
Shelburne
Eighth Vermont Infantry, Major
1862 May-1865 January
23 items
Letters and photographs of John L. Barstow, officer in the Eighth Vt. Infantry Regiment, mostly to his wife Laura.  The letters describe camp life at Ship Island, New Orleans, and various locations in the Louisiana countryside, and include comments on the attitudes and conduct of white and black civilians, as well as the leadership of Generals Nathaniel P. Banks, Benjamin F. Butler, and William B. Franklin.  Barstow served as brigadier general of Provisional Forces in St. Albans, Vermont, after he left the Eighth Vermont in June 1864. 
Location: Manuscript files; online
                   
Barton, Gilbert J.
Charlotte
Fourteenth Vermont Infantry, Co. I, Private
1861 Oct. 4 - 1863 Nov. 23
5 items
Among the Wicker Family papers are five letters to Cassius Wicker of North Ferrisburg, Vermont, from his friends in the military.  Gilbert J. Barton of Charlotte wrote about life in Camp Vermont and a visit to Mount Vernon (1862 Nov. 13), and about the repulse of Stuart's raid on December 28, 1862 (1863 Jan. 23).  Rollin W. Barton of Charlotte, a corporal in the Second Vermont Infantry, wrote about picket duty and other activities at Camp Griffin (1861 Nov. 6).  Private Henry O. Wheeler of South Hero, who later received a commission as first lieutenant in the First Vermont Cavalry, gave Wicker his opinions of Colonel Edward B. Sawyer and General George B. McClellan (1862 Nov. 18).  George W. Meigs of Vergennes, a private in the Second Vermont Infantry, described work details and a brief encounter with the enemy near Camp Advance (1861 Oct. 4).
Location: Wicker Family Papers

Barton, Joseph C.  (d. 1864)
Warren
Second U.S. Sharpshooters, Co. H, Private
1864 Feb. 25
1 item
Letter of Private Barton to his wife Sarah expressing concern for her health.
Location: Manuscript files

Belknap, Amos
St. Johnsbury
Eighth Vermont Regiment, Co. E, Musician
November 23, 1862
1 letter
Amos Belknap wrote to a friend about clearing the railroads of rebels near New Orleans, the explosion of an ammunition car because of careless smoking by the guards, and his lack of interest in a particular girl at home due to the easy availability of black women in New Orleans.
Location: Manuscript files

Benedict, George Grenville
Burlington
Twelfth Vermont Infantry, Co. C, Second Lieut.
ca. 1862-1887
5 cartons
During the nine-month service of the Twelfth Infantry, Lieutenant George G. Benedict worked as a correspondent to the Burlington Free Press, which the Benedict family owned.  He served as an aide-de-camp to General George J. Stannard, and was present at the Battle of Gettysburg, where his service won him a Congressional Medal of Honor.  Benedict wrote war news and detailed accounts of army life for the newspaper, and later published his letters and reminiscences in Army Life in Virginia (Burlington, 1895).  His most important work was his two-volume history, Vermont in the Civil War (Burlington, 1886 and 1888), which he wrote as the official historian for the State of Vermont. The Benedict Family Papers hold some of the notes and correspondence he used in the preparation of the history.  Included are numerous manuscript accounts and biographical sketches, contained in letters to Benedict from Vermont officers and soldiers. These letters, written from the later years of the war through the 1880s, are scattered throughout five cartons of the Benedict Family papers, in chronological order.  Only three of Benedict's personal letters from Virginia survive, along with a series of letters from his fiancée, Katherine Pease, describing her visit to Washington in the winter of 1863.  The collection also includes fifteen photographs by Brattleboro photographer George H. Houghton (see also George Harper Houghton collection below).
Location: Benedict Family Papers 

Bills, George
Norwich
Sixth Vermont Regiment, Co. C, Private
1862, June 21
1 letter
Private Bills described a peaceful encounter between men of his picket guard and pickets of the Fifteenth Georgia Regiment near Richmond, and a separate incident in which rebel soldiers were lured into a trap.
Location: Manuscript files

Bixby, George P. (d. 1864)
Shrewsbury
Fifth Vermont Infantry, Co. I, Corporal
1861 Dec. 19
1 item
Letter from George P. Bixby to his brother O.H. Bixby, concerning sickness, drills, and other activities at Camp Griffin.  Bixby was killed in action at the Battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864.
Location: Manuscript files

Bixby, Orville (d. 1864)
Chelsea
Second Vermont Infantry, Co. E, Captain
1861 Dec. 29-1873
39 items
Letters of Captain Orville Bixby to his wife Frances and others.  Bixby wrote little about the battles he participated in but gave his opinions on various issues, events, and personalities.  He also advised his wife on how to invest the money he earned, and wrote about his post-war plans.  Bixby was killed at the Wilderness on May 6, 1864.  Included are pension records, two letters from Second Lieutenant Henry R. Hayward to Mrs. Bixby concerning Capt. Bixby’s death, and two unlabeled photographs, presumably of Orville and Frances Bixby.
Location: Manuscript files

Blaisdell, Jonathan
Cambridge
Eleventh Vermont Infantry, Co. M, Private
1863 Jan. 20-1865 Aug. 8
11 folders
Jonathan A. Blaisdell enlisted in the Eleventh Infantry in January 1864 for a three-year term, and was mustered out in August 1865.  In his letters to family members he wrote mostly about camp conditions and activities, particularly in the lines outside Petersburg, Virginia.  The collection includes a few letters to Blaisdell from his aunt C[yrena?] Hull, who commented on events such as the assassination of President Lincoln.  Also, a letter from E. P. Blaisdell (Sept. 28, 1863) of an unidentified “25th Regiment,” giving a brief account of the siege of Vicksburg, and five letters from Private Luman Blaisdell (Jan.-Nov. 1863) of the First Vermont Cavalry.
Location: Manuscript files, Blaisdell Family

Blake, Herbert M. (d. 1863)
Eighty-Ninth Illinois Infantry, Co. K, Captain
1862 September 19-1863 April 20
3 folders
Captain Blake’s six well-written letters to Edward H. Williams describe the experiences of a company from the Chicago area raised for the Eighty-Ninth Illinois, a regiment in the Army of the Cumberland.  Many of the regiment’s men were railroad workers, and Williams, a railroad executive, sometimes sent gifts and money.  Blake wrote about red tape, the health and morale of his men, and hard marches and skirmishes, with one reference to the fight at Stone River.  Included are several letters to Williams from men in the company thanking him for his attention to their needs.  The collection holds an unsigned pencil sketch of Camp Drake.  A letter from a Southerner to his brother in the rebel army, said to have been found at Antietam, concerns the high price of goods in North Carolina and the abundance of men lacking devotion to the Confederate cause.  The collection contains autograph letters from President-elect Ulysses S. Grant (November 24, 1868) and General William T. Sherman (April 8, 1868 and February 27, 1869), thanking Williams for railroad passes.
Location: Williams Family Papers

Blake, Stephen D.
Calais
Eleventh Vermont Infantry, Co. I, Corporal
1863 Dec. 30, 1865 Jan. 13
2 letters
In the first of two letters, Private Blake mentioned the poisoning of several soldiers in Baltimore who purchased food from civilians. In the second he discussed personal matters and the occasional nighttime raids by Confederate soldiers.
Location: Manuscript files

Blinn, Charles H.
Burlington
First Vermont Cavalry, Co. A, Private 
1861-1864
2 volumes
Diaries of a private in the First Vermont Cavalry.  Includes accounts of battles in the Shenandoah Valley and the Gettysburg campaign, an account of Blinn's capture and imprisonment in Lynchburg, Virginia, and thoughtful observations on the conduct of the war.  The first volume covers September 21, 1861 through July 4, 1862, and the second volume November 19, 1862 through May 2, 1864. 
Location: Small Bound Manuscripts

Booth, Charles (b. 1837)
Strafford
Fourth Vermont Infantry, Co. B, Sergeant
1861 August 15-1862 August 3
1 folder
Four sections of Charles Booth’s diary, numbered 1, 6, 7, and 8.  The first section covers Booth’s enlistment, mustering in, and activities through October 1861, including remarks on the skirmish at Lewinsville on September 11 (in which the Fourth Vermont did not participate).  Section 6, covering mid-February into May 1862, concerns life at Camp Griffin and Booth’s stay at a Washington hospital, where he had the mumps and other ailments.  Sections 7 and 8 tell of his rejoining the regiment at Yorktown, the Union army’s efforts on the Chickahominy River, and the Seven Days’ battles, which he described in unusual detail.
Location: Manuscript files

Bostwick, Lucius H.
Jericho
Thirteenth Vermont Infantry, Co. F, Captain
1863, January 22
1 item
Letter from Lieutenant Bostwick to his aunt describing an outbreak of typhoid fever in his regiment and military activities in Virginia. 
Location: Manuscript files

Bradbury, Frank P.
Danville
Sixth Vermont Infantry, Co. F, Lieutenant
1863 April 27
1 letter
Letter of Lieutenant Frank P. Bradbury complimenting the appearance of General Joseph Hooker and the troops on review.
Location: Manuscript files

Brainerd, Aldis O. 
St. Albans
Fifth Vermont Infantry, Quartermaster
1862 Feb. 17-June 13
4 items
Letters of Quartermaster Aldis O. Brainerd to his brother John and his sister Ann Eliza Smith, wife of future Vermont Governor John Gregory Smith.  Brainerd wrote about the behavior of Vermont soldiers, the difficulties of the quartermaster's life, and the lessons he learned in the army about human nature.  He resigned his commission in May 1862 but stayed with the army to observe the Peninsular Campaign.
Location: Smith Family of St. Albans Papers

Brown, Bertram F. 
Williston 
Thirteenth Vermont Infantry, Co. F, Corporal
1862 Oct. 21-1863 June 20
2 items
Two letters of Private (later Corporal) Bertram F. Brown.  The first concerns his regiment's adjustments to army life shortly after its arrival in Washington.  In the second Brown describes the northward march of General Joseph Hooker and his army as it passed by on the way to Gettysburg.
Location: Manuscript files

Brush, Edwin 
Cambridge
Second Vermont Infantry, Co. H, Assistant Surgeon
1864 Jan. 6-1865 May 5
12 letters
The letters of Surgeon Brush to his wife Amy contain few comments about his work or the war but many comments about missing her and their daughter.  He made brief remarks about the frequent movement of his camps and mentioned the murder of two Union officers by guerillas in the Shenandoah Valley.
Location: Manuscript files

Burlington, Vermont
1860-1869
18 folders
Official documents relating to enlistment, conscription, and payment of bounties to soldiers from Burlington.  Documents include muster rolls, bounty receipts, certificates of disability, certificates of muster, substitution receipts, and correspondence concerning the payment of bounties.
Location: Burlington Town/City records

Burlington Relief Association
1861 April 22-June
1 folder
A list of the women who belonged to the Burlington Relief Association, and lists of the clothing and bedding they furnished to the First and Second Vermont Infantry Regiments.
Location: Manuscript files

Burnham, George E. (1836-1904)
Eighty-Third New York Infantry, Private
1862 April-1864 May 1
9 letters
Letters (several are photocopies only) between Private Burnham and his family concerning the movements of his regiment (including marching in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1862), his health, and his proximity to his brother Jonathan.  He asked his mother for a list of draftees and mentioned the soldiers’ dissatisfaction with draft-dodgers.  Burnham mentioned his slight wound received during Grant's campaign in the spring of 1864. Also includes a letter from George’s brother Jonathan Burnham, a soldier in Co. A, Eleventh Vermont Infantry during the Civil War, to his parents.
Location: Manuscript Files

Bush, Napoleon
Bristol
Vermont Infantry, Co. A, Private
1862 June 21-1865 May 3
7 items
Letters of Napoleon Bush, private in the Fifth Vermont, and of Napoleon B. Bush, private in the Eighth Vermont, both of Bristol.  The latter wrote home about the battle of Fair Oaks (May 31, 1862) and the prospects for another battle.  He was wounded at the Battle of Savage's Station (June 29, 1862) and wrote about his condition from a hospital shortly thereafter.  Napoleon B. Bush enlisted in the Eighth Vermont in February 1865.  He recounted (probably from newspaper stories) the capture of John Wilkes Booth and informed his wife Sarah that he did not wish to return permanently to Bristol.
Location:  Manuscript files