Tag Archives: Emancipation Proclamation

23 July 1863: “I have made myself a leg which I am beginning to use in walking about the farm.”

Item Description: Letter, dated 23 July 1863, from Walter Waightstill Lenoir to his brother.  Walter was a lawyer in Lenoir, N.C. before the war.  He had enlisted in the North Carolina 58th Infantry by early 1862 but was wounded at Ox … Continue reading

Posted in Southern Historical Collection | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on 23 July 1863: “I have made myself a leg which I am beginning to use in walking about the farm.”

12 February 1863: “I am here gathering up conscripts straglers and absentees and hope you will come up before I leave”

Item description: Letter, 12 February 1863, from Robert E. Brumby to his sister Sarah Simpson, while he was on leave in Goodman, Mississippi. [Item transcription available below images.] Item citation: From the Simpson and Brumby Family Papers, #1408-z, Southern Historical Collection, The … Continue reading

Posted in Southern Historical Collection | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 12 February 1863: “I am here gathering up conscripts straglers and absentees and hope you will come up before I leave”

8 February 1863: “My chief hope & aim in coming here was to protect loyal men, and to encourage the people to return to their allegiance to the Union.”

Item description: Letter, 8 February 1863, to U. H. Wheeler of Washington, N.C., from Edward Stanly in New Bern, N.C. Stanly was a native of New Bern who had practiced law in Washington, N.C.; had been a Whig member of … Continue reading

Posted in Southern Historical Collection | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 8 February 1863: “My chief hope & aim in coming here was to protect loyal men, and to encourage the people to return to their allegiance to the Union.”

26 January 1863: “…for my part I want them all free and I should like that the war was over for I would like to be at home…”

Item description: This letter, dated 26 January 1863, was written by Andrew Sproul to his wife in Ohio. Sproul, a private in the Union Army, describes activities near the mouth of the Yazoo River in Mississippi. Of particular interest are … Continue reading

Posted in Southern Historical Collection | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on 26 January 1863: “…for my part I want them all free and I should like that the war was over for I would like to be at home…”

2 January 1863: “…the ladies were under a guard of Federal Soldiers haing spent the night in Jail and part of the time in a Criminals Cell!!

Item Description: Rev. Overton Bernard recounts the changing social conditions brought about by Union occupation and notions of emancipation. A white slave owner’s son, wife, and his wife’s friends were briefly imprisoned after an enslaved or servant woman was slapped for her … Continue reading

Posted in Southern Historical Collection | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on 2 January 1863: “…the ladies were under a guard of Federal Soldiers haing spent the night in Jail and part of the time in a Criminals Cell!!

1 January 1863: “Today is the period fixed for Mr. Lincoln’s unwise and unconstitutional emancipation proclamation…Thousands of the Poor deluded Negroes have left their homes…”

Item Description: Rev. Overton Bernard depicts the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation on the enslaved African Americans. Item citation: From folder 2 of the Overton and Jesse Bernard Diaries #62-z,  Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Item transcription: … Continue reading

Posted in Southern Historical Collection | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on 1 January 1863: “Today is the period fixed for Mr. Lincoln’s unwise and unconstitutional emancipation proclamation…Thousands of the Poor deluded Negroes have left their homes…”

8 December 1862: “He calls his famous proclamation a contemplated emancipation scheme.”

Item: article from the Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, N.C.), 8 December 1862 (Volume 20: number 29), page 2, column 3. Transcription: LINCOLN’S MESSAGE. Petersburg, Dec. 4.—The N. York Times, of the 2nd, has been received here.  Lincoln’s message was read on … Continue reading

Posted in North Carolina Collection | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on 8 December 1862: “He calls his famous proclamation a contemplated emancipation scheme.”