Tag Archives: Yorktown

25 March 1864: “The articles captured by this vessel consist of 1 small schooner, 1 sloop, 1 boat, 107 sacks of corn, 2 sacks of wheat, 1 sack of oats, 6 sacks of salt, 5 kegs of salt, 5 boxes of tobacco, 15 pair oyster tongs, 12 plows, 1 cultivator, 100 plow points, 46 plowshares, and 15 molding boards.”

Item description: “Report of Lieutenant-Commander Babcock, U.S. Navy, regarding the disposition of prizes taken in York and Severn rivers.” To read more from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, click here. … Continue reading

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4 June 1863: “The main purpose of the expedition is to destroy the foundry, where it is said shot, shell, guns, and other instruments of rebellion are manufactured.”

Item description: Report, dated 4 June 1863, by Major General Erasmus D. Keyes regarding an expedition to destroy a Confederate foundry on the Mattapony River near Walkerton, Virginia. To read more from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in … Continue reading

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22 December 1861: “A camp is visible about halfway from the mouth of the river to Yorktown, the drums of which we can distinctly hear morning and evening.”

Item description: Report of Acting Master Studley, U. S. Navy, commanding U. S. S. Young Rover, regarding batteries on the York and Poquosin rivers, and the crossing by small boats of the York River. To read more from the Official … Continue reading

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5 October 1861: “The Philanthropic Society have heard with painful feelings of the death of one of its most distinguished ornaments.”

Item description: Minutes from a 5 October 1861 meeting of the Philanthropic Society of the University of North Carolina. Minutes note society business and debates, and contain committee reports and society resolutions. This particular set of minutes includes a resolution … Continue reading

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15 August 1861: “Gen Magruder…carried about 7 or 8 thousand soldiers the other day from this place…down to Hampton and burned the entire place…”

Item Description: This letter, dated 15 August 1861, is from Francis W. Bird in Yorktown, Virginia to his sister, discussing sickness in his camp as well as the burning of Hampton, Va. Bird enlisted in the Confederate Army on 1 … Continue reading

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30 June 1861: “I write to you as I talk to you, although you may be ashamed of such tame love letters.”

Item description: Letter, 30 June 1861, from William Gaston Lewis to Martha (“Mittie” or “Mitt”) Lucinda Pender of Tarboro, N.C. Item citation: From the W. G. Lewis Papers #2314-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel … Continue reading

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16 June 1861: “I suppose by this time that you know as much about the fight as we do.”

Item description: Letter, 16 June 1861, from Joseph Hubbard Saunders to his mother. The letter gives a detailed description of Saunders’ experience in the recent Battle of Bethel Church, shares news about other soldiers from Chapel Hill, and asks about … Continue reading

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9 June 1861: “John, I must tell you now about the fight our Company had yesterday.”

Item description: Letter, 9 June 1861, from William Porter, of the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment, to his brother John Porter, Swannanoa, N.C. Writing this letter from a Confederate encampment at Bethel Church, Va., Porter details a skirmish that occurred … Continue reading

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