Vermonters in the Civil War: Manuscripts in Silver Special Collections, University of Vermont

This guide provides descriptions of the Civil War manuscript collections held by UVM Special Collections, including letters, diaries and reports.

Special Collections actively acquires new collections to serve the interest of scholars and the general public in the Civil War. Librarian Jeffrey D.Marshall published a first edition of Vermonters in the Civil War: Manuscripts in the Special Collections Department, University of Vermont Library in 1994 and a second edition in 2004.The 1994 edition described 90 collections, and the 2004 description included just over 200 collections. This guide includes descriptions form the earlier editions as well as additional collections acquired through 2011. The guide will be continually updated with new collection descriptions.

Each entry in the Collection Descriptions 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. 

Note: Most of the Civil War manuscript collections are stored off-site. Please contact us at least 48 hours in advance so that we have sufficient time to retrieve material for you to use in our reading room. A small number of collections are available online; links are provided in the collection  descriptions.

Published Sources

The UVM Libraries hold many published primary and secondary sources related to Vermont and the Civil War. Most are shelved in Special Collections; some are available online, in Howe Library and in the LRA.

Use CATQuest to search for published material.

• Search with keywords
• Use "advanced search" to search by subject headings, such as "Vermont--History--Civil War, 1861-65"
• Filter your search results by library to identify items in Special Collections
• To search for primary sources such as diaries and letters, try the following predefined terms: correspondence, diaries, documents, Interviews, letters, personal narratives, sources.

Online

Vermonters in the Civil is an online collection that includes a selection of letters and diaries from the University of Vermont and the Vermont Historical Society.

Civil War Broadsides and Ephemera Collection contains items held in Special Collections that were printed and circulated from 1861 to 1865.

Visit the Silver Special Collections website to learn about visiting the library and the services available.