Grand Rapids Public Library Civil War documents

Collection

Identifier: Collection 242

Staff Only

Abstract

This collection has been devised to bring together several small accessions containing information related to Grand Rapids and Michigan in the United States Civil War. Also included are a few national pictorials of the era, which include information on all areas for background reference. Both originals and facsimile documents are included in the collection, such as letters, military records and journals of Michigan soldiers active in the Civil War. Additionally, there are civil war era publications, such as an original 1861 anti-slavery manuscript, an abolitionist manuscript by B.A. Mather. Some photographs are included. Later documentation of the war and Grand Rapids/Kent County area soldiers is also included.

Dates

1860 - 2013

Extent

4.5 Linear Feet (12 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection is arranged by series that in most cases correspond with a unique accession. However, a few series collect together stray material by material type, such as the Miscellaneous Photographs series, or Miscellaneous Unknown accessions. Items transferred from the Local History book collection are often included with the Unknown accessions.

The collection has been processed in this manner to bring together small accessions which include one to several documents, related to the topic of Grand Rapids and the Civil War. Other Civil War related material is also located in other collections.

Related Materials

007: Amasa B. Watson Post #395 Department of Michigan Grand Army of the Republic. Records.

025: Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

054: Grand Rapids Public Library Photographs Collection. Photos, either under the term “Civil War Soldiers” or under a specific name.

094: Richmond Family Papers. Rebecca Richmond Civil War era diaries.

101: Dorothy Keister Collection. Includes letters between David Noble and his wife Mary (Knapp) Noble (later Taylor), a carpenter from Sparta, MI., volunteered for Civil War service in Co. C, 1st Michigan Engineers and Mechanics

106: Camp Lee Guard Reports. Post Guards Reports, 1863-64, for Camp Lee, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

110-1-11: Transcriptions and clippings of Civil War letters from 1960/62 newspaper reports.

110-1-2.5: Stephen Lowing letters.

114: Josephene Bender Collection, including letters from family living in the South during the Civil War, which provide information about civilian life in the towns and military life in the camps.

117: Henry McConnell Collection of Civil War era military broadsides (poster graphics).

122: Ada (Mi.) Glass Negative Coll. Civil War toy soldiers.

144: Kent County Men in the Civil War. Manuscript, ca. 1930’s.

171: John W. Champlin Papers, includes Civil War era letters between he and his brother, Brigadier General Stephen G. Champlin, as well as other documents concerning the General’s Military Career (1861-1864).

181: Francis Hall Collection. Contains lists of graves of veterans of United States wars in various Michigan cemeteries, (1754-1939), plus rosters of military units formed in Grand Rapids.

200: Isaac Tower Correspondence. Photocopied letters to Isaac Lewis Tower, a soldier with the 13th Michigan Infantry Regiment during the Civil War.

201: Old Michigan Third. Men who served in the Third Michigan Infantry during the Civil War.

238: Sterling Family Records, Daniel L. Sterling of the 1st Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, Company D.

244: Michigan Soldiers Reported in Civil War Era Newspapers

332: Jackson D. Dillenback Collection at the Grand Rapids Public Library

GRPL Portrait and Biography files, under individual name of soldier

Index to soldiers in the collection - pending

Theodore W. Bement

George S. Bishop

Charles E. Bolza

Henry G. Cady

Charles H. Cary

Wesley A. Clark

Camper (Cemper) Frederick Idema / Henry Idema

James H. Keeney (Keeny)

Daniel Littlefield

Charles D. Lyon

Andrew McDonald

Thomas V.B. Mitchell

Charles P. Parks

Peter A. Weber

Processing Information

A photograph published in the Grand Rapids Sampler, pg. 62, including Silas Perkins and Theodore Lampert, was misidentified as being a Civil War photo. It was identified by John Gelderloos as not being from the Civil War.

54-44-2: Soldiers (25). 1. Image shows three (3) soldiers seated and one (1) standing, in front of a tent. A rifle and bag are beside the soldier identified as Theodore Lampert, and Silas Perkins is identified as the soldier standing.

This image was previous identified as Civil War era, but is now believed to be ca. 1890s. This image was previously identified as 25th Michigan Infantry, but it is now believed that the mark on the bag may be for the 2nd Michigan Infantry. Other documents in the GRPL Archives place Theodore Lampert as Company H, 2nd Regiment, Michigan State Troups, honorably discharged Jan. 2, 1893, with the rank of Captain.