Manuscript Resources on The Civil War
This guide describes collections documenting the Civil War in the Lower Mississippi Valley, including the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas, in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections (LLMVC) at LSU. The guide includes not only materials from the war years (1861-1865) themselves, but also materials from later periods containing manuscript sources for Civil War history. Thus such sources as post-war reminiscences and records of veterans' groups--materials dealing with the war as memory and experience--will be found alongside soldiers' and civilians' letters, diaries, and daybooks from the war itself. In addition, the guide includes collections of papers of Louisiana and other area soldiers who fought outside of the Lower Mississippi Valley.
LSU's holdings of Civil War manuscripts make LLMVC a rich treasure-trove for researchers. Many researchers are studying these documents from new perspectives, to see what they have to tell us about women's experiences on the home front and about Louisiana's African Americans, a significant number of whom fought for the Union. Louisiana played a central role in the war, with the fall of Port Hudson in July 1863 a critical event. Much of the state was long occupied by Union forces, and LLMVC contains the papers of numerous Union as well as Confederate soldiers. Other areas of strength include materials documenting the siege of Vicksburg, the Battle of Shiloh, and the Red River campaign.
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Bass, John H. Diary, 1864-1866. 1 item [on microfilm]. Location: Mss. Mf.:B. Physician. Bass was born in Adams County, Mississippi; was educated at medical school in Louisville, Kentucky; and practiced in Madison Parish, Louisiana. He served as an assistant surgeon in the Confederate Army, mainly in Georgia and Tennessee. Diary covers experiences in battles during the Civil War from April to December 1864. It also contains lists of casualties, medical memos, prescriptions, and miscellaneous accounts. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 3363. |
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Bass-Farrar Family Papers, 1827-1918 (bulk: 1829-1843, 1858-1867) 0.5 linear ft. Location: OS:B, R:41, VAULT:4. Papers of the Bass, Farrar, and Richardson families from Tensas Parish, La. and vicinity. Includes material on family matters, personal and professional activities, maintenance and overseeing of cotton plantations before and after the Civil War, life along the Mississippi River, life in Civil War Louisiana, and slavery. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 4907. Referenced in Guides: Plantations, Women, New Orleans in the Civil War, Civil War, African Americans, Natchez, Mississippi
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Batchelor, Albert A. (Albert Agrippa). Papers, 1852-1930 (bulk 1870-1900). 27 linear ft., 41 volumes. Location: S:143-170, J:13, 98:B, OS:B. Personal and business papers, correspondence, diaries, and account books pertain principally to local events, and the operation and management of several plantations in Pointe Coupee Parish, including Bella Vista Plantation, Lakeside Plantation, Phoenix Plantation, Highland Plantation, and Normandy Plantation. Early letters among Batchelor family members describe conditions at the Kentucky Military Institute and the Silliman Female Collegiate Institute, and mention events such as slave insurrections and military operations. Several letters describe Civil War battles, including the 1862 Battle of Kernstown and the 1863 battles of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville. Available on microfilm 5735 and 6061: Records of southern plantations from emancipation to the Great Migration, Series B, Selections from Louisiana State University, pt. 5, Louisiana sugar plantations, reels 1-15; Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series B, Holdings of Louisiana State University, reels 1-2. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 919. |
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Baton Rouge arsenal ledger, 1837-1905 (bulk 1837-1851). 1 volume. Location: J:24. Military depot to supply troops in New Orleans and posts up the Mississippi and Red Rivers. Ledger of the Baton Rouge Arsenal Ordnance Department. The entries list accounts with named individuals, articles purchased from them, and the costs, including one account of materials to be supplied to friendly Indians. The last pages are entries of personal and household expenses of Frederick Bohm from 1865-1873. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 4752. Referenced in Guides: Civil War
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Baton Rouge Civil War broadsides, 1860-1864 (bulk 1862-1864). 22 broadsides, 26 photocopies. Location: MISC:B, OS:B. Broadsides include a political poster of the Constitutional Union Party; a resolution of the Confederate city government of Baton Rouge; and broadsides posted by federal occupation authorities. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 2779. Referenced in Guides: Civil War, Baton Rouge
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