Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

                                              Mili tary Prison, Johnson’s Island, Ohio, 7 th May 1864. Dear Parents:             Father’s letter of the 25 th Apr. reached me some days since.   There is no immediate prospect of an exchange of prisoners, so far as I can judge, although we have a great many rumors pro and con, and both sides are supported by much testimony.   For my own part, I am always hopeful, but believe nothing, except that every day that passes leaves one less to be endured.   My health continues as good as could be expected, and I hope to live to see the outside world, unless previously hung.   I am sorry we see things so differently and that our ideas of right and wrong are so much opposed on one another: but I am hopeful on that subject also, and confidently ex...

Union postal cover from the Alfred S. Lippman collection In 1862, Union forces made their way past Forts St. Philip and Jackson to capture the city of New Orleans on April 25, with General Benjamin Butler's troops arriving the following week. The city would remain occupied through the remainder of the American Civil War. The Louisiana Research Collection contains a wealth of archives, maps, ephemera and printed materials related to the Civil War. In recent years, we have made a special effort to acquire letters and documents from Union soldiers who were stationed in the Gulf South, as these items shed an enormous amount of light on the Civil War experience in Louisiana. To mark the sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of the capture of New Orleans, LaRC is pleased to highlight some excerpts from our archives. In the spirit of the unique challenges of working with archival documents, we have reproduced text exactly as it appears in the document. B.B. Smith diary, Manuscrip...

So many of the soldiers fighting on both sides of the American Civil War were killed in battle or otherwise died young. Henry Ginder of New Orleans (1831-1922) was an exception, living a long, prosperous and productive life. On the occasion of his ninetieth birthday, more than two hundred people assembled in the main Sunday School room of the Prytania Street Presbyterian Church, to express their respect and love for Mr. Ginder. LaRC’s Manuscripts Collection 104 contains handwritten correspondence to and from Henry Ginder during the Civil War, small bound diaries, newspaper pages and clippings and other printed items, two 1873 New Orleans guidebooks, hand-drawn maps and sketches, Confederate money, financial records of the charitable Howard Association, certificates, and undated later-era typed biographical information. His letters to his first wife Mattie are extremely loving and, at the same time, very matter-of-fact and evocative of his daily experiences. Henry Ginder worked as a jew...

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, when Confederate forces began bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina. What ensued was a five year long war that forever changed American history, and shaped every facet of life as we know it today, from music, to baseball, to medicine, civil rights, women's rights, international relations and military strategy. The Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) contains many major Civil War archival and print holdings. Some of our American Civil War archival holdings include the papers of Jefferson Davis, the Gettysburg letters of Robert E. Lee, the papers of Albert Sidney Johnston, a strong set of Stonewall Jackson's papers, and numerous collections of papers, photographs, memoirs and diaries from individual soldiers. Recently, LaRC has made a special effort to acquire materials documenting the experience of Union soldiers serving in the Gulf region. These letters and diaries provide eyewitness accounts of what lif...

Soldiers’ letters contain unintentional, first-hand accounts of military history, and they have great power and authenticity even when the authors are not in any way famous. They may range in style from the conversational to the formal, and may be clearly handwritten or composed in a nearly illegible, ornate fashion. Here are a few of the archival collections among LaRC’s holdings which contain original letters of the Civil War era. • USA: Alfred A. Parmenter papers, 1861-1862, 1962-1963. Manuscripts Collection 690. This collection consists of the Civil War correspondence of Union soldier, Alfred A. Parmenter. Twentieth-century typed transcriptions accompany most of the letters. Also included are biographical research notes, printed material, and copies of official certificates produced in the 1960s, concerning Parmenter and his regiment. Alfred A. Parmenter (1836-1880) was a musician in the 26th Regiment, Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry. His parents were Horace and Betsey Parmenter o...

The Stibbs family papers were given to the Louisiana Research Collection over 30 years ago by Dean Stibbs, dean of students at Tulane University. His family papers contain a considerable amount of material written by John Howard Stibbs, who enlisted in the First Infantry Iowa Volunteers in 1861. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1863 and to Colonel in 1865. Stibbs was a POW following the battle of Shiloh, and would go on to serve as a member of the military court which tried and convicted Henry Wirz. In 1865, US Representative William B. Allison and Senator James Harlan wrote to Lincoln's Secretary of War asking for Stibbs' leave of absence to be extended (click image for larger view): Apparently the matter was referred to the President, who noted his approval on the back of the letter: The Louisiana Research Collection preserves extensive Civil War holdings , including the papers of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and Stonewall...

In 2009, the Louisiana Research Collection acquired a collection of Civil War period letters and postal covers from donor Al Lippman. The forty postal covers, with one exception , depict Union sentiment and patriotism. Many depict Confederate figures such as Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard. Sometimes these depictions are animal-like caricatures , others tend towards violent depictions, including several showing a hanging Jefferson Davis. Some postal covers portray a disdain of Britain's relationship with the Confederacy, others are steeped in Union patriotism and imagery of Uncle Sam. We have digitized the postal cover collection, and are pleased to announce its debut on the LOUIS Digital Library site. You can access the entire collection here . (Image from the Al Lippman Civil War Collection, Manuscripts Collection 993, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.) Posted by Eira Tansey.