Charles Thomas Haigh Notebook-Diary 1863

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Military Institute Archives
Preston Library
Virginia Military Institute
345 Letcher Ave.
Lexington, VA 24450-0304
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Jeffrey S. Kozak
Phone: (540) 464-7516
Phone: (540) 464-7566
Fax: (540) 464-7089

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of a one volume notebook-diary kept by Virginia Military Institute Cadet Charles T. Haigh in 1863. The volume provides insight into the life and concerns of a VMI cadet during the Civil War. It primarily contains poetry written by his classmates, as well as poetry by Sarah Henderson Smith, the wife of VMI's Superintendent, Francis H. Smith.

The diary portion contains sparse entries for the period March-May 1863. Included are occasional references to wartime cadet life, as well as a brief account of General Stonewall Jackson's wounding, death, and funeral in May 1863.

Biographical / historical:

Charles Thomas Haigh was born March 1845 at Fayetteville, North Carolina. He attended the Hillsboro (North Carolina) Military Academy and served as a drillmaster in North Carolina at the beginning of the Civil War. He subsequently enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute, where he was a cadet from late 1861 through part of 1863.

Haigh resigned his cadetship in order to join the Confederate Army, and in October 1863 he began service in Company B, 37th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. He was killed in battle at Spotsylvania on May 12, 1864, while leading a charge. His brigade commander wrote that "Lieutenant Haigh was among the foremost in the charge upon the battery, and won the admiration of all who saw him."

Acquisition information:
Received from the Virginia Military Institute Museum in April 1966 (Museum #B-1923-1031)
Physical description:
The collection consists of one item.