Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Collection includes family correspondence of the Bowman, Veach, and Leeper families. Manuscripts include a recounting of the Civil War event known as "Jones' Raid." In another document Nathaniel Cochrane, an ancestor of Thomas Leeper, recounts his capture and imprisonment by indigenous people, along with a biography of Cochrane. Daily life for that time is captured in "Home Life of the Leeper Family." Other typescript histories include "Monongah," Thomas Leeper's diary regarding heavy rains and high waters of 1888, a history of West Monongah High School, and "History of the Leeper Family."

Forty-nine letters of Ephraim W. Frost of Co J., 116th Reg, Ohio Vol Inf. Frost, who lived in Coolville, Ohio, near Parkersburg, was stationed at Moorefield, Martinsburg, near Romney, Winchester and Sleepy Creek in Morgan County, where his Reg. was guarding the B & O. The letters comment on fighting in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864 around Woodstock, mention of McNeill, Imboden, and Mosby, and contain much on camp life in the eastern panhandle area. Frost was wounded near Piedmont in May 1864 and died at Annapolis, Maryland in January 1865.

Published and unpublished manuscripts on episodes in West Virginia history; civil war history; hunting; and police protection in industrial plants. Letter of Gen. T.M. Harris concerning organizing and outfitting of troops, 1861; copies of newspaper articles by Gen. Harris concerning "the Sabbath question", 1876; Letters (typescript copies) of Pvt. James Z. McCausland's Brigade, 1863-1864 (7 items), on the Battle of Droop Mountain: fight at Dublin, picket duty around Warm Springs, Virginia; the Battle of Monocacy, and Early's raid on Washington, 1864; McChesney's handwritten request for medical discharge, 1865; letter (typescript copy) from William E. Kimble to Mortimer Johnson, Feb.20, 1862, Camp Allegheny on running mail through Union lines: and an article, West Virginia's rare Civil War Books, by H.E. Matheny. Confederate Soldiers' letters: (1) to his mother from James Z. McChesney, Nov. 16, 1863, relating to the Battle of Droop Mt. (2) two letters from W. I. Kunkle to James Z. McChesney relating some Civil War experiences.

Facsimiles of letters, a deposition, and an indenture related to civilian affairs under Colonel Campbell's command. The collection also includes a letter dated July 20, 1796, from Lancaster, to a Miss Mary Witmer, Berkeley Springs who is visiting the baths.

Military orders, telegrams, military correspondence concerning Campbell's command, lists of Confederate deserters, ordnance and quartermaster returns, additional military records, and a personal diary of Colonel Campbell, commander of the Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers which operated along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between Cumberland, Maryland, and Martinsburg, West Virginia. Subjects include civilian-military relations; guerrilla activities of John D. Imboden, the Ringgold Raiders, and the McNeill's Rangers; treatment of Confederate sympathizers; fighting in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1864; and military operations in the Eastern panhandle of West Virginia.