Collections

Correspondence, diary, and farm account book of a Confederate officer and Pocahontas County cattleman and farmer. The correspondence deals primarily with Gatewood's activities as adjutant general and chief of staff of the West Virginia Division, United Confederate Veterans. The Civil War diary, 11 March-15 December 1865, covers action of Company F, Eleventh Virginia Cavalry, "Laurel Brigade," Rosser Cavalry Division, from Staunton to Appomattox. The farm account book, 1866-1869, also contains an account of Gatewood's Civil War experiences, including fighting in western Virginia and Jones' northwestern Virginia raid of 1863. The account book, 1801-1805, 1816, pertains to the John Rodgers estate. There are a few papers of Gatewood's father, Samuel V. Gatewood. Other subjects and topics covered are farming and stock raising in Pocahontas County, the Warm Springs of North Carolina, William and Mary College, Virginia Military Institute, Ann Smith Academy, Greenbrier Male Academy, Civil War in the Bath County, Virginia area, and cattle trade in the Kanawha Valley.

Four diaries and a nineteen-page memoir of Allen D. Frankenberry (1841-1909), who served chiefly as an orderly and signalman in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry from August 1862 to September 1863 and the U.S. Signal Corps in the Department of the Cumberland from October 1863 to June 1865. Frankenberry's diaries are available only on microfilm and are divided into four volumes: Book I, August 20, 1862-September 10, 1863; Book II, September 9, 1864-February 15, 1865; Book III, February 16, 1865-March 8, 1865; and Book IV, January 1, 1868-September 30, 1870. Books I, II, and III document Frankenberry's Civil War service with almost daily entries that chiefly describe his movements (travel in Pennsylvania and Maryland in 1862, Tennessee and Kentucky in 1863, Georgia and North Carolina in 1864 and 1865), foraging for food, rations, camp and quarters, drill, and horses. There is very little information about battles, except for Frankenberry's Signal Corps duty at Kennesaw Mountain and during the battle of Allatoona Pass in October 1864. Topics from the fall of 1864 and early 1865 also include Gen. William T. Sherman, Maj. Gen. John Corse, and prisoners in North Carolina. Book IV tells of Frankenberry's life after the war, including the cutting, sawing, and selling of timber in Point Marion, Penn., and his daily life, including church, home, and marriage. Collection also includes a photocopy of Frankenberry's Civil War memoir. Most of this nineteen-page document, which was written circa 1905, focuses on the Signal Corps during the battle of Allatoona Pass and Frankenberry's return visit to the site of the battle in 1895. He describes the actions and messages of Gen. William T. Sherman and Maj. Gen. John Corse and the gospel song "Hold the Fort."

One page typescript of a transcription of a Confederate soldier's diary entries for 9-12 April 1865. The soldier was at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Topics discussed include fighting the morning of 9 April; flag of truce and Lee's going to Grant's headquarters; terms of surrender; General John B. Gordon's farewell address to his troops; General Lee's General Order No. 9; another speech by General Gordon, referring to the possibility of a second Southern rebellion; and formal surrender of arms on 12 April, after which the soldier and his regiment were paroled and started for their homes. The soldier who wrote the diary was the grandfather of Richard E. Hyde, late of Charleston, West Virginia.

Photocopied transcription of the 1864-65 Civil War diary of Elmore Wilkinson of Company G, 15th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry. The diary includes accounts of several battles and encounters with the enemy, and a list of wounded men from Company G. One notable entry briefly mentions a general review of the troops in front of Richmond, Virginia by General U.S. Grant (March 17, 1865).

Civil War diaries authored by First Lieutenant (later Major) Fabricius A. Cather from Flemington, Taylor County, West Virginia, records his experiences in the military and political conflicts of the Civil War. The six diaries, and a transcribed copy of the original 1864 and 1865 diaries, contain entries for the years 1860 to 1865 regarding western Virginia's grassroots efforts to secede from the Confederacy and establish a new state, and of the first battles and skirmishes such as Rich Mountain and Corricks Ford. He describes campaigns involving his regiment, the First West Virginia Cavalry, including the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign under Sigel, Hunter, Sheridan, and Custer against Breckenridge, Early, and Mosby's Rangers; the last battles of Petersburg as Grant broke the Rebel lines; and the continuous fighting during Lee's retreat. Although most diary entries are one or two sentences in length, some entries in 1864 and 1865 are longer, perhaps due to his full involvement in combat. The collection also contains 18 items stored in pockets inside the covers of the diaries, including headquarters passes, business cards, and a complimentary pass for Lt. Cather to attend the June, 1861 "NorthWestern Virginia Convention" in Wheeling. An Addendum includes two scans of photos of Cather, two scans of Civil War military service papers, photocopies of an 1873 Kansas Land Grant, and genealogy material documenting the Cather family.

Diary of Frank Smith Reader of Brighton, Pennsylvania, who was a private in the Fifth West Virginia Cavalry, Company I. The diary covers the period of 10 March to 25 June 1864 and contains ca. 80 pp. Reader, for the period covered by this diary, was on detached duty from his regiment, serving as a clerk at General Franz Sigel's and General David Hunter's headquarters in Martinsburg, Cumberland, and in the field. Reader participated in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 and was present at the battles of New Market, Piedmont, and Lynchburg. Diary entries comment on the weather; Reader's moods; daily duties; troop movements; skirmishes and battles; and the scorched earth policy employed during the Valley Campaigns. Please see the historical note for further information concerning Reader and his regiment.

Private journal of George K. Campbell of Athens County, Ohio, who served as an officer in Company B of the 116th. Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Gettysburg campaign and the summer, fall, and winter of 1863, when he saw service in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Campbell served detached duty as an escort officer for recruits and prisoners during the spring and summer of 1864 and visited New York, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. He joined Company B of the 187th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in September 1864. That unit was soon consolidated and became Company E of the 174th. Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

Diary kept by Perrigo while he served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. He comments on his assignments, particularly on an engagement at Mobile, Alabama, at the close of the war.