TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
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Inventory of the L. S. Willard Letters, 1862-1864
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Jane Venanzi, 2009. ©2009. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Willard, L. S. (Lot Sabine) |
| Title | L. S. Willard Letters |
| Dates | 1862-1864 |
| Extent | 0.2 linear feet (1 box) |
| Abstract | First Lieutenant in the 11th Illinois Cavalry, Company G, who later served as major and aide-de-camp to General James Birdseye McPherson. Includes letters home to family from Brimfield, Peoria County, Illinois, from Camp Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Tennessee, and Louisiana, 1862-1864. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Vault Case MS 10031 |
| Collection Stack Location | Vault 35 3 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
L. S. Willard Letters, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Charles Apfelbaum, purchase, 2006.
Processed by
Jane Venanzi, 2009.
Access
The L. S. Willard Letters are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 5 folders at a time maximum, and items in each folder will be counted before and after delivery to the patron (Priority I).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The L. S. Willard Letters are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biography of L. S. Willard
First Lieutenant in the 11th Illinois Calvary, Company G which served as Headquarters Guard, 17th Army Corps from 1863 to the end of the Civil War.
Lot Sabine Willard enlisted at age 22 on December 20, 1861. The money that he earned being a “traveling agent” in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois allowed him to enter the war as a first Lieutenant in the 11th Illinois Calvary, Company G. At first eager to try his regiment with active service, Willard quickly changed his mind after the incredibly high mortality rate of its first fight, the Battle of Shiloh. The event was to haunt him for years afterward. Even though he often longed for peace and home, Willard continued his military career and became major and senior aide-de-camp to General McPherson on April 18th, 1863. He camped in Vicksburg, then marched with Sherman and fought at Resaca and Kennesaw Mountain. Willard survived the war, was mustered out on August 9th, 1864, and, despite his frequent assertions that he would never marry, settled down in Litchfield Ward 2, Montgomery, Illinois and began raising a family. 1870 found him as a dry goods merchant living with his wife Ellen, his children, William and May, and a domestic servant, having accumulated $6,000 worth of property. Within ten years, Willard moved to Minnesota and his family grew with the addition of a third child, Asa.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Nineteen Letters from Lot Sabin Willard to his mother, father, and brother in Peoria, Illinois during the Civil War, from 1862-1864, as well as two envelopes addressed to Mrs. G. Hathaway, Brimfield, Peoria county, Illinois.
Willard’s first two letters, which explain details of camp life at St. Louis, Missouri and express anticipation for active service, are quickly followed by two from Pittsburg, Tennessee detailing the horror of the Battle of Shiloh, with specifics about his participation and reinforcements. Willard continues sending letters from LaGrange and Memphis Tenessee; Tallahatchie River, Mississippi; Millikin’s Bend, and Providence, Louisiana; and Vicksburg, Mississippi, which discuss food, skirmishes, battles, blockades, Vicksburg and commanding figures such as McPherson, Grant, and Sherman. Willard also writes about his promotion to major and Senior Aide-de-Camp, corruption amongst the officers, his feelings on the anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh, and his own longing for home and peace. After this, he follows Sherman and writes a quick letter after the battle of Resaca to reassure his family, as well as a longer one anticipating the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, writing from Resaca, Kingston, Big Shanty, Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia and near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Willard’s letters clearly show his perspective as an officer, looking not only at the immediate battles but at wider politics and battle plans, as well as his obvious preference for peace.
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Arrangement
Letters are arranged chronologically, followed by envelopes.
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885
- Hathaway, G., Mrs.
- Hathaway, Maria S.
- McPherson, James Birdseye, 1828-1864
- Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
- United States. Army. Dept. of the Tennessee
- United States. Army. Illinois Cavalry Regiment, 11th (1861-1865?)
- United States.Army -- Officers -- Correspondence
- Willard family
- Willard, L. S. (Lot Sabine) -- Correspondence
Subjects
- Louisiana -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- Tennessee -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- Brimfield (Ill.) -- Genealogy
- Brimfield (Ill.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
- Brothers and sisters -- Correspondence
- Camp Benton (Mo.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
- Correspondence -- Southern states -- 1851-1900
- Georgia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- Illinois -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- Kennesaw Mountain, Battle of, Ga., 1864 -- Personal narratives
- Manuscripts, American
- Mississippi -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- Parent and adult child -- Correspondence
- Peoria County (Ill.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
- Pictorial lettersheets
- Resaca, Battle of, Resaca Ga, 1864 -- Personal narratives
- Shiloh, Battle of, Tenn., 1862 -- Personal narratives
- Soldiers -- Southern states
- Soldiers' writings, American
- Southern States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Military Life
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Regimental histories
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Container List |
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| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Mother, Benton Barracks, St. Louis, MO (religion at camp, supplies, pay, marriage, anticipation), Mar. 14, 1862 Mar. 14, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to “Much Respected Parent,” St. Louis, MO (pneumonia, death of a soldier, spies, St. Louis), Mar. 19, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, Pittsburg, TN (battle, shells, being an officer, Nelson, reinforcements, Buell, Pittsburg), Apr. 8, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Mother and Father, Pittsburg, TN (aftermath of battle, illness, longing for home), Apr. 13, 1862 Apr. 13, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Mother, LaGrange TN (illness of brother, longing for home and peace, McPherson, Grant), Nov. 23, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Father and Mother, Tallahatchie River, MI (retreat, Murphy, food (half-rations, raiding), no infrastructure), Dec. 27, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Letter, Willard, L.S. to Brother, Memphis, TN (McPherson, Grant, Vicksburg, longing for home), Feb. 1, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Father, Memphis, TN (Vicksburg, boats, mortality, McPherson, weather), Feb. 18, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, Millikin’s Bend, LA (troop movement, gunboat blockade, Vicksburg, Grant, McPherson, promition to major, senior aide-de-camp), Apr. 19, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, Providence, LA (remembering Shiloh, rank, corruption, power struggles), Apr. 7, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, Providence, LA (Vicksburg, power struggles, draft, marriage), Mar. 27, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, Vicksburg, MI (camp life, Grant, McPherson, abolition, troop positions), Dec. 31, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, Vicksburg, MI (McPherson, Sherman, Grant, marching, visiting family), Jan. 30, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, Vicksburg, MI (marching, skirmishes, visit home, Grant), Mar. 13, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, “Ressacca” (Resaca), GA (fight, enemy, retreat, losses, folliwing, Sherman), May 21, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, Kingston, GA (pursuit, Grant, troop movement issues, lack of tents, longing for home), May 21, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, Big Shanty, GA (fighting, anxiety, McPherson, deaths, Grant, Fort Darling, resignations, McClellan, Lincoln, power struggles), Jun. 17, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Brother, “Near Kensaw Mountain” (Kennesaw), GA (weather, Grant, anticipating battle), envelope with patriotic vignette, Jun. 24, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Letter, Willard, L. S. to Mother, “Near Chattanooga River, TN (Atlanta, blockade, longing for peace), Jul. 10, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Two envelopes, Willard, L. S. to Mrs. G. Hathaway, Brimfield, Peoria County, Illinois, n.d. | |||||||||