TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
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Inventory of the Henry Rice Letters, 1862
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Jane Venanzi, 2009. ©2009. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Rice, Henry, 1843-1863 |
| Title | Henry Rice Letters |
| Dates | 1862 |
| Extent | 0.2 linear feet (1 box) |
| Abstract | Six letters, Sept. 14-Oct. 15, 1862, from Camp Peoria in Peoria, Ill., from Henry Rice of the 103rd Illinois Infantry to family in Lewistown, Ill., describing military life in the camp. Included with the letters is an envelope addressed to "Mrs. Amory Rice, Lewistown, Fulton County, Illinois," illustrated in red and blue with the seal and motto of the United States |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Vault Case MS 10006 |
| Collection Stack Location | Vault 35 3 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
Henry Rice Letters, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Charles Apfelbaum, purchase, 2001.
Processed by
Jane Venanzi, 2009.
Access
The Henry Rice 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 Henry Rice 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 Henry Rice
Henry Rice was a Civil War soldier in Company H of the 103rd Illinois Infantry Regiment.
At age 19, Henry Rice left his home in Lewistown Illinois, a farm on which he lived with his father Amory, his mother, Martha, and a brother, Oliver, to enlist as a private on August 12, 1862. After waiting eagerly for a month at Camp Peoria, Illinois, he was finally mustered in on October 2, 1862. Letters do not chronicle the rest of his experiences, but he served until February, 1863, when he died of disease in Jackson, Tennessee.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Six letters written by Henry Rice to his family during the Civil War, 1862, and one envelope with a patriotic vignette addressed to Amory Rice, Lewistown, Fulton County, Illinois.
Henry Rice wrote to his family during the month when he stayed at Camp Peoria, waiting to go into active service. During that time he discusses religion at camp, illness, deserters, uniforms, food, guard duty, and equipment, or lack thereof. He seems proud of his fellow soldiers and impatient to fight, or at least, get paid.
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Arrangement
Letters arranged chronologically, followed by envelope.
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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
- Owen, E.H.
- Rice family
- Rice, Amory, 1813-1904
- Rice, Henry, 1843-1863 -- Correspondence
- Rice, Martha Conant Dewey, 1818-1901
- United States. Army -- Military life
- United States. Army. Illinois Infantry Regiment, 103rd (1862-1865)
Subjects
- Camp Peoria (Ill.) -- History -- 19th century
- Correspondence -- Illinois -- Peoria -- 1851-1900
- Fulton County (Ill.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
- Illinois -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Military life
- Illinois -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- Lewistown (Ill.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
- Manuscripts, American -- Illinois
- Patriotic envelopes
- Soldiers -- Illinois -- Peoria -- Correspondence
- Soldiers -- Illinois -- Peoria -- History -- 19th century
- 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 -- Personal narratives
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Container List |
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| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Letter, Rice, Henry to “Folks at Home,” Peoria, IL (lack of blankets, religion, the city, camp life), Sep. 14, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Letter, Rice, Henry to Mother, Peoria, IL (Religion at camp, mustering), Sep. 21, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Letter, Rice, Henry to Father, Peoria, IL (food, mustering, deserters, illness, troop movement), Sep. 23, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Letter, Rice, Henry to “Folks,” Peoria, IL (food, mustering), Sep. 26, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Letter, Rice, Henry to Brother, Peoria, IL (mustering, weather, illness, money), Oct. 2, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Letter, Rice, Henry to Brother, Peoria, IL (Gates City, equipment, troop movement, colonel retires), Oct. 15, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Envelope, Rice Henry to Mrs. Amory Rice at Lewistown, Fulton County, IL, Patriotic vignette, n.d. | |||||||||