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Sarah Stilson Correspondence

The correspondence includes 27 letters written to Stilson and twelve written by her, spread fairly evenly over the war years, from March 1861 to April 1865. Several of Stilson's letters are in the form of drafts, or of notes for letters that may or may not have been sent. The heart of the collection, comprising 25 items, is Stilson's correspondence with her friend and confidante Oliver Waldo West (b. 1842), a young newspaper editor (and future lawyer) from North Dansville, Livingston County, whom Stilson had met at a teachers' institute in 1860. In August 1862 West was mustered in to Co. K, 130th New York Infantry; he remained with the regiment, as 1st lieutenant, when it was converted to cavalry and designated the 1st New York Dragoons, in mid-1863. The following October West was detached to serve on the staff of Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasanton, commanding the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He was captured on 7 May 1864, at Todd's Tavern, and spent the balance of the war in prison. The letters exchanged by West and Stilson (16 written by West, 11 by Stilson) are long, lively, and opinionated—often, it would seem, provocatively so. While much of the content is personal news, recounted at length, with frequent touches of humor, the letters are also very much a dialogue, an exchange of ideas and feelings about both contemporary affairs and the broader life of the mind. There is a good deal of commentary on literature; both West and Stilson had a weakness for verse. There is also a good deal of verbal sparring, not least about gender relations. Also in the collection are three letters to Stilson from Capt. Henry J. Gifford of the 33rd and 49th New York, written after the battles of Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Spotsylvania, and two other letters from soldiers.

Metadata

Creator
Stilson, Sarah L. (Sarah Lyra), 1838-1912
Date
1861-1865
Material Type
Mixed Materials
Genre/Physical Characteristic
Letters (correspondence)
Dimensions
.2 cubic feet
Language
English
Identifier
/repositories/3/resources/1453
Campus Location
Rare Books & Special Collections, Hesburgh Libraries
Conditions Governing Access
There are no access restrictions on this collection
Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user

Subject
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Correspondence
United States. Army. New York Infantry Regiment, 130th (1862-1863)
West, Oliver Waldo, 1842-
United States. Army. New York Cavalry Regiment, 1st Dragoons (1862-1865)
Link to Finding Aid
https://archivesspace.library.nd.edu/repositories/3/resources/1453
This digital collection may not include all items or all of the information available about the source collection. See the finding aid for more information.
Contact Us

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Rare Books & Special Collections, Hesburgh Libraries at rarebook@nd.edu.

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