Connecticut Soldiers in the Civil War

The letters and documents in this digital exhibition come from the collections in the Linda Lear Center for Special Collections & Archives. This collection will eventually include extensive correspondence of nine young men from Connecticut who volunteered for service in the Union army between 1861 and 1863. Seven served until the end of the war. One died of malaria and one of food poisoning.

Site Navigation

There are nearly 90 letters from Connecticut soldiers in this exhibit together with a handful of letters written from home to Homer Curtiss. The letters are geolocated on the map to the left. Click and drag the map and use the arrows in the upper left-had corner to zoom in and out. You can also click on the locations below to orient the map geographically.

Louisiana (Bayou Teche Campaign, Battle of Irish Bend, Red River Campaign)

12th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry

Maryland and Pennsylvania (Antietam, Gettysburg)

14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry
21st Connecticut Volunteer Infantry

Central Virginia (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Overland Campaign)

14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry
21st Connecticut Volunteer Infantry

Washington, D.C. (Defense of Washington)

14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry
2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery

Valley Campaigns of 1864 (Opequan, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek)

12th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry

Georgia, South Carolina, Florida (Operations around Charleston, Battle of Olustee, Occupation of Savannah)

12th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry
3rd United States Colored Infantry
6th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry
United States Navy

Norfolk and the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign (Occupation of Norfolk, Siege of Petersburg, Occupation of Richmond)

2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery
6th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry
14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry
21st Connecticut Volunteer Infantry

Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron (Florida Gulf Coast, Mobile)

United States Navy

Letters from home

The Curtiss Family
(2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery)

The letters are also arranged on a timeline so that they can be browsed geographically. The timeline can be found here: https://lc-digital.conncoll.edu/neatline/fullscreen/cw-timeline