TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
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Inventory of the John D. Beach Letters, 1862-1865
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Marisa Bell-Metereau, 2009. ©2009. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Beach, John D., soldier |
| Title | John D. Beach Letters |
| Dates | 1862-1865 |
| Extent | 0.2 linear feet (11 items in 1 box) |
| Abstract | Correspondence from Pvt. Beach of the 55th Illinois Infantry, Company G, to his mother describing everyday camp life in Memphis, Tenn., Washington, D.C., and Big Shanty [now Kennesaw], Ga. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | VAULT Case MS 10036 |
| Collection Stack Location | VAULT 35 3 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
John D. Beach Letters, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Purchase, Charles Apfelbaum, 2006.
Processed by
Marisa Bell-Metereau, 2009.
Access
The John D. Beach 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 John D. Beach 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 John D. Beach
Civil War Soldier, a Private in the 55th Illinois Infantry, Company G.
John Beach, a farmer from La Salle, Illinois, was mustered in the Union Army at age 20 in October 1861 along with two other friends from La Salle, Fred W. Smith and George B. Hawk. He began his career in Memphis, Tennessee and traveled to Georgia and Washington, D.C. He spent some time in a small pox hospital in Memphis in June 1863. Beach was promoted to Full Corporal. He was mustered out on August 14, 1865 at Little Rock, Arkansas.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
John Beach’s correspondence from Aug. 19, 1862 through Aug. 31, 1865, written from Memphis, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., and Big Shanty (now Kennesaw), Georgia to his mother.
The letters describe everyday camp life as being very monotonous. Beach makes few references to any military action except picket duty, and seems more concerned with receiving letters and packages from his girlfriends, Mary Anne and Jennie, and his family back home. He regularly sends money to his mother, and in a September 24, 1862 letter asks that she send him his overcoat, a pair of buckskin gloves, and his watch, which he figures he can sell for ten or twelve dollars. A letter of October 2, 1862 contains Beach’s request for a new pair of shoes or boots, which he wants “to be made of fine kid.” He promises to send his measurements so that the shoemakers in Ottawa, Illinois can make him a pair. A long letter of October 31, 1862 describes an outing he made with a few fellow soldiers to harvest sweet potatoes; and mentions that they have a “little darky boy” in camp, and “have a great deal of fun with him.” The following year, in June 1863, Beach is still in Memphis, but is now at the small pox hospital. However, he has just sent home $100, and all is well. In Big Shanty, Georgia (now Keenesaw, on the outskirts of Atlanta) on June 22, 1864, Beach writes that “the Rebs fought harder today then ever before.” Fighting is intense, with continuous shelling, although only one man in their regiment has been killed. The Union soldiers have not yet captured Atlanta. The last four letters are from 1865—March 17, May 22, June 13, and August 31—and contain little war news. Beach mentions that his box has not come on the express from Cairo, and that his girlfriend, Jennie, has a new melodeon from her father. He is also hoping for a furlough.
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Arrangement
Materials arranged chronologically.
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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
- Beach family
- Beach, John D., soldier -- Correspondence
- Hawk, George B., b. 1840?
- Smith, Fred W., b. 1839?
- United States. Army. Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 55th (1862-1865). Company G -- History -- Sources
- United States. Army. Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 55th (1862-1865). Company G -- Military life
Subjects
- Correspondence -- Tennessee -- 1862-1865
- Correspondence -- Washington (D.C.) -- 1862-1865
- Correspondence -- Georgia -- 1862-1865
- Georgia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
- La Salle (Ill.) -- Genealogy
- La Salle (Ill.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- Manuscripts, American
- Military Hospitals, American -- History -- 19th Century -- Sources
- Parent and adult child -- Correspondence
- Soldiers -- Diseases -- United States -- History -- 19th Century -- Sources
- Soldiers -- Georgia -- Correspondence
- Soldiers -- Tennessee -- Correspondence
- Soldiers -- Washington (D.C.) -- Correspondence
- Soldiers' writings, American
- Tennessee -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
- United States - -History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865-- Personal narratives
- Washington (D.C.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
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Other Finding Aids
See also catalog cards for individual authors, filed in the Newberry Library Manuscript Card Catalog.
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Container List |
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| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (items to send from home, money that will be sent home) Memphis, TN, Sept. 24, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (items to send from home) Memphis, TN, Oct. 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (Jennie, General Sherman, health) Memphis, TN, Oct. 31, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (box sent from home) Memphis, TN, Nov. 24, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (cloth and watch sent from home, visit from Brown’s wife) Memphis, TN, Aug. 18, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (regiment deaths, shelling, letters received sent back home) Georgia, June 22, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (money, shirts, George Hawk, furlough) unspecified location, Aug. 31, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (expected box from home, letter from Jennie) Memphis, TN, Mar. 17, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (sending photo of girlfriend) Washington, D.C., May 22, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (received last letter, will write more later) Memphis, TN, June 15, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Letter, Beach, John to mother (small pox hospital, money sent home, sister, regiment) Memphis, TN, June 26, 1865 | |||||||||