James W. McKee Collection: Two Confederate Army Soldier Diaries, 1861-1865

Title

Description

The James W. McKee Collection: Two Confederate Army Soldier Diaries, held by the Archives of Appalachia [link to www.etsu.edu/archives] at East Tennessee State University, consists of photocopies of typescripts of the diaries of two Confederate soldiers, Finley Patterson Curtis and Rufus A. Spainhour. Both men served in the Confederate Army with the First and Second North Carolina Regiments in the Virginia theater. Curtis' commanders were General Stephen Dodson Ramseur and Brigadier General (?) Warren. Spainhour's commanders included Generals Jubal A. Early, James B. Gordon, Robert E. Lee, G.H. Stewart and (?) Thurston and Brigadier Generals Theophilus Hunter Holmes and Stephen Dodson Ramseur. Spainhour's diary is the more colorful; he covers several notable events (e.g., Gettysburg, the siege of Washington, and Appomattox) and includes sober reflections on the realities of war.

Curtis' diary is a detailed account of his service from 1861-1864 and is divided into four books. His diary ends with an account of a furlough at home. Spainhour's diary is a condensed version of the original by Curtis' son, F.P. Curtis, Jr. A question mark (?) used in the typescript indicates doubt concerning whether the word was copied correctly from the handwritten diary.

The current digital collection contains PDF file surrogates created in 2022 of the complete content of the collection.

Creator

McKee, James W. (Person)

Source

James W. McKee Collection: Two Confederate Army Soldier Diaries, Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University

Date

1861-1865

Rights

The Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University provides access to the materials on this website for the purposes of research and education, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. [identification of item], [identification of collection], Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University). Any commercial uses of the materials or any uses that exceed the limits of fair use and other relevant statutory exceptions require the permission of the Archives of Appalachia and the copyright holder(s). It is the user's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials.

Compressed (low resolution) files are available on this website. Requests for accessing uncompressed (high resolution) versions of this material can be sent to the Archives of Appalachia.

Items in this collection are presented for their historic and research value. They may contain content that some viewers will find objectionable.