Thomas Vance papers

The Thomas Vance Papers consist of nine letters (with scanned copies and typed transcripts) from the American Civil War, along with related background and printed materials. The letters dating between April 8, 1862 and April 3, 1864 were written to his family by Vance while serving with Company I, 69th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. During his period of service the 69th saw action at Gallatin against Morgan (mentioned in the letter of September 5, 1862) and in such battles as Stones River at Murfreesboro, Tennessee (referred to in the letters of December 18, 1862 and January 8, 1863), Chickamauga (the 69th was primarily employed as a train guard during battle as mentioned in the letter of September 28, 1863, written when at Chattanooga after the battle), and was involved in the Atlanta campaign during the period after the letters.

The letters also mark the progress as Thomas grew and matured during his period of service, starting at age 15 and mustering-out around when he was 18. His style of writing started out in 1862 with no capitalization and just short little “sentences”. By the last letter in 1864, while his spelling and punctuation were still erratic, his comments were more astute and his style smoother. Some points of interest mentioned in the letters include foraging, troop strength and movements, impressions of the country, and his own situation related to pay, getting mail, and references to people at home and soldiers in the regiment known to his family.

Transcripts have been made of the letters, retaining the spelling of the originals but inserting punctuation to improve readability.