HNRS 2030: Civil War Memory

The collection is comprised of the two volume Civil War memoirs and diary of Ezekial John Ellis, as well as a typed transcript and a research manuscript by Martina Buck Ellis in which she presents an edited version of the diary and a biography of Ellis composed from his memoirs. Volume one of the diary begins with a retrospective account by Ellis of the events leading up to the Civil War and his service in the war before his capture and imprisonment at Johnson Island in 1863. This portion of the volume is entitled A Retrospect (p. 1-72), wherein he describes his political views, the development of Confederate military forces, his military service, and his capture. Ellis wrote the account while imprisoned at Johnson Island. It serves as an introduction to his prison diary, which begins February 1, 1865, and continues into volume two (April-July 1865). In the diary, Ellis documents his daily observations and experiences as a prisoner of war and describes his trip back to Louisiana after his release. Additionally, his personal thoughts reflect his grief and distress over the war. In a later political speech recorded in the diary (ca. 1865, v. 2 pp. 205-217), Ellis considers the justification for war, the defeat of the Confederate States, and the political environment after the war.

Correspondence includes letters (1863-1866) from Stephen Duncan, Jr., family friend F. Surget, and family members concerning social, political, and economic problems of Reconstruction in Louisiana and Mississippi. Topics include attitudes toward freedmen, devastation caused by the war, Confederate sympathies after the war, and cotton cultivation and trade.

Business records comprise the majority of the collection; legal records, printed material, personal papers and correspondence are also included. Business records consist of record books, plantation diaries, payroll records, cotton records books, financial papers and business correspondence. However, a few letters offer political observations during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

The United Confederate Veterans Association was established in 1889 as a benevolent, historical, social, and literary association. It was active from 1889 to the mid 1940s. Its mission was to "unite in a general federation all associations of Confederate veterans, soldiers and sailors, now in existence or hereafter to be formed; to gather authentic data for an impartial history of the war between the States; to preserve relics or mementos of the same; to cherish the ties of friendship that should exist among men who have shared common dangers, common sufferings and privations; to care for the disabled and extend a helping hand to the needy; to protect the widows and the orphans, and to make and preserve a record of the services of every member, and as far as possible of those of our comrades who have preceded us in eternity."

The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission was created on November 8, 1990, through Public Law 101-543, a piece of legislation sponsored by Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. As a result of the nation’s renewed interest in the Civil War and the high cost to the federal government of saving the Manassas battlefield in 1988 through emergency measures, Bumpers felt that the nation needed to establish a bi-partisan blue-ribbon commission with the purpose of developing a systematic process of identifying and prioritizing Civil War sites. Consequently, this legislation provided the mandate for the Commission to identify important Civil War sites, determine their significance and current condition, evaluate any threats to their integrity, develop alternatives for preservation and interpretation and report these findings to Congress. The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields were excluded from the purview of the Commission due to an earlier study already underway.

Writings from the Memoirs of Catherine Ferguson (1904), which include manuscripts and typescripts of literary works, film scripts, lyrics, and plays, such as "Monument to the Confederate Women: My Old Black Mammy Panola."

From our Manuscripts Curator: "Sounds like she was yearning for the Old South!"