Finding Aid for the George L. Burdick Civil War diaries and Paul Ellsworth Faulkner First World War correspondence 2017.217.w.r

Wendy Gonaver
Center for American War Letters Archives
5/30/2019
Leatherby Libraries
Chapman University
Orange, CA 92866
speccoll@chapman.edu


Contributing Institution: Center for American War Letters Archives
Title: George L. Burdick Civil War diaries and Paul Ellsworth Faulkner First World War correspondence
source: Templeton, Lynn
Creator: Burdick, George L. , Private, 1838-1920
Creator: Faulkner, Paul Ellsworth, Sergeant, 1893-1964
Identifier/Call Number: 2017.217.w.r
Physical Description: 1.5 Linear feet (1 flat box, 11 folders)
Date (inclusive): 1862 - 1925
Abstract: This collection contains four Civil War diaries and a ferrotype of Private George L. Burdick, United States Army. This collection also includes photos, military documents, newspaper clippings, and correspondence of Burdick's grandson, Sergeant Paul Ellsworth Faulkner, who served in the United States Army during the First World War.
Language of Material: English .
Container: Civil War Flat 1
Container: WWI 14
Container: 1-11
Container: 1-11

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Lynn Templeton

Arrangement

This collection is arranged chronologically and by type of material.

Biographical / Historical

Private George L. Burdick, United States Army (1838 - 1920) was born in Iowa. He joined Company A of the 33rd Iowa Infantry on August 3, 1862. He spent the war in Missouri and Arkansas. His last engagement was Jenkin's Ferry. Intermittantly feverish throughout the summer of 1864, Burdick was hospitalized the following Fall and remained in Little Rock when the rest of his company moved to New Orleans in February. He eventually recovered and spent the rest of the war as a harness maker for the Union Army, a trade that he continued to practice after the war in Knoxville, Iowa. He married Katherine Elizabeth Paul in 1866. The couple had three children: Ida, Lila, and Clyde. They moved to Des Moines in 1894. Elizabeth died in 1918.
Ida Burdick married Elmer Ellsworth Faulkner. The couple had three children, including Sergeant Paul Ellsworth Faulkner, United States Army (1893 - 1964). The family moved around the Midwest. Paul Faulkner was working as a salesman for Goodyear Rubber Company in Salina, Kansas when he received an induction notice from the United States Army in 1918. Sgt. Faulkner was sent to Camp Funston, Kansas, where he remained for the duration of the war in the Headquarters Attachment, 10th Division. He transported Liberty Trucks to the East Coast. He was promoted to Sergeant just before discharge. He continued to work for rubber companies after the war, retiring to Florida in the 1950s. He never married.

Preferred Citation

[Item title / description; Box "n" / Folder "n"], George L. Burdick Civil War diaries and Paul Ellsworth Faulkner First World War correspondence (2017.217.w.r), Center for American War Letters Archives, Chapman University, CA. For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Content Description

This collection contains four Civil War diaries and a framed ferrotype of Pvt. George L. Burdick, 33rd Iowa Infantry, Company A. His diaries record observations regarding camp life, Union prisons, and marches. Burdick's two younger brothers, William and Sam, also joined the United States Army.
Also included in this collection are materials pertaining to Sgt. Paul E. Faulkner, USA. There are Faulkner's induction and discharge papers; publications and correspondence pertaining to bonuses for veterans; and correspondence regarding postwar employment with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Manufacturing Company. Highlights include the correspondence that Faulkner sent to his parents and younger sister, Beryl, in which he describes the challenges of driving Liberty Trucks through wintry mountains passes and his arduous training for gas attacks. He also recounts his experiences as a patient during the influenza epidemic of 1918 that swept through Camp Funston, including the task of delivering the body of a soldier who died from influenza to the young man's mother. There are also newspaper clippings about Christmas celebrations that different communities hosted for Liberty Truck drivers and the front section of the April 6, 1917 Omaha Daily News announcing U.S. entry into the war.

Conditions Governing Use

There are no restrictions on the use of this material except where previously copyrighted material is concerned. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain all permissions.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- letters and diaries
Correspondence -- World War, 1914-1918
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Military life
Influenza Epidemic (1918-1919)
Templeton, Lynn