Collection Guide
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Preliminary Guide to the James H. Sawyer Papers
Wyles Mss 33
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Table of contents
Title: James H. Sawyer Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1861-1865, 1879-1882
Date (bulk): (bulk 1861-1865)
Collection Number: Wyles Mss 33
Creator:
Sawyer (James H.)
Extent:
.4 linear feet
(1 document box)
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Physical Location: Del Sur
Language:
English.
None.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
James H. Sawyer Papers. Wyles Mss 33. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Undetermined.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection primarily contains Civil War correspondence and diaries of James H. Sawyer, a soldier in the Connecticut Infantry,
18th Regiment (Vol.), Co. B [for information relating to the 18th, see: William Carey Walker,
History of the Eighteenth Regiment Conn. Volunteers in the War for the Union (1885)].
The correspondence begins in 1861 with letters from instructors, recommending Sawyer for a teaching position. By August 1862,
however, Sawyer was in the army and writing from camp to his parents, sisters, and friends. The bulk of the correspondence
from 1862 to 1865 is from Sawyer, but there also are a few letters to him. The later 1879-1882 correspondence is from Sawyer,
by then in Illinois, to his children.
The diaries, which cover the period from Jan. 1, 1861 to Dec. 29, 1865, generally contain short entries indicating weather
conditions, what Sawyer did that day, and sometimes when he wrote or received a letter. The Dec. 19, 1862 entry notes: "Quite
warm and pleasant. 19 years old.' There is no indication how he spent his birthday, but the next day he indicates he was on
guard duty. In one of the last entries, Dec. 3, 1865, Sawyer notes that he has returned home.