His journal, written in Libby Prison at Richmond, Virgina, extended from July 1863 to March 1864. An amateur artist, Cavada also kept a sketchbook. In these records, he describes the inhuman conditions in prison and expresses his hopes for a prisoner exchange. After his release, he lived until 1871. Hundreds of these letters vividly describe the routine of camp life, and express the hopes, fears, and prayers of ordinary soldiers in the field.
Some materials seem to dwell on a Civil War topic to exhaustion.
For example, among the Rawle Family Papers at the Society is a series of letters written by Colonel William Brooke Rawle over a period of 49 years. James Cornell Biddle was a lieutenant colonel in the Pennsylvania 23rd Infantry Regiment. There are many sketches of the position of troops and frequent references to Union and Confederate leaders, especially Ulysses S. Grant, Joseph Hooker, Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Meade. Coming from a Union officer, his observations about Lee were unusually complimentary. Letters of Union and Confederate generals and other officers can also be found in the Society's Simon Gratz and Ferdinand Julius Dreer collections, which were compiled primarily for autographs.