Benjamin F. Whitten papers
Language: eng
Number of pages: 750
Subjects: Correspondence; Social life and customs; Freedmen; African American Participation; United States. Army. Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, 54th (1863-1865); Frontier and pioneer life; Songs and music; United States. Army. Maine Infantry Regiment, 9th (1861-1865); Prisoners and prisons; Cold Harbor, Battle of, Va., 1864; United States; Campaigns; Morris Island, Battle of, S.C., 1863 (July 10-September 7); World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1914-1918; Education; African Americans; History
Description: Correspondence, family papers, military records, financial and legal records, and other papers relating primarily to Whitten's Civil War service with the 9th Maine Infantry Regiment.  Documents his participation in the Battle of Morris Island, S.C., 1863; other actions and encampments along the southeast Atlantic coast in 1862 and 1863; the Battle of Cold Harbor, Va., 1864; and engagements in Bermuda Hundred, Va., where he was taken captive as a prisoner of war.  Subjects include music, education, and the recruitment and performance of African American soldiers, especially those serving in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; and community life among former slaves in the South.  Includes correspondence between Whitten and his wife, Abigail, concerning homesteading in Nebraska and other personal matters.  Also includes correspondence of other Whitten family members and of American servicemen during World War I and World War II.
Notes: Open to research.

Purchase, 2007.

Union Army officer.

Collection material in English.

Finding aid available in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division and on Internet.