Manuscript Database
Creator/Title
Stow family. Papers, 1820-1923. 6 cu. ft.
Call No.
Mss. A S891 / 168, 226-227
Content
This collection centers on several generations of the Stow family, Methodists and farmers in Switzerland County, Indiana in the 19th century. The correspondence and diaries of Stow family members and their acquaintances document their views on and participation in the events of the Civil War. In a letter dated 26 July 1862, Union soldier Josiah C. Thompson writes to Uzziel Stow about his disappointment that "the Confiscation bill was not passed," for he believed that "if this Struggle last one year longer than Slavery will have to go by the board for it is becoming more and more apparent every Day that either Slavery or the Government will go down" (168). Baron Stow's diary from January-July 1864 references events of the Civil War, such as news about battles near Richmond, Virginia (May 8, 11, and 13 entries, the defeat of John Hunt Morgan's Confederate guerrilla raiders (June 11 and 14 entries), and the sinking of the gunboat "Alabama" (July 5 entry) (226). Josiah Thompson's diary from March-September 1861 documents what he in Switzerland County, Indiana hears about the war in those months, including Fort Sumter and the Union ship the "Star of the West," towns and cities in Kentucky that had "gone strong for the union," the Western Virginia convention's vote to secede from Virginia, the vote in Virginia to secede from the Union, the death of Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas, and the Battle of Bull Run. He often writes about hearing war news and then later finding out that the news was false. See, for example, the 26 June entry where he notes that "It is currently reported that Jeff Davis has submitted a compromise to the cabinet"; the next day on 27 June he writes that "There is not truth in the compromise report." His diary entries also document the organization of a home company in Switzerland County (227).