Civil War and Reconstruction Resources in Special Collections & Archives

Introduction

Bowdoin College and Brunswick, Maine, played an outsized role in the Civil War, and this distinction is reflected in the holdings of Special Collections & Archives. Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in Brunswick from 1850-1852, during which time she wrote her antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. The work brought wide public attention to the injustices of slavery, inflamed the South, and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. Bowdoin's participation in the war was among the highest of the New England colleges: at least 359 out of Bowdoin's then-living 1,125 students and alumni served in the Civil War, 22 of whom served for the Confederacy. Another 351 alumni from the Maine Medical School served for the Union, and 5 for the Confederacy. The papers of Joshua Chamberlain (Bowdoin 1852), Oliver Otis Howard (Bowdoin 1850), and numerous other alumni who served include: correspondence, diaries, reminiscences, military reports and orders, photographic portraits and views, hand drawn illustrations and maps, and scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings and mementos documenting military life in the field and domestic life at home. There are also the papers of family members and others which offer a window into the social, economic, and political upheaval wrought by the war. Of particular note are the papers of Mary Eliza Hunt Carson, who lived in Gettysburg throughout the war, many of which concern the fate of her brothers, Henry H. Hunt (Bowdoin 1862) and Charles O. Hunt (Bowdoin 1861), both of whom served in the Union and fought at Gettysburg.

After the collapse of the Confederacy, Bowdoin College alumni played important roles in federal attempts to establish new socio-economic and political constructs and to address the desperate needs of emancipated African Americans throughout the United States. Those efforts are reflected most fully in the manuscript collections of Oliver Otis Howard (Bowdoin 1850), his brother Charles Henry Howard (Bowdoin 1859), and the Fessenden Family.

About the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives

The George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives (SC&A) collects, preserves, and makes available unique rare books, manuscripts, historical College records, and increasingly, digital collections. Students, scholars, and all with an interest are invited to explore and learn from these world-class collections through their own research as well as our varied exhibits, instructional sessions, and public programs.