Letters (20 November 1862 – 20 January 1863) from two brothers -- Alfred Howard Kinsley of Co. H, of the 45th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Militia) and Thomas Kinsley, serving in Co. A, -- from Camp Amory on the Trent River, North Carolina, to Edward Wilkinson Kinsley, a Boston merchant, Abolitionist, Government agent and military recruiter, who was probably their relative, and primarily concerning their service in Brig. Gen. John G. Foster's Expedition to Goldsboro, NC, including the First Battle of Kinston and the Battle of Whitehall, NC, 13 – 14, 16 December 1862. Autograph letters signed.
The collection consists of a letter (1/8/1863) containing a description of Brig. Gen. John G. Foster's expedition from New Bern to Kinston and Goldsboro NC and back, 11-20 December 1862, including accounts of engagements at Kinston (14 Dec.), Whitehall (16 Dec.) and Goldsboro Bridge (17 Dec.), from George [?], a soldier in Company B of the 5th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, to his Aunt Maria. Other items include a draft report (12/22/1862) by Colonel Charles R. Codman, 45th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Cadet Regiment), of engagements at Kinston and White Hall, NC, (12/14 through 12/16/1862), and items related to Colonel Codman.
During the Civil War, Abijah Hollis of New Hampshire served with the 45th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers as a second lieutenant in Company B under Colonel Charles R. Codman with heavy involvement in the North Carolina campaign, and in the 56th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. This collection consists of a typescript entitled STORIES OF THE WAR, FROM PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS AND DIARIES, For My Children, A. Hollis, West Concord, N.H., January, 1884, and a transcriptrion by the donor with photographs; photocopies of official "carded medical records" for Hollis (1863-1864); copies of photographs of Hollis in uniform during the Civil War taken while stationed in New Berne (now New Bern), North Carolina, in his Union uniform with captain bars, in 1908-1910; and copies of photographs of Hollis's wife Harriette, his U.S. cartridge case, and his belt buckle used during the Civil War.