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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 2332

John Buttrick Noyes Civil War letters

Overview

John Buttrick Noyes' letters to his family.

Dates

  • Creation: 1861-1864

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

1.5 linear feet (4 boxes)

Noyes sent letters home during the American Civil War, detailing his experiences as a soldier for the Union army. He wrote individually to his father and mother, and to his siblings: George, Stephen, Charles, and Martha, and to a few others.

Biographical / Historical

John Buttrick Noyes was born in Petersham, Massachusetts on March 2, 1838, the son of George Rapall Noyes (1798-1868) (Harvard College A.B. 1818) and Eliza Wheeler Buttrick (b.1804). John was a graduate of Harvard College, A.B. 1868. His siblings were:

  1. Mary Cary Noyes (b.1829)
  2. Mary Wheeler Noyes (1829-1846)
  3. George Dana Noyes (b.1831) (Harvard College A.B. 1851)
  4. Stephen Buttrick Noyes (1833-1885) (Harvard College A.B. 1853)
  5. Charles B. Noyes (1835-1916) (Harvard College A.B.1856)
  6. Eliza Lothrop Noyes (ca.1840-1844)
  7. Martha Wilson Noyes Tindell (b.1841)

John Noyes served in the Civil War, enlisting as a private in Company B of the 13th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in 1861. He was wounded in August and September of 1862. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 28th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in April of 1863, became a captain in 1864, and later a major, lieutenant-colonel, then colonel. He was mustered out in Decmeber of 1864.

Arrangement

Organized into the following two series:

  1. I. Letters
  2. II. Transcripts of letters

Physical Location

b

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Four volumes of transcript copies of letters were gift of George R. Noyes (nephew of John B. Noyes); received: 1916 June 10.

Original letters were gift of Annie A. Noyes, 106 Chestnut St., Boston; received: 1921 June 5.

Processing Information

Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt

Transcript copies of letters recataloged from MS Am 823; original letters recataloged from MS Am 779.

Many of the original letters were pasted into a scrapbook. They have been removed, but kept in the same order.

Title
Noyes, John Buttrick, 1838-1908. John Buttrick Noyes Civil War letters: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00214

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440