Horace Killam family correspondence
Scope and Contents
The Horace Killam family correspondence contains letters sent between Horace Killam and members of the Killam family and friends in 1864 while Horace was enlisted as a Private in the Union Army during the United States Civil War. The letters document Horace's experiences in battle as well as his time as a prisoner of war. Letters also document the Killam family's experience sending a family member to war. Primary correspondents include Killam’s mother Catherine Killam, father Oliver Killam, brothers Charlie and Henry Killam, and aunts, cousins, and friends. Killam’s first letter home was composed on stationery intended for soldiers and printed with the ballad “Brave Boys Are They.” In the letters following his capture, Horace writes about theft, poor living conditions, and a lack of food. Also included are several letters sent to Horace Killam's mother Catherine from his nurse Susan Phillips and friend Henry Bartlett after his death.
Dates
- 1864
Creator
- Killam, Horace (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Items in this collection may be subject to copyright restrictions. In most cases, the Boston Public Library does not hold the copyright to the items in our collections. It is the sole responsibility of the user to make their own determination about what types of usage might be permissible under U.S. and international copyright law.
Horace Killam (1846-1864)
Horace Killam was born in Boxford, Massachusetts in 1846. Horace Killam worked as a farmer in Boxford and enlisted for service in the Union Army at the age of 18. He was mustered into service on April 21, 1864 as part of “K” Company in the 59th Massachusetts Infantry. He fought in the Battle of Spotsylvania, where although he suffered only minor wounds, his family was informed of his death. Killam, already very ill, proceeded with his regiment to the North Anna River where they were surrounded by Confederate forces. He was captured and sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia where he was finally able to write to his family. He was eventually moved to a parole camp in Annapolis, Maryland and on October 4, 1864, Killam died of typhoid and malarial fever. His nurse, Susan Phillips, and a close friend, Henry Bartlett, continued to correspond with Killam’s mother after his death.
Extent
35 Items
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Correspondence is arranged chronologically.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Early American History Auctions, Inc., 2007.
Processing Information
This electronic finding aid is transcribed from legacy data. In many cases, transcriptions were not verified against collection materials at the time of transcription. As a result, this finding aid could be incomplete and might only reflect a partial understanding of the material.
Statement on harmful description
Archival description reflects the biases of time periods and cultures in which it was created and may include direct quotations or descriptions that use inappropriate or harmful language. Creator provided descriptions may be maintained in order to preserve the context in which the collection was created and/or used. Legacy description and potentially offensive content may be made available online until a collection can be reprocessed because the access that they provide to primary source materials is uniquely valuable to the research community at large. Our efforts to repair outdated descriptions and to describe our collections more equitably are iterative and ongoing.
Former Title
Collection formerly known as Horace Killam Correspondence.
- Libby Prison.
- North Anna River, Battle of, Va., 1864. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Spotsylvania Court House, Battle of, Va., 1864. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Hospitals. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to the Horace Killam Family Correspondence
- Author
- Hoff, Laura
- Date
- 2009 October
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2011 October: Updated by BPL staff.
- 2024-05-22: To comply with Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) Version 2019.0.3, Crystal Rodgers, Archivist, adjusted the following field(s): title, finding aid filing title, finding aid date, finding aid author, scope and contents note, biographical/historical note, immediate source of acquisition note, arrangement note, processing information note, preferred citation, revision date, revision description, and related materials, and created the following field(s): EAD ID.
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