Processed by
Susan A. Fletcher
8 July 2004
Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269
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VOLUME OF |
1 document case |
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COLLECTION |
1861–1900 |
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PROVENANCE: |
Margaret C. Sommer, Sarasota, FL, 19 June 2002 |
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RESTRICTIONS: |
None |
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COPYRIGHT: |
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REPRODUCTION |
Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society. |
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ALTERNATE |
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RELATED |
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ACCESSION |
2002.0594 |
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NOTES: |
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Chesley Davis Bailey enlisted in the Union army at Columbia, Kentucky, on 12 December 1861. He and his new wife Ada had been living in Jeffersonville in Clark County, Indiana, since their marriage in July 1861. He was commissioned into the army as a first lieutenant of Company H in the Kentucky 9th Infantry. During his first months of service, Bailey was stationed at Camp Boyle.
In January 1862 he was promoted to acting adjutant. Bailey mustered out of that company in March, and was transferred to Company I on 19 March 1862, receiving the promotion to captain.
In March of 1863 Bailey transferred to Field and Staff and was promoted to the rank of major at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Two months later he received another promotion, this time to lieutenant colonel. In July of that year, he was appointed provost marshal.
During the war, a Confederate bullet sent Bailey home to his wife for two months, but after his recovery he went back to the lines. Bailey mustered out of the army at Louisville 15 December 1864.
His birth and death dates are unknown, but his Civil War pension to his widow Ada Bailey in Indiana dates from 1901.
Sources:
Information in collection
Ancestry Plus: http://search.ancestry.com (accessed 28 June 2004)
Civil War Database: http://www.civilwardata.com (accessed 14 June 2004)
There are 42 letters in this collection. These include 36 from Chesley D. Bailey to his wife, one from Bailey to his father, one from Thomas Heath to Bailey, and two letters in German from Phillip Nonweiler to an unknown recipient. There is also a letter from Bailey to the National Park Commission, in which the Indiana Chickamauga Park Commission appeals to the Secretary of War to contest the decision to not allow the Indiana 9th Infantry to place its monument at Chickamauga.
The letters from Bailey to his wife describe camp life, his fellow soldiers, various skirmishes that he was in, and his impressions of the Union army’s leaders. He writes about skirmishes in Tennessee at Battle Creek, Tullahoma, and Chattanooga, and he talks about Bragg, Hooker, and other major war figures. In the post-1889 appeal to the National Park Commission, Bailey argues that the Indiana 9th infantry should be allowed to place its monument at Chickamauga because the division played a crucial role in that battle.
There are also five pages of recollections of the Battle of Shiloh, author unknown, probably written after the Civil War. These pages describe the abandoned camp of soldiers who have died in the battle as well as the horrors of war.
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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Correspondence, 1861 |
Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Correspondence, 1862 |
Box 1, Folder 2 |
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Correspondence, 1863 |
Box 1, Folder 3 |
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Correspondence, 1864 |
Box 1, Folder 4 |
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Correspondence, no date |
Box 1, Folder 5 |
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Phillip Nonweiler Correspondence, 1863–1864 |
Box 1, Folder 6 |
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Correspondence, 1900 |
Box 1, Folder 7 |
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Appeal to National Park Commission, no date |
Box 1 , Folder 8 |
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Battlefield Memories, no date |
Box 1, Folder 9 |
For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:
1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog: http://opac.indianahistory.org/
2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.
3. Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.
4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, M 0819).
5. When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.