Manuscripts

$4500

Edwin Orville Conklin Collection, 1863-1868. 76 letters, plus supplementary materials.  

Edwin Orville Conklin served as a first sergeant in Company F of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters during the Civil War. He acted as a recruiter in Michigan, helped guard Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas in Chicago, and fought in the Overland Campaign, including the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and the Siege of Petersburg, before being captured at the Battle of the Crater. He died in 1864 as a prisoner of war at Danville, Virginia. Conklin’s extensive letters provide a detailed view of a Michigan soldier’s activities during the Civil War and add to the Clements Library’s outstanding holdings on Civil War military life.