Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the George Knox Miller Papers, #2525, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Loaned by Mrs. S. E. Greene of Birmingham, Ala., February 1942.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, July 2010

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Birnstile, Louise, fl. 1872-1877.
• College students--Virginia--Social life and customs.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Registers.
• Confederate States of America. Army. Alabama Cavalry Regiment, 8th.
• Family--Alabama--Social life and customs.
• German Americans--Massachusetts--History--19th century.
• Heinsen, Conradine, fl. 1872-1877.
• Miller, Celestine McCann.
• Miller, George Knox, 1836-1916.
• Talladega (Ala.)--History--19th century.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Regimental histories.
• University of Virginia--Students--Social life and customs.
• Women--United States--Social life and customs.

George Knox Miller (1836-1916) was a Confederate Army officer with the 8th Alabama Cavalry Regiment, 1861-1865; mayor of Talladega, Ala., 1874-1884; and judge, 1884-1911. He married Celestine McCann of South Carolina in 1863.

The collection is chiefly Civil War letters from George Knox Miller, captain of the 8th Alabama Cavalry Regiment, Confederate States of America, to Celestine McCann, his fiancee and later wife, who was staying in Anderson District, S.C., with detailed descriptions of battles and discussions of camp life, morale of troops, and news of friends and family members. Miller wrote from Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, and there are particularly detailed accounts of the fighting and battles in north Georgia and Atlanta, Ga., in 1864. Some letters, 1863, are related to Miller's capture and imprisonment at Louisville, Ky.; Camp Chase, Ohio; and Fort Delaware. Also included are registers and histories of various Confederate companies, compiled after the war; Miller's reminiscences; miscellaneous family letters, including letters, 1858-1861, from Miller when he was a student at the University of Virginia, about student activities, personal news, and conditions at the university; and 23 letters, 1872-1877, in German from Louise Birnstile or (Birnstill) in Newton, Mass., to Mrs. Conradine Heinsen, a friend in Talladega, Ala.