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 Charles H. Olmstead Papers, #1856, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Florence Olmstead of Savannah, Ga., May 1951.

Additional Descriptive Resources

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

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: Kathryn Michaelis, February 2010; 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.

• Atlanta (Ga.)--History--19th century.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
• Confederate States of America. Army. Georgia Infantry Regiment.
• Fort Columbus (N.Y.)
• Fort Johnson (S.C.)
• Fort Pulaski (Ga.)
• Georgia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Hilton Head (S.C.)--History--19th century.
• James Island (S.C.)--History--19th century.
• Morris Island (S.C.)--History--19th century.
• Olmstead, Charles H.
• South Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Tybee Island (Ga. : Island)--History--19th century.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and prisons.

Charles Hart Olmstead (1837-1926), of Savannah, Ga., was a Confederate Army officer and member of the 1st Georgia Infantry Regiment. Olmstead was adjutant of the 1st Georgia Volunteer Regiment and, under the command of Colonel A. R. Lawton, took part in the occupation of Fort Pulaski, Ga., at the mouth of the Savannah River. When Colonel Lawton was sent to Virginia as general, Olmstead was made colonel of the 1st Georgia Regiment and remained at Fort Pulaski until he was forced to surrender. Olmstead was imprisoned at Fort Columbus, N.Y., after the surrender of Fort Pulaski. In 1863 he was at Fort Johnson on James Island, S.C., and in 1864-1865 was with troops in North Georgia.

The collection contains military papers including orders, circulars, communications and telegrams, reports, and some correspondence about military matters, sent and received by Charles H. Olmstead at Fort Pulaski, Ga., from 1861 until its surrender in 1862; at Morris Island and Fort Johnson on James Island, S.C., in 1863; and in the vicinity of Savannah and Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia in 1864-1865. Olmstead was imprisoned at Fort Columbus after the surrender of Fort Pulaski and wrote a letter, 10 June 1862, to United States Secretary of War Stanton complaining about the treatment of the Confederate sick and wounded in a manner in violation of the surrender terms. In addition, there are twenty-four letters, 1861-1864, from Olmstead to his wife at Savannah and Milledgeville, Ga., describing camp life; military activities at various locations, including, in addition to places previously mentioned, Tybee Island, Ga., and Hilton Head, S.C.; his estimation of the military situation; and speculation about the future.