Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

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 Samuel A. Shumway Diary #5031-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed 2007) available.

• Reel 1: Entire collection

Acquisitions Information

Received from Charles Apfelbaum of Watchung, N.J., in June 2000 (Acc. 98682).

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: John Foster, November 2000

Encoded by: John Foster, November 2000

Revisions: Finding aid updated in February 2005 by Nancy Kaiser

Updated by: Laura Hart, June 2021

Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the microfilming of this collection.

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.

• Albermarle (Confederate ironclad).
• Diaries.
• New Bern (N.C.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Portsmouth (Va.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Shumway, Samuel A., 1830-1913.
• Soldiers--United States--Diaries.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Military life.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives.
• United States. Army--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• United States. Army--Military life--History.
• United States. Army. Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment, 2nd (1863-1865).
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Samuel A. Shumway was 34 years old and working at a forge in Fiskdale, Mass., when he was mustered into Company A of the 2nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment on 31 August 1864. He was stationed with his unit on garrison duty around New Bern, N.C., and Portsmouth, Va., for most of his service. He was discharged at New Bern on 26 June 1865 and returned to the Sturbridge, Mass., area.

The diary of Samuel A. Shumway, begun in January 1865 and continuing into 1866 when he had returned to the Sturbridge, Mass., area, contains descriptions of camp life with the 2nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment during the Civil War, chiefly around New Bern, N.C., and Portsmouth, Va. The diary also mentions the fall of Richmond, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and other events. There are several entries in the diary about attempts to raise the Confederate ram Albermarle, which had been sunk near Plymouth, N.C., and a small amount of information about Shumway's activities in the year following his discharge.

• Microfilm reel (M-5031/1)