Timeline extended for launch of Wilson Library facilities work.

Collection Number: 05023-z

Collection Title: Richard Wharton Papers, 1863-1906 and undated

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


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

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Collection Overview

Size 12 items
Abstract Richard Wharton of McNairy County, Tenn., was an infantryman with Company I of the 154th Tennessee Senior Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. He was present at the battle of Perryville, but his unit did not participate. After the war, he lived in Verona, Miss., and Chesterville, Miss. In 1874, he married Martha McKinney. The collection consists of a diary, letters, and other writings. The diary, apparently composed during 1863 and 1864, discusses Richard Wharton's service in the Confederate Army with the 154th Tennessee Senior Infantry Regiment under John Bell Hood in defense of Atlanta. Also included are a love letter, 1864; letters, 1889 and 1901, relating to family affairs; letters, 1905-1906, to Wharton from W. S. Ray, also of the 154th Tennessee, discussing the fates of several of their former comrades and the death of Wharton's brother in 1863 at the hands of Tennessee guerilla leader Fielding Hurst; poems; speeches; a genealogy of the Wharton family; and a brief description of the battle of Perryville, Ky., dictated by Wharton to his daughter, Winnie Wharton.
Creator Wharton, Richard, b. 1843.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

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 Richard Wharton Papers #5023-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Microfilm copy (filmed July 2005) available.
  • Reel 1: Entire collection
Acquisitions Information
Received from V. Lane Wharton Jr., of Raleigh, N.C., in June 2000 (Acc. 98651).
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.
Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: John Foster, October 2001

Encoded by: John Foster, October 2001

Revisions: Finding aid updated in May 2005 by Nancy Kaiser.

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

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Richard Wharton was born in McNairy County, Tenn., in 1843 and lived there at the outbreak of the Civil War. He fought for the Confederacy, serving as an infantryman with Company I of the 154th Tennessee Senior Infantry Regiment (also called the 1st Tennessee Volunteer Regiment). He was present at the battle of Perryville, but his unit did not participate. After the war, he lived in Verona, Miss., and Chesterville, Miss. In 1874, he married Martha McKinney.

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The papers of Richard Wharton of McNairy County, Tenn., consist of a diary, letters, and other writings. The diary, apparently composed during 1863 and 1864, discusses Wharton's service in the Confederate army as a soldier with the 154th Tennessee Senior Infantry Regiment under John Bell Hood in defense of Atlanta. Also included are a love letter, 1864; letters, 1889 and 1901, relating to family affairs; letters, 1905-1906, to Wharton from W. S. Ray, also of the 154th Tennessee, discussing the fates of several of their former comrades and the death of Wharton's brother in 1863 at the hands of Tennessee guerilla leader Fielding Hurst; poems; speeches; a genealogy of the Wharton family; and a brief description of the battle of Perryville, Ky., dictated by Wharton to his daughter, Winnie Wharton.

Back to Top

Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Papers, 1863-1906 and undated.

Back to Top