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 Williamson Whitehead Papers, #1464, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Typed transcription of diary available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Margaret R. Whitehead of Fayetteville, N.C., May 1948.

Received from Claude W. Rankin of Fayetteville, N.C., January 1956.

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, January 2009; Nancy Kaiser, January 2021

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.

• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Religious life.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 1st.
• Diaries.
• Fayetteville (N.C.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
• Merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Real property--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Diaries.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Confederate.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Whitehead, Williamson, fl. 1861-1894.

Williamson Whitehead (fl. 1861-1894) was a businessman, public official, and justice of the peace in Cumberland County, N.C. He served in the Civil War as a clerk in the 1st North Carolina Regiment on the Virginia peninsula and in North Carolina.

The collection includes the Civil War diary of Williamson Whitehead and postwar business papers and account books from Fayetteville, N.C., relating chiefly to building, shipping, purchasing, the bankruptcy of S. T. Hawley and Son merchant firm, and rental property for which Whitehead was an agent. The diary covers the period 31 August-10 December 1861, with a few later entries. Some entries are extensive; they deal with camp life, especially religious activities and morality, reflections on the course of the war and the future of the Confederacy, Whitehead's relationship with his fiancee, and other matters. The account books contain records of general merchandise sold along with the name of the purchaser. Some are partially populated with clippings, postcards, and advertisements.

• Oversize volume (SV-1464/5)