Scope and Content Note
The papers of Tilton C. Reynolds (1843-1913) span the years 1851-1963 and consist of correspondence, diaries, financial and legal papers, writings, a notebook, autograph album, photographs, and other material.
The bulk of the correspondence documents Reynolds's daily life as a soldier with the 105th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment from 1861 to 1865. Reynolds's letters to his mother, Juliana Smith Reynolds, constitute most of the correspondence, although there are also letters during the Civil War period to Juliana Reynolds from her brother, J. S. Smith, her brother-in-law, Orlando Gray, and family friends. Most of the war correspondence describes the morale of soldiers, movements of the regiment, and details of a few skirmishes in Virginia. Some of the locations mentioned are Brandy Station, Culpeper, Fair Oaks, Falmouth, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, and Richmond. Letters in June 1862 from a friend, Joseph Green, and J. S. Smith chronicle Reynolds's capture by Confederate soldiers. Reynolds was held briefly as a prisoner, placed on parole, exchanged, and returned to his regiment. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1864. In three noteworthy letters, Reynolds discusses the low morale of the troops and their dislike of fighting to free enslaved people, January 1863; a group of Confederates trying to desert near the Rapidan River, 21 March 1864; and his conversation with Confederate pickets at Petersburg, 21 September 1864.
The papers also include diaries, the earliest volumes probably those of Juliana Reynolds, and material relating to other members of the Reynolds family. Much of the printed matter consists of newspaper clippings (photocopied and removed from scrapbooks by Library staff), documenting the various activities and deaths of family members.