Scope and Content Note
The papers of Ezra Ayers Carman (1834-1909) span the years 1861-1909 and constitute a book file containing unpublished and fragmentary volumes of Carman’s projected history of the American Civil War. The collection includes handwritten drafts of chapters, correspondence, maps, notes, newspaper clippings, and printed matter.
Carman joined the Union army in September 1861 and served for the duration of the Civil War. Commissioned lieutenant colonel in the New Jersey Volunteers Infantry Division, he rose in rank to brigadier general and was active in over twenty engagements, including the Battle of Antietam and the Atlanta Campaign. Later, he authored numerous articles on the war for the Encyclopedia Americana. As a member of the Antietam Battlefield Board in the 1890s, he wrote interpretive captions and assisted in producing an atlas of the battleground. His research sources included printed copies of official correspondence and orders, published recollections and memoirs, and his correspondence with veterans of the war.
Although writings in the file suggest the large scope Carman intended for his work, many volumes remained incomplete and various aspects of the war untreated. Some of the fragmented volumes have been reconstructed from Carman’s notes. The most complete work in the file, "The Maryland Campaign of September 1862," [also available on two microfilm reels, Microfilm Shelf no. 21,925] describes and analyzes the battle with detailed accounts of the political and military forces influencing relations between President Abraham Lincoln and General George B. McClellan and other Union officers.
Carman’s regard for President Lincoln is reflected in “Abraham Lincoln - The Great Commander” documenting Lincoln’s handling of the first years of the conflict from his election to emancipation. An untitled volume filed under the heading “Secession” describes the dissolution of the Union, and contains an introductory chapter with a history of slavery and its effects and a section pertaining to the secession convention in Virginia. Other volumes include “Campaign for East Tennessee and Chattanooga,” “First Days of Rebellion on the Potomac,” “The Shenandoah Valley,” and “The West Virginia Campaign of 1861."