Scope and Content Note
The papers of Chandler B. Gillam (1833-1899) span the years 1850-1919, with the bulk of the material dating from 1861 to 1863. The papers are arranged alphabetically by type of material or topic.
The majority of the collection documents Gillam's daily life as a Union soldier with the volunteers of the Twenty-eighth New York Infantry Regiment during the Civil War from 1861 to 1863. Gillam, a farmer from Byron, New York, enlisted in April 1861 and went to Albany to be mustered in as a corporal; his company became Company F of the New York twenty-eighth regiment. The bulk of his letters are written to his wife, Sarah Larned, whom he married in 1856, and his parents. The letters dating 1861 document Gillam's tenure as a soldier, which he spent training, marching, waiting, and hoping for battle. They depict the enthusiasm of Gillam and his fellow soldiers about army service and their expectation of a speedy end to the war. As the war continued and his company suffered many casualities, Gillam looked forward to returning home and working on his farm. Gillam's letters include descriptions of the four major battles that his regiment participated in: Winchester, Virginia, in May 1862, Cedar Mountain, Virginia, in August 1862, Antietam, Maryland, in September 1862, and Chancellorsville, Virginia, in May 1863. At Chancellorsville Gillam was wounded in the foot by shell fire but quickly recovered. Gillam mustered out of the regiment on June 2, 1863, and returned to New York.
Also included in this collection is the diary of the regimental clerk of the twenty-eighth regiment, W. L. Hicks. A copy of this diary, including three letters of Hicks, and two broadsides, was found with Gillam's papers. Hicks's diary, dating from May 18, 1861 to September 4, 1862, chronicles the organization of the regiment in New York and its movements in Virginia and Maryland in 1862. The diary provides a description of camp life and describes various skirmishes and battles, including an account of the engagement and heavy losses suffered by the regiment at the Battle of Cedar Mountain in August 1862. Filed with the diary were two broadsides, one relating to Captain E. A. Bowen's service with the twenty-eighth regiment and the other comparing the platforms for the Democratic and Republican parties for the presidential campaign of 1864.
The miscellany files in the collection include certificates and a citation relating to Gillam's military service, items relating to the collection of Gillam's pension by his wife, and other family papers. There is also an early 1850 journal written by Gillam containing various jottings, drawings, and brief entries documenting his daily activities.
The transcripts of the correspondence and the diary were made in 2000 by the donor, Ellen C. Collier. Collier also provided background information about Gillam, Hicks, and the twenty-eighth regiment, filed at the beginning of the letters and the beginning of the diary. In addition, she prepared a brief summary of the letters as well as a full transcript of the correspondence of Gillam. Filed with the transcripts of the diary are photocopies of Hicks's pension papers from the National Archives and Records Administration.