Scope and Content Note
The correspondence of Nathaniel Davis Hackett, Union Army soldier, spans the years 1853-1947 with the bulk concentrated in the period 1861-1899. The largest part of Hackett's correspondence is comprised of letters received from family and friends back home during his Civil War service in Company M, 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery from 1864 to 1865 as well as the immediate postwar years to the 1890s. This correspondence describes daily life including news of family and friends, courtships, funerals, and illnesses as well as reactions to the war and historic events such as the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. It also depicts camp life and Hackett's impressions of Washington, D.C., in 1864.
The collection also contains the correspondence of Edith Hackett Cramer, Carrie Fern Hackett, and Millicent Hackett Maloney, Nathaniel D. Hackett's daughters. Although the correspondence includes material from 1940 to 1947, the bulk of the material is from the period 1890-1899 and describes home life, their work as teachers in the Wisconsin public school system, and current events.