Scope and Content Note
The papers of Nathan W. Daniels (1836-1867), spanning the years 1861-1867, consist of a handwritten diary with photographs, illustrations, and newspaper clippings mounted throughout the text in three volumes. Included are a typescript of summaries and transcripts of the diaries by C. P. Weaver, who donated the collection, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
In volume one, Daniels describes his Civil War service with an African-American regiment, the U.S. Army 2nd Native Guard Infantry Regiment, chiefly while stationed at Ship Island, Mississippi, and his time in New Orleans during the summer and fall of 1863. In volume two, Daniels discusses military, political, and social affairs in Washington, D.C., during his years in the capital, 1863-1865. Subjects include civil rights, the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau (U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands) in March 1864, radical Republicans, and the theater. Volume three was written primarily by Daniels's wife, the Spiritualist medium Cora Hatch (Cora L. V. Richmond). Topics include the Freedmen's Bureau, speaking engagements at African-American churches in Washington, D.C., a visit with her family in Cuba, N.Y., and a lecture tour of the Midwest.
An addition to the Nathan W. Daniels collection consists of a scrapbook of newspaper clippings, 1863-1867, probably assembled by Daniels or his wife. The scrapbook complements the topics and events chronicled in the diaries of Daniels and Hatch. The articles were usually written by Daniels under the pseudonym "Viator." They include references to either him or his wife or pertain to subjects of interest to the couple, such as African-American military service during the Civil War, the condition of freedpeople after the war, Reconstruction, and spiritualism, particularly Washington, D.C.