Solomon Munger and the Civil War

Solomon V. Munger, ca. 1862
When the Civil War began, Solomon V. Munger, a thirty-eight year old farmer living in Barry County, Michigan, enlisted at Battle Creek in 1862. Due to recruitment and organizational difficulties, two companies of Michigan men (including Munger), sought service in a Missouri regiment. These two companies became companies "H" and "I" of the 2nd Missouri Cavalry. In the summer of 1863, the unit moved into Arkansas, where it participated in the Little Rock Campaign and later the Camden Expedition. In February 1864, Solomon's son, Hiram, enlisted in the Union Army against his father's wishes. Hiram volunteered for service in the 2nd Missouri Cavalry and soon joined his father in Arkansas.

The pair wrote many letters home and several of these letters can be found in MSS 03-23 Munger Family Civil War Letters.

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Butler Center receives Award of Merit

At the recent Arkansas Historical Association annual meeting, the Butler Center was presented with an Award of Merit for our Civil War website, “A Nation Divided: Arkansas in the Civil War.” The award is an honor reserved for groundbreaking history projects with vast importance to Arkansas history.

Butler Center Lead Archivist Brian Robertson with AHA President Tim Nutt

The Butler Center is a premier destination for Civil War research in Arkansas. Within the Butler Center’s vast Civil War holdings, researchers will find hundreds of letters, diaries, photographs, and other primary materials related to Arkansas’s involvement in the war. In addition, the Butler Center also holds an extensive collection of secondary sources and subscribes to a number of online databases, which provide easily accessible and up-to-date information.

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Event Reminder: 2nd Friday Art Night, July 13

Invasion or Liberation? The Civil War in Arkansas. A Civil War exhibit built around the theme of "occupied Arkansas" will open in the Butler Center's Concordia Hall on Friday, July 13, 2012, during 2nd Friday Art Night. Invasion or Liberation? will provide a provocative look at the war in Arkansas. Through the use of letters, diaries, photographs, and artifacts, the exhibit will examine the multi-faceted history of Arkansans caught up in the confli

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Solomon Munger and the Civil War

Solomon V. Munger, ca. 1862
When the Civil War began, Solomon V. Munger, a thirty-eight year old farmer living in Barry County, Michigan, enlisted at Battle Creek in 1862. Due to recruitment and organizational difficulties, two companies of Michigan men (including Munger), sought service in a Missouri regiment. These two companies became companies "H" and "I" of the 2nd Missouri Cavalry. In the summer of 1863, the unit moved into Arkansas, where it participated in the Little Rock Campaign and later the Camden Expedition. In February 1864, Solomon's son, Hiram, enlisted in the Union Army against his father's wishes. Hiram volunteered for service in the 2nd Missouri Cavalry and soon joined his father in Arkansas.

The pair wrote many letters home and several of these letters can be found in MSS 03-23 Munger Family Civil War Letters.

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Featured Manuscript Collection: September/October

Paul Dolle Civil War Collection
MSS 03-18
Finding Aid
Colonel (later Major General) Francis Jay Herron, 9th Iowa Infantry.
Series II, Box 1, Item 36
The contents of this collection are part of the Civil War related material accumulated by Arkansas businessman and private collector, Paul W. Dolle. While it contains individual documents and items related to a variety of persons and military units, a few names and organizations stand out. These include Dr. Turhand Dice of Utica, Missouri, who served as a surgeon in the 57th United States Colored Infantry, and Colonel Benjamin W. Johnson of the 15th Arkansas Infantry, who spent part of the war at the Johnson Island Prison in Ohio. The collection also contains substantial material from post war veterans and heritage organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Arkansas.

Amnesty oath, J. P. Benson, Camden, Ouachita County, Arkansas, August 28, 1865.
Series I, Box 1, Item 27
United Confederate Veterans Brigadier General B. H. Crowley, Paragould, Arkansas.
Series IV, Box 1, Item 32
Selected documents from the Paul Dolle Civil War Collection have been digitized and are available online. Click on the linked items in the finding aid to view these documents.

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New Civil War Website: "A Nation Divided"

In conjunction with the start of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, as well as the kick off of Arkansas Heritage Month, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is pleased to announce the launch of a new website devoted to the Civil War in Arkansas.

Titled “A Nation Divided: Arkansas and the Civil War,” the site presents a wealth of information on our state’s role in its most trying conflict. The site, which has been sanctioned by the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, provides easy accessibility to the Butler Center’s vast Civil War–related holdings. Of primary interest to researchers will be the large number of manuscript collection finding aids posted to the site. The finding aids, which serve as gateways to the collections, are divided into Union and Confederate sources and provide detailed descriptions as to the contents of each collection. Within the collections, researchers will find hundreds of letters, diaries, official documents, and photographs.

In addition, a number of the primary materials have been digitized and placed in the site’s digital gallery. Now, Arkansas’s citizens as well as people from around the world will be able to quickly and easily view historical documents and photographs related to Arkansas’s role in the Civil War. Two of the first collections to be digitized provide information on greatly under-studied topics of the war: African American involvement and Arkansas’s Unionists. In conjunction with the annual themes developed by the Sesquicentennial Commission, we have also posted material related to the remembrance of the war in Arkansas.

Other Civil War–focused resources on the site include lesson plans for teachers; lists of books, photographs, and microfilm available in our research room in the Arkansas Studies Institute; and information on the numerous online databases that we subscribe to. It is our hope that the website will not only spur research into new areas of Arkansas’s past, but that it will also broaden our overall understanding of the war and its effect on our state.

Click here to view the website.

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Special Civil War Lecture, March 16th

Wed., March 16, noon-1 p.m.
Arkansas Studies Institute, Room 124

Join us for a special Civil War lecture by West Point Professor John Ringquist: "Whose War Was It? The Influence of Race on War in Western Arkansas and Indian Territory"

The impact of African American troops on the outcome of the Civil War is undisputed. The First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment (later known as the 79th United States Colored Troops) was among the first of the North's African American regiments and fought in some of the fiercest battles of the Civil War in Indian Territory and Arkansas. African American soldiers served the U.S. Army on the western frontier well and established a record of brave and competent service despite enemies on both sides of the lines and lack of initial support at home.

Bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert provided. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 501-320-5717.

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