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Preferred Citation

Box 1, [Folder Number], MS-4, Lt. Henry S. Kinsey Collection, Book Arts, Archives, & Rare Books, Boatwright Memorial Library, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated by the Kinsey Family in 1977. Francis Merritt Kinsey (RC '78) was a student of the University, and Lt. Henry S. Kinsey was the great uncle of Francis Merritt Kinsey's father.

Processing Information

Processed by David L. Davenport & Kim Moore.

Biographical / Historical

In his history of Iowan troops in the Civil War, Ingersoll (1867) provides a detailed summary of Henry S. Kinsey's regiment, the 7th Iowa Veteran's Volunteer Infantry which fought for the Union. Most men were mustered into the infantry in Burlington, Iowa, during the summer of 1861. Until 1863, the infantry fought in the western states of Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, mainly under the command of Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant. The infantry participated in the battles of Belmont, Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth, among others (129-141). According to Ingersoll, the Iowa 7th is most well-known for its "heroic" efforts in the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, where it sustained numerous casualties (133-134). By January 1864, most men in the infantry had served their two years, and those who decided to re-enlist were given a "furlough" of one month (142). On February 27, the infantry met up in Keokuk, Iowa, and joined Major General Sherman in his Atlanta Campaign (143-145). The infantry engaged in intense fighting at the Battle of Resaca, Georgia, and Lt. Kinsey's diary indicates they moved from Resaca to the Battles of Dallas, Acworth, Kennesaw Mountain, and Decatur. However, they were in Rome, Georgia, during the Battles of Atlanta and Jonesboro (144) during which Sherman defeated Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, bringing the Atlanta Campaign to an end. After they cast their votes in the 1864 presidential election, the infantry made their way back to Atlanta to join Sherman's troops in his Savannah Campaign during which they encountered few casualties (145). In January 1865, they marched north through the swamps of the Carolinas—a feat for which the infantry's Lieutenant Colonel J. C. Parrot praised his infantry (145). As the campaign came to an end and the Union defeated the Confederacy, the infantry continued northward and participated in the victory parade in Washington, D.C. From there, they returned to Iowa and were mustered out of service (145).

The Iowa Adjutant General's Office (1908) provides a biographical note (see Figure 1) on Lt. Henry S. Kinsey. Born May 27, 1836, Kinsey was living in Richland, Iowa, at the start of the war. He enlisted in the Union Army on July 15, 1861, at the age of twenty-five, and was mustered into Company 'H' of the 7th Iowa Veteran's Volunteer Infantry on July 24, 1861. On November 7, Lt. Kinsey was "wounded severely in the thigh" in the Battle of Belmont, Missouri. Later, he was promoted to Third Sergeant, then to First Sergeant, and eventually to First Lieutenant on September 19, 1864, after re-enlisting. Once the war ended, he was mustered out of service along with the rest of his company on July 12, 1865 in Louisville, Kentucky (988). Kinsey died on April 18, 1886.

Scope and Contents

Documenting the history of Company H of the 7th Iowa Volunteer Infantry from early 1864 until the company's mustering-out on July 12, 1865, Lt. Kinsey's personal and official papers will be useful for civil war historians focusing on Sherman's Atlanta Campaign as well as events through the end of the war.

The collection begins with the personal effects of Lt. Kinsey, including a photograph (File 1) and diary (File 2), the latter of which has been transcribed and stored on a CD (File 3). The diary contains daily entries from January 5, 1864, to November 25, 1864. Beginning with his furlough in January and continuing up until just after the Battle of Atlanta, Lt. Kinsey's diary offers a personal account of Sherman's Atlanta campaign as well as insight into the daily physical and emotional struggles of soldiers on leave and in the battlefield.

The remaining files contain the records kept by Kinsey from his promotion to First Lieutenant in September 1864 until he was mustered out of service in July 1864. Files 4 and 5 contain the official and special orders Lt. Kinsey received. Official orders (File 4) refers to those addressed to the army in general and normally dictated how records were to be kept; special orders (File 5) refers to those addressed specifically to Lt. Kinsey or someone else regarding the affairs and actions of the Company. Within each file, documents are arranged chronologically by the date when the order was issued.

Files 6 through 13 contain the records Lt. Kinsey kept for Company H. Following the divisions indicated by Kinsey in his diary and on envelopes, these records are divided between records for "clothing, camp and garrison equipage" (C.C. & G.E.) (e.g. clothing, knapsacks, tents, books, etc) and for "ordnance and ordnance stores" (i.e. artillery and ammunition) and grouped chronologically by the quarter. These records include receipts, ledgers, and quarterly reports. Almost all receipts have a "voucher" or "roll" number which corresponds to its entry in the monthly and/or quarterly report, and according to these cumulative reports, it appears his records are mostly complete. Within each quarterly file, documents are arranged chronologically according to the date when the event or transaction occurred (as opposed to when the receipt was written). Documents noting multiple events are filed by the most recent date. Similarly, documents with general and inclusive dates, such as monthly or quarterly reports, are filed at the end of the month or the end of the quarter. Documents written after the end of a quarter and referring to that quarter, namely acknowledgements from Washington that the reports from that quarter have been accepted, are filed next and followed by undated items and envelopes.

Files 14 through 18 contain Kinsey's records related to casualties and hostages. File 14 contains a summary of C.C. & G.E. lost through casualties from August 1864 to January 1865 in addition to a summary of the Company's casualties from the start of the war in 1861 up to February 28, 1865. Files 15 through 18 contain documents referring to casualties and hostage situations of particular individuals. Most documents record the loss of C.C. & G.E. or ordnance and are referenced in monthly and/or quarterly reports stored in Files 6 through 13. Files 15 through 18 are arranged alphabetically by last name and dated according to the individual's date of death; the documents within are ordered chronologically.

File 19 contains the muster-out rolls drafted by Lt. Kinsey in 1865 at the end of the war. These rolls contain details on the service of each member of the company, including those recruited, deceased, discharged, and transferred. The first copy (34" by 23½") is written in pencil and seems to be a draft of the final copy that Lt. Kinsey sent to Washington. The second copy is written in ink and split at some point into two pieces (each measuring 24" by 43"). The pencil copy is more complete.

File 20 contains documents related to a college fund donated to Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa by Company H of the 7th Iowa Infantry on June 20, 1865, for the "free education [of] all disabled soldiers and the orphaned children of deceased soldiers."

Finally, File 21 contains several envelopes.

Arrangement

This collection contains one series with twenty-one files. The files begin with the personal effects of Lt. Kinsey and then shifts to the official documents he kept as an officer in the Union army, including his records on casualties and hostages. The collection concludes with the infantry's muster-out rolls, documents related to a college fund established by the infantry at the end of the war, and several undated envelopes.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Account books
• Atlanta Campaign, 1864
• Diaries
• Invoices
• Kinsey, Henry S., Lt., 1836-1886
• Letters
• Military discharge
• Photographs
• Receipts (Acknowledgments)
• Roll calls
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
• United States. Army. Iowa Infantry Regiment, 7th (1861-1865)