The Young-Corman Family Papers are the culmination of the marriage of James B. Young and Alice Corman. Young served in the 9th Kansas Cavalry with Isaac and Edward Corman, Alice’s brothers. The three men wrote Alice and the rest of their families throughout the Civil War. Young and the Corman brothers saw little military combat, but heavily patrolled the western frontier. Their letters reveal the political atmosphere of the time and difficulties faced by citizens who remained on the Kansas-Missouri border.

Coleman Bruce wrote to his children William and Martha Jane Jackson regarding the political tension within Missouri and the United States. While Bruce’s children supported the Union, he cited in his letter several injustices committed by Northern men. Bruce’s use of derogatory terminology conveyed his feelings about the Union troops. He also, commented on poor market values for crops and recent news from the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. Bruce even stated that Sample Orr, an 1860 Missouri gubernatorial candidate, robbed a Springfield bank of $24,000. Allegedly, the money was taken to Rolla to remain in Union hands. Little documentation on this event exists. Bruce encouraged his children to share this letter with their friends and family, perhaps in an attempt to persuade others to support the Confederacy. The letter draw attentions to the impact the War had on family dynamics as well as the crumbling economic condition in the country.

Partheny Horn was a strong southern supporter who in 1863, who along with a group of other Missouri women left the state seeking refuge in Texas. Partheny and her family lived in Cedar County, Missouri before the war. She recalled her brother’s departure into service and the trials she and the other woman faced on their harrowing journey to Texas. Horn’s memoir provides a fascinating account of their experiences and documents the physical and mental strength of women during the War. Horn authored the memoir fifty years after the war ended, thus her description are not entirely historically accurate. The memoir does, however, offer a very unique and invaluable perspective of the war’s impact on southern women in Missouri.

Peter Marselis Van Winkle developed several lumber mills across Northwest Arkansas. He built a vast road network to expedite the shipment of lumber and urbanization. During the war the Van Winkle family fled their home for refuge in Texas. In 1866, they returned to Arkansas to rebuild their lives and the surrounding community. Peter supplied much of the goods to reconstruct homes and businesses. And perhaps Peter Van Winkle may have single handedly shaped the development of the Ozarks, and rejuvenated the region as the country attempted to restore civilization after the Civil War.

The William Dameron papers document the incarceration of William and his attempt to obtain parole. In October of 1864, William was captured as a Confederate prisoner of war in Stone County, Missouri. He taken to Springfield, Missouri and later transferred to St. Louis for incarceration. William proclaimed Union loyalties, service in the Enrolled Missouri Militia, and forced conscription into the Confederate Army. He wrote his wife asking for assistance in obtaining his freedom. This collection contains two letters home, and his prisoner of war examinations.

John H. Utz served under General Sterling Price, and participated in the Battles of Lexington and Pea Ridge. Utz returned home after his “six months service” was up, and took the oath of allegiance to the Union sometime in 1862. He married Sarah Elizabeth (“Sallie”) Duncan in February 1863, and their first child was born in July 1864. In the fall of 1864, Utz attempted to join Sterling Price in his expedition through Missouri, which resulted in his imprisonment.

The John H. Utz collection is a series of sixty plus letters compiled by his descendents. The letters were self-published by the family in Biographical Sketches of the Bartlett Marshall Duncan and Henry Utz Families. Very limited copies of the book are available to the public, and the letters in the collection are reproduced as they were printed in the book. This collection depicts Utz experiences as a prisoner of war from 1864 through 1865

Ephraim Fauquier enrolled as a Private in Company “C”, 3rd Regiment, Iowa Cavalry Volunteers on September 2, 1861 at Keokuk, Iowa, for three years service. His letters to his wife Margaret and their children – Charles, Lizzie and Thomas – span his service in the Union Army, across the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks.

The Mack Collection offers valuable insight into the lives of Union sympathizers in the Ozarks. In many ways, their experiences are typical of Southern Unionists, though their home in Missouri placed them squarely in a border region. The war was bitter and personal for the Mack family. Their experiences as refugees and those who fighting guerrillas in the 1st Arkansas Cavalry (U.S.) hardened their feelings towards Confederate sympathizers. As Radical Republicans, the Macks entered the political arena only to find themselves at odds with fellow Unionists.

Regrettably, the Mack collection contains only half of the correspondence between the family members. The surviving letters were written to those serving in the army. While the soldier’s responses are missing, the existing letters provide researchers with a unique perspective on the civilian experience in southwest Missouri.