American Civil War Digital Collections. The Special Collections Department at the University of Delaware Library houses many unique primary sources related to the American Civil War. These include items such as letters, prints, documents, photographs and significant Abraham Lincoln materials. The American Civil War Digital Collections currently highlight the following collections: Letters and Diaries, Autograph Abraham Lincoln Documents, Alexander Gardner Photographs of Lincoln Conspirators, Pierce Family Papers (described below), and Rosenthal Lithographic Prints of Civil War Encampments. As the American Civil War Digital Collections at the University of Delaware Library continues to develop, they will be added to this online source.

The American Civil War Digital Collections: Pierce Family Papers were written between 1833 and 1954. Most of the forty-eight items provide an excellent portrait of military life for two brothers, George and Enos Pierce. The core of the collection is a group of letters written by George and Enos to their parents and siblings. Beginning in February 1862, following their arrival at Fernandina, Florida, as part of the 97th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, the two brothers corrresponded until their deaths in 1864.

Over the years the letters described the movements of their companies, detailed their daily lives as Union troops, recounted battles in which they engaged, depicted their surroundings, and recorded their feelings about the war and home. Enclosed in the letters are Enos's drawings of the defenses for Fort Wagner and a Presbyterian Church near Port Royal, South Carolina, as well as the words to a song titled "Song of George Riley."

These letters were the basis of a University of Delaware senior thesis titled The Pierce Letters: a history of the 97th Pennsylvania Volunteers, which was written in 1954 by Patrick Winston Morris. This thesis used the Pierce letters and various military records to trace the movements and activities of the 97th Pennsylvania Volunteers, as well as detail the history of the regiment. Because the information gathered from the military records adds significantly to information found in the letters, this thesis is an excellent resource for details concerning the regiment and the Pierce brothers.

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