War of the Rebellion
1861 - 1865
Letters written while in service
by
Waters Whipple Braman
93rd Regiment, New York volunteer Infantry

Transcriptions donated by CAPT James B. Bridge, USN (ret.)
Originals Located at the New York State Library,
Manuscripts and Special Collections

Historical / Birographical note: "Civil War soldier, businessman, and politician. Born and raised in Troy, N.Y., he enlisted 7 December 1861 to serve three years in the army. He mustered in 24 January 1862, as first lieutenant, Company C of the 93rd New York Infantry Regiment; promoted in rank to Captain, Co. H, 4 April 1864, he was discharged from service 14 January 1865, near Petersburg, VA. After the war, he settled in Watervliet, N.Y. and embarked in the lumber business. He was also involved in local politics, representing the Watervliet area in the New York State Legislature during the 1870s and 1880s. He was also manager of the Kearslake Flouring Mill. In 1891, he moved to Quebec to manage a lumber mill."*

Scope & Content: "This collection consists chiefly of letters Waters Whipple Braman sent to members of family of Waters W. Whipple, and his fiancée, Margaret "Maggie" Jane Getty, in regards to his experiences of military service during the Civil War. The letters detail battles and campaigns at Antietam, Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna River, and Petersburg Crater. His descriptions noted the positions and maneuvers of troops as well as the unit involved in a particular engagement and the names of commanding officers. Also included are many candid observations about the personal conduct of officers as well as life in the officers' quarters."*

This collection is 326 total pages including a title page and a seven-page index at the end which is very faint. There are two pages numbered 151 (151 and 151A) and two pages numbered 276 (276 and 276A). This is a collection of only the transcriptions. The originals are located at the New York State Library.

This collection has been put through an OCR program (optical character recongnition) so it can be searched. However, it has NOT been proof-read so there are mistakes in the underlying text.

Due to the large size of this collection you can either download the PDFs in parts or download the whole file (about 20 MB)

Letters in sections
Letters written from January to June, 1862. (60 pages)
Letters written from July to December, 1862 (69 pages)
Letters written from January to June, 1863. (55 pages)
Letters written from July to December, 1863 (69 pages)
Letters written from February to June, 1864. (42 pages)
Letters written from July 1864 to October, 1865. (54 pages)

Index to all letters. (7 pages)

Download all the letters and index here.

* Taken from the NY State Library Catalog.

Back to 93rd Regiment During the Civil War