The collection is open for research.
Permission to publish material from Cheyney W. Nields Correspondence must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Cheyney W. Nields Correspondence, Ms2017-060, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Cheyney W. Nields Correspondence was purchased in two separate accessions in May and August of 2015.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Cheyney W. Nields Correspondence was completed in October 2017.
Cheyney W. Nields was born in Pennsylvania on March 6, 1836 to Cheyney and Mary (Given) Nields. He was the fourth of five children. Nields grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and eventually became an attorney. He served with Company A, 30th Pennsylvania Volunteers (1st Reserves), beginning in June 1861. He rose from the rank of Sergeant and mustered out as a 1st Lieutenant in November of 1863. Nields died in West Chester, PA, in March 1864 (though one conflicting record lists his death as 1867), and is buried in Green Mount Cemetery.
The collection consists of three letters written by Cheyney W. Nields (two to his mother and one to his sister) between August 1861 and December 1862. The first letter is dated August 16, 1861, and was written from Camp Todd, Annapolis, Maryland, to Nields' mother. The letter recounts the capture of medical supplies by Union soldiers and his regiment's involvement in acquiring part of them. Included in this seizure was the capture of a prisoner and his possessions: gold, silver, and Confederate Army correspondence. He also writes of the prisoner giving up information on contacts in Baltimore who were in support of the Confederacy. The second letter, dated April 23, 1862, was written to one of his sister's from Catlett's Station, Virginia. He talks of the moving of headquarters in bad weather to an abandoned farm and describes the farm in some detail, as well as some locate sites (including White Sulphur Springs). He also mentions some local residents they found and aks for news from home. The third letter, dated December 20, 1862, was also written to his mother, from White Oak Church, Virginia. He mentions changes in the command structure of the regiment, news of the killed and wounded, his frustrations with the war, and he describes a recent battle. The original envelope for the final letter is also included.