Purchase. Acc. No. 82-45, October 8, 1982.
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Edwin Y. Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
Letters of Edwin Y. Brown, Union officer, to his family describing the Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia., with a later manuscript reminiscence of the Peninsular Campaign.
The collection contains the following three items:
1862 May 7. Edwin Y. Brown, near Williamsburg, Virginia, to "mother". Detailed description from a Union officer's point of view on the Battle of Williamsburg; gives casualty and wounded statistics, and comments that "the Rebels... have lost many.... and fought well." Includes typescript.
1862 May 10. Edwin Y. Brown, Headquarters, First Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, Williamsburg, Virginia, to "brother". Detailed account of the Battle of Williamsburg, describing the maneuvers of the Union troops, the Rebel cry of "Bull Run, Bull Run" when Union troops began to run out of ammunition, and the Union forces' eventual victory when fresh troops under General Kearney [sic] [Kearny] arrived; mention of the battlefield being "a horrible sight" the next day. Includes typescript.
Undated. Manuscript by Edwin Y. Brown detailing the Peninsular Campaign, especially the Battle of Williamsburg, and mentioning Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Generals McClellan, Magruder, and Johnston.