Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

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Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Lt. Col. A. P. Porter Copybook, Ms2001-001, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

The Lt. Col. A. P. Porter Copybook was acquired by Special Collections in 2001.

Processing Information

Minimal initial description was completed in 2011. Additional processing, arrangement, and description of the Lt. Col. A. P. Porter Copybook was completed in November 2013.

Biographical Note

Lieutenant Colonel A. P. Porter was the chief commissary of subsistence of the Fifth Army Corps, a member of the Army of the Potomac, during the American Civil War. He was promoted from Captain to Lieutenant Colonel sometime between the 18th and 21st of August, 1862. Acting with Captain George Bell and other prominent figures in the Union Army, Porter aided in the rationing of goods, establishment of depot sites, discharge of vessels, and construction of temporary wharves. He communicated via letters with other commissaries and army divisions in the region to send rations to such areas as Yorktown, Rockville, and other stations across the states of Virginia and Maryland.

Sources:

United States War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Volume XI, in Three Parts: Part I. Reports, Chapter XXIII: The Peninsular Campaign, Virginia, p. 176. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Ofice, 1884. http://books.google.com/books?id=IvEUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=a.+p.+porter+union+army+commissary+of+subsistence&source=bl&ots=kYnt8JahLJ&sig=BlbfQscIPTBrKA5KMDkdB3Sa7jY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5e6DUoqYBKzE4APdkoHIDw&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=a.%20p.%20porter%20union%20army%20commissary%20of%20subsistence&f=false

http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/recordView.cfm?Content=103/0718

Scope and Content

This collection consists of a copybook containing about 280 letters written by Lieutenant Colonel A. P. Porter of the Union Army's Commissary of Subsistence during the American Civil War. The letters include documentation about the shipping, maintenance, and distribution of large quantities of food and supply rations among the Union Army. Along with the transport and distribution of supplies, Porter also documented inventories of many resources including cattle, livestock, and other food supplies. Many of these letters are written to other Union officers including Col. A. Beckwith and Col. H. Clarke while Lieutenant Colonel Porter was stationed at General McClellan's Headquarters.

Arrangement

Copybook contains letters written in chronological order from 1862-1863.

The succeeding folders contain outstanding letters that have been torn from the copybook, also in chronological order.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Civil War
• History of Food and Drink
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the Lt. Col. A. P. Porter Copybook by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).