Chester Leach Papers

The collection of Chester Leach’s papers contains correspondence, diaries, militia papers, schoolwork and more. The correspondence focuses on his time in the Civil War and the diaries focus on his time at home, after the war until his death in 1909. His collection of papers gives valuable insight into the Civil War, Vermont politics, and farm life,.

The vast majority of the correspondence Chester sent during the Civil War was to his wife, Ann (boxes 1 and 2). These date from June 1861 to three days before he was mustered out of service, June 26th 1864. They were sent, for the most part, at least twice a week to Ann and they provide valuable understanding of camp life, health, hospitals, and battles. The letters discuss various battles and the general health and problems that an officer would find in the field. They give glimpses into the emotional world of a husband and wife that have been separated for more than three years by war.

The diaries (boxes 3 and 4) were kept after he was mustered out in June of 1864 until 1908, the year before his death. He had no reason to write to his wife so very little correspondence is found after the war. They are about every day labors and purchases, illustrating what it took to keep a farm running. They also acted as Chester’s accounting books. The diary series also includes a volume pertaining to civic and judicial fields that Chester partook in.

The final two boxes contain a variety of documents, including official militia documents, schoolwork from his son, and deeds and receipts from his various purchases. The two main portions of these boxes are the official military documents and the school work of his son Byron. The military documents cover his entire career as an officer and gives lists of casualties, inventories, purchases, and more about his unit, Company H of the 2nd Vermont Volunteers. They show how inventorying was completed, rosters of men kept, and how equipment was handled in the Union Army. His son’s schoolwork is notable, as Byron died at a young age. There is also a great deal of civic paperwork including deeds, patents, school documents, business cards, judicial records, commissioning papers and more.

In addition, there are three photo albums and a letter book. The photo albums vary in content. One has a majority of photos from men in uniform while the others have a variety of people. They give faces to the names of the people Chester talks about in his papers. The letter book is a handwritten book that has every single one of Chester’s letters rewritten from his first letter in June 1861 to Mid-August of 1862.