Michigan in the Civil War
Browse by Name: Bancroft, John Milton.
Bancroft, John Milton, 1838-1918.
This collections is available online.
Typewritten copy of a diary (1861-64) kept while he was serving in the 4th Michigan Infantry as sergeant and lieutenant. Most of the entries are short and terse. The chief items of interest concern his service with Professor Lowe and his balloon, and the following battles: Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. There is an outline of what a day in camp is like; descriptions of marches-the countryside, fatigue, the weather, food or lack of it, and campsites. He tells about foraging for food and for building materials, and describes his quarters. He speaks of McClellan and President Lincoln; of his reading, and of his bouts with dysentery and the remedies prescribed. He was mustered out in June of 1864. Bancroft was a resident of Wayne County, Mich. The original of the diary is in the Auburn University Special Collections and Archives, Alabama.
This collection is available on microfilm for interlibrary loan.
Conant family.
The Conant family was a pioneer family to Van Buren Township, Wayne County, Michigan. The family homestead was moved to Salem Township, Washtenaw County in 1942 during construction of the Willow Run Bomber Plant and Airport. One family member, John Stoughton Conant, served with Co. H, Fourth Michigan Infantry during the Civil War. The collection contains Civil War letters and documents (mainly 1863) of John Stoughton Conant. Also included are letters of John M. Bancroft, 1st Lieutenant commanding Company B, 4th Michigan Infantry (Dec. 11, 1863 and Feb. 20, 1864) written from Bealton Station, Virginia; John Felt, Company H, 5th Michigan Cavalry (Feb. 8, 1864) written from Stevensburg, Virginia; Jacob Hand, Company L, 2nd Michigan Cavalry (April 30, 1862) written from Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee; and William Lamkin, Company D, 7th Michigan Infantry (March 27, 1864) written from Stevensburg, Virginia.
Finding aid available in library