John Kennedy Street papers, 1858-1899

John Kennedy Street papers, 1858-1899

Author: Street, John Kennedy, 1837-1914

Year: 1858

Chiefly letters from John Kennedy Street to his wife, Melinda Pace Street (1839-1899), describing marches, camp life, picket duty, sickness, hospitals, bushwhackers, religious revivals, and the formation of a Young Men's Christian Association in his brigade. He also wrote of his battlefield experiences at Shiloh, Perryville, and Murfreesboro, and of the fall of Vicksburg and skirmishing around Jackson, Miss., that took place at the same time. Street commented generally on the war and on southern independence and mentioned family members whom he visited during the course of his military service. There are two letters written by his daughter, Elizabeth Kennedy Street Wallace. Also included is a diary Street kept recounting his time spent in federal prisons at Vicksburg and Memphis; newspaper clippings; an 1862 photograph of Street; a contemporary hand-drawn map of the siege of Vicksburg; a poem, a calling card, and an invitation to a wedding anniversary celebration