Joseph Fulton Boyd papers, 1861-1869 and undated

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Summary

Creator:
Boyd, Joseph Fulton
Abstract:
Joseph Fulton Boyd was Chief Quartermaster in the Army of the Ohio during the Civil War. Papers relate mainly to Boyd's activities in the Army of the Ohio and the Quartermaster's Dept., operating in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. Formats include routine correspondence, miscellaneous letters, general orders and circulars, strength reports, consolidated quartermaster reports (1861-1863), account books, forage records, invoice books, records books, and a lecture notebook. Subjects covered include supplies, transportation, civilian labor, and the Secret Service.
Extent:
20 Linear Feet
12,356 items and 16 vols.
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
RL.00135

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains Quartermaster Corps records of the Army of the Ohio, especially the 2nd division and the 23rd Corps. Included are records of supplies, containing lists of tools, food prices, and supplies captured from the Confederates; and monthly and quarterly reports, 1861-1863. Forage records consist of vouchers, receipts, requisitions, reports and monthly statements. Financial papers concern payments to military personnel. Records of transportation include receipts, requisitions, and vouchers for horses, wagons, services, and equipment; and reports, among them a list, dated 1864, of the number of men, officers, and horses in the Army of the Ohio. Steamship papers, dated 1865, record the transportation of men, horses, and equipment, as well as the condition of lighthouses. There are individual and consolidated reports on civilian labor. Other papers relate to the secret service, dated 1861-1865. Personnel papers contain battlefield orders, dated 1864-1865, orders for the Freedmen's Bureau, court-martial reports, and reports of the army, 1864-1865. Papers of the U.S. Military Railroad in North Carolina comprise reports on men and equipment carried, accidents and thefts, and property sales; and correspondence concerning friction between military and railroad officials, problems with the African American troops, and the shipment of cotton and resin. Reports on civilian purchases cover all supplies other than forage and horses. There are also extra duty reports; strength reports, chiefly those of the 11th Maine, 52nd Pennsylvania, 47th, 56th and 100th New York, and 104th Pennsylvania Volunteers; routine correspondence, primarily letters which accompanied reports; miscellaneous papers, generally concerned with African Americans, the conversion of schools into hospitals, and other concerns of the quartermaster; and general orders and circulars. Volumes include account books, dated 1861-1864; forage records, dated 1861-1862; military telegrams, dated 1864-1866; and an abstract and letter book, dated 1861-1869.

Biographical / historical:

On Oct. 7, 1861, General A. McDowell McCook was put in command of a force in Kentucky, and on Nov. 9 this force became part of the Department of the Ohio, comprised of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, part of Kentucky east of the Cumberland, and Tennessee. The Army of Ohio was created in December 1861, under command of D.C. Buell. There were six divisions, the 2nd being headed by Gen. A. McDowell McCook. Joseph Fulton Boyd was Captain and Assistant Quartermaster in McCook's 2nd Division. The earliest papers in this collection were written at Camp Nevin, Kentucky, in November 1861.

On October 30, 1862, Buell was relieved by Rosencrans, and the Army of the Ohio became the Army of the Cumberland. McCook led the 20th Corps at the Battle of Chickamauga, afterwhich he was relieved of his command. Boyd was captured sometime in 1862. On March 17, 1863, Boyd was made a Lieutenant Colonel and assigned to the Quartermaster Corps, where he stayed until Nov. 10, 1863. He also fought at the Battle of Chickamauga in September.

On February 15, 1864, Boyd was again assigned to the Quartermaster Corps as Lieutenant Colonel. That same month, John M. Schofield assumed command of the 23rd Corps and of the Department and Army of Ohio, with which he took part in Sherman's Atlanta campaign. Boyd served as Chief Quartermaster under Schofield in the Army of the Ohio. After the Battle of Atlanta, Schofield (with the 23rd Corps and part of the IV Corps) started for Nashville. They fought in the Battle of Franklin, and then rejoined Gen. G.H. Thomas to take part in the Battle of Nashville in December 1864.

Afterwards, the 23rd Corps was moved by rail to Washington and by sea to the mouth of the Cape Fear River, where Schofield assumed command of the newly formed Department of North Carolina. Boyd continued under Schofield as Chief Quartermaster, and became the director of military railroads. On March 13, 1865, Boyd was honorably mustered out, as Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, and Brigadier General.

Schofield first occupied Wilmington, N.C., and then affected a junction with Sherman at Goldsboro, N.C., on March 23; his command becoming the center grand division of Sherman's army in operations against Johnston. He accompanied Sherman at the final meeting with Johnston on April 26, 1865, when the terms of surrender were agreed upon, and was designated as commissioner to execute the terms. Schofield remained in command of the Dept. of N.C. until the formation of a provisional state government in June, 1865.

Not much is known about Boyd's pre- or post-war life, except that he was living in Memphis from 1868 to 1869, and later settled in Philadelphia.

Acquisition information:
The Joseph Fulton Boyd Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library in 1949 and 1953.
Processing information:

Processed by Rubenstein Library staff, circa 1993

Encoded by Meghan Lyon, May 2010

Materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. The library may require up to 48 hours to retrieve these materials for research use.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Joseph Fulton Boyd Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University