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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 2.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1,550 items) |
| Abstract | Jeremy Francis Gilmer (1818-1883) was a United States Army Engineer, 1839-1861, and Confederate Chief of Engineers. Personal and military papers of Gilmer include a series of official army papers, 1851-1859, relating to the construction of fortifications on the Georgia and Florida coast; a diary, 1841-1842, at Fort Schuyler, N.Y.; letters, 1861-1864, from Gilmer to his wife Louisa Fredericka Alexander Gilmer, and other Civil War papers; a Confederate order book, 1863-1864, at headquarters, military district of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina; family correspondence with Lawton, Alexander, and Porter relatives in Georgia, including letters received by wife and daughter Louisa Porter Gilmer; and extensive group of Civil War maps, including both manuscript maps and printed maps with manuscript annotations and engineers' drawings of military construction. |
| Creator | Gilmer, Jeremy Francis, 1818-1883. |
| Curatorial Unit | Southern Historical Collection |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical Information
Jeremy Francis Gilmer was born in Guilford County, N.C., on 23 February 1818. He entered the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant of Engineers in July 1839 after graduating from the United States Military Academy. He continued as an United States Army Engineer, constructing fortifications and conducting surveys until 1861, when he resigned in support of the southern cause. In September 1861, Gilmer was appointed Major of Engineers in the Confederate States of America Army and served as Chief Engineer of the staff of General A. S. Johnston until the general's death at the battle of Shiloh on 6 April 1862, where Gilmer was also severely wounded.
After his recovery, Gilmer served for a short time with the Army of Northern Virginia. On 9 August 1862, he was assigned to the Office of Chief of Engineer Bureau in Richmond, Va., and promoted to the rank of Colonel of Engineers. Promoted to Major General on 20 August 1863, Gilmer was ordered to Charleston, S.C., to direct the defense of the city. He returned to Richmond in June 1864, where he directed the Engineer Bureau until the end of the War. In the fall of 1865, Gilmer was elected a director of the Georgia Central Railroad and later served as president pro tem. In 1866, he was elected president of the Savannah Gas-Light Company, an office he held along with director, Georgia Central Railroad, until his death on 1 December 1883.
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Scope and Content
Personal and military papers of military engineer Jeremy Francis Gilmer of Guilford County, N.C., include a series of official army papers, 1851-1859, relating to the construction of fortifications on the Georgia and Florida coast; a diary, 1841-1842, at Fort Schuyler, N.Y.; letters, 1861-1864, from Gilmer to his wife Louisa Fredericka Alexander Gilmer, and other Civil War papers; a Confederate order book, 1863-1864, at headquarters, military district of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina; family correspondence with Lawton, Alexander, and Porter relatives in Georgia, including letters received by wife and daughter Louisa Porter Gilmer; and 158 Civil War maps, including both manuscript maps and printed maps with manuscript annotations and engineers' drawings of military construction.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Antebellum Personal Papers, 1839-1858.
Arrangement: roughly chronological.
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Series 2. Antebellum Military Records, 1851-1860.
Arrangement: chronological.
Primarily applications and rosters for the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
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Series 3. Civil War Papers, 1861-1865.
Arrangement: chronological.
Primarily correspondence and notes with exceptions noted.
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Series 4. Post-War Papers, 1866-1895 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Primarily correspondence.
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Series 5. Maps and Plans, 1828-1865 and undated.
Digitized versions of 162 maps and drawings from Series 5 of the Jeremy Francis Gilmer
Papers
Descriptive information comes directly from the maps or has been created from information on the maps.
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5.1 Alabama and the Gulf Maps
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Subseries 5.2 Trans-Mississippi Maps
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Subseries 5.3 North Carolina Maps
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5.4 Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Northern Georgia Maps
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5.5 Virginia Maps
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5.6 Additional Maps and Ephemera
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Series 6. Clippings.
Folder 51-53
Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53 |
Biographical and other clippings #00276, Series: "6. Clippings." Folder 51-53 |
| Extra Oversize Paper Folder XOPF-276/6a |
Plan of shot furnace #00276, Series: "6. Clippings." XOPF-276/6a |
U.S. Corps of Engineers uniforms specifications #00276, Series: "6. Clippings." XOPF-276/6a |
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Plan of monument #00276, Series: "6. Clippings." XOPF-276/6a |
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| Extra Oversize Paper Folder XOPF-276/6b |
Newspaper clippings #00276, Series: "6. Clippings." XOPF-276/6b |
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Series 7. Pictures, 1870s and
undated.
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Series 8. Microfilm.
Reel M-276/1-2
M-276/1M-276/2 |
Microfilm #00276, Series: "8. Microfilm." Reel M-276/1-2 |
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Items Separated
Processed by: Tim Pyatt, Lynn Pritcher, October 1996, June 1997
Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, May 2005
Updated by Margaret Dickson because of addition, July 2007; Nancy Kaiser, October 2020; Dawne Howard Lucas, March 2021
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