Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Elias Brady Papers #3694-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed 2005-2006) available.

• Reel 1: Entire collection

Alternate Form of Material

There are typed transcripts of the letters.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Frank Putnam Deane II of Richmond, Va., in October 1964.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Brooke Allan, 1964

Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, March 2005

Updated by: Laura Hart, July 2021

Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid and microfilming of this collection.

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.

• Brady, Elias, 1837?-1863.
• Brady, Martha, fl. 1862-1863.
• Gass, Harris, fl. 1862.
• Gass, John, fl. 1862.
• Soldiers--United States--Correspondence.
• Tennessee--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Confiscations and contributions.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and prisons.
• United States. Army--Military life--History.
• United States. Army. Indiana Infantry Regiment, 86th (1862-1865).

Elias Brady of Rainsville, Warren County, Ind., enlisted as a musician in Company D, 86th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Army of the Cumberland, in August 1862. He served until he died of smallpox in December 1863. His brother-in-law, Lieutenant Harris Gass, also served with the 86th.

The collection consists of letters written home by Elias Brady of Warren County, Ind., and Harris Gass, both federal soldiers with the 86th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Army of the Cumberland. The majority of the letters are from Elias Brady to his wife, Martha Gass Brady, sister of Harris Gass and daughter of John Gass. The letters, written from Kentucky, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Chattanooga, Tenn., discuss picket duty, camp life, troop movements, prisoner exchange, foraging, confiscating food, and news of casualties. Also included are letters from Harris Gass to John Gass at Rainsville, Ind., and copies of the Indiana state records of the military service of the two men.

• Microfilm reel (M-3694/1)