Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

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 Robert Bingham Papers, #3731-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Typed transcriptions of the diary available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Barry Bingham of Louisville, Ky., February 1966 and December 1974.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1.

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: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, July 2010

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

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.

• Bingham, Henrietta Worth, 1901-1968.
• Bingham, Robert, 1838-1927.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Diaries.
• Diaries.
• Fort Delaware (Del.)
• Johnson Island Prison.
• Norfolk (Va.)--History--19th century.
• Point Lookout (Md.)
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and prisons.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Robert Bingham (1838-1927) of Hillsborough, N.C., was a captain in the 44th North Carolina Regiment, Confederate States of America. Bingham was the son of William J. and Elizabeth Norwood Bingham. He was educated at the University of North Carolina and was associated with the Bingham School first in Orange County and later at Asheville, N.C., serving as its superintendent from 1873-1920. During the Civil War he served in Virginia and was captured in June 1863 and imprisoned at Norfolk, Va.; Fort Delaware; Johnsons Island, Ohio; and Point Lookout, Md.; until he was exchanged in May 1864.

He was married to Della Worth, who died in 1886, and later to Elvira Woodward.

The collection includes two volumes of a diary Robert Bingham kept, 1863-1864, while he was a prisoner at Norfolk, Va., Fort Delaware, Johnson's Island, Ohio, and Point Lookout, Md.; and a letter, 14 March 1923, from him to his granddaughter, Henrietta Bingham, describing his Civil War experiences in Virginia, his capture, and his imprisonment. The diary, marked "intended only for my wife," records thoughts Bingham hesitated to put into letters to his wife. The diary describes prison life, including quarters, gambling, work, escape plots, sermons, food, illness, and hospitals at various prison camps. Included are descriptions of the trip from Johnson's Island to Point Lookout; of Bingham's work making chairs and gold and silver rings, needles, and buttons; of his exchange of books with other inmates and guards; and of rumors, including rumors of cessation of prison exchanges, return of North Carolina to the Union, and Confederate privates signing oaths of allegiance.