William J. Blackshear papers

Chiefly war letters from Blackshear, who was engaged to and eventually married Marian Baber, daughter of Ambrose Baber; and of George D. Smith, Confederate soldier and cousin of the Babers. The letters include descriptions of the fall of Port Royal, S.C., in 1861, and graphic descriptions of army life and activities on St. Simon's Island, Ga. Other correspondents wrote of the efforts of "Yankees" in 1865 to get teachers for African-American schools in Savannah, and impressions of Texas.