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MS10-19 William J. Stubblefield Diary

William J. Stubblefield Diary

Collection Title: William J. Stubblefield Diary

Series Number: MS10-19

Processed and Cataloged by: Processed by Dieter C. Ullrich on May 21, 2010

Date Listed: May 21, 2010

Date Span: 1861-1874

Size of Collection: 0.10 linear feet.

Number of Boxes: 1 legal sized file folder; 1 item.

Type of Material: Diary.

Condition of Material: Good.

Arrangement: Organized by author; Chronological arrangement.

Biographical / Historical Information: William Jefferson Stubblefield was an officer in Company G of the 7th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. He was born on August 4, 1830 in Rockingham County, North Carolina. His family relocated to Calloway County, Kentucky in 1835. During the 1850s, Stubblefield worked at his father’s saw mill and sold tobacco. Prior to the Civil War, he attended law school at Louisville, Kentucky and soon after began a practice at Murray and later Benton, Kentucky. He joined the Confederate States Army on October 10, 1861 at Camp Burnett near Columbus, Kentucky. He remained at Columbus until the city was abandoned in March of 1862. His company was sent to Corinth, Mississippi and later participated in the Battle of Shiloh. From Corinth he marched to Vicksburg, Mississippi and then to Baton Rouge. Louisiana. He became seriously ill at Port Hudson, Louisiana and returned to Calloway County to recuperate. After the war, Stubblefield again practiced law. He was on the first board of trustees for the Murray Male and Female Institute. He died on August 1, 1874.

Scope and Content: Collection consists of a transcribed diary of William J. Stubblefield of Calloway County, Kentucky from April 12, 1862 to September 19, 1862. In the diary’s introduction he writes of camp life, the battle at Shiloh and contracting yellow fever. He criticizes conscription, the lack of supplies and endless marching. He mentions his regiment being shelled at Vicksburg, participating in a battle at Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the regiment’s retreat to Port Hudson, Louisiana. The journal ends with his return to Calloway County after suffering weeks from an illness. Included with the collection are an autobiography and a last will and testament dated August 25, 1874.

Subject Headings / Descriptors:

Stubblefield, William Jefferson, 1830-1874

Stubblefield family.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Personal narratives, Confederate.

Confederate States of America. Army. Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, 7th, Company G –History.

Camp Burnett (Ky.)