Manuscripts Division
William L. Clements Library
University of Michigan
Finding aid for
Henry H. Seys Papers, 1851-1864
James S. Schoff Civil War CollectionFinding aid created by
Rob S. Cox, September 1997
Summary Information
Henry H. Seys papers
Seys, Harriet H. Foote, d. 1876
1851-1864
94 items (0.25 linear feet)
This collection of letters by Civil War surgeon and medical inspector Henry H. Seys to his wife, Harriet, provide animated accounts of conversations in camp, fatiguing marches, and day-to-day military activities - particularly during the Tullahoma, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga Campaigns
The material is in English
William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan909 S. University Ave.
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1190
Phone: 734-764-2347
Web Site: www.clements.umich.edu
Access and Use
1976. M-1730.
The collection is open for research.
Copyright status is unknown.
Henry H. Seyes Papers, James S. Schoff Civil War Collection, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan
Biography
Seys, Henry H., 1830-1904
Rank : Asst. Surgeon; Surgeon; Medical Inspector
Regiment : 3rd Ohio Infantry Regiment (1861); 15th Ohio Infantry Regiment (1861-1865)
Service : 1861 May 2-1864 August 1
A white West Indian with an aristocratic pedigree, John Seys disgraced his family by becoming a Methodist minister. Undaunted, he followed his calling into a succession of missionary posts while he and his wife worked to raise a large family. Their first four children died in infancy, but Henry, their fifth, survived after being born in America, where his father was laboring as a missionary to the Mohawk Indians. From 1835 to 1845, John Seys served as a missionary in Africa -- accompanied by Henry for three of these years -- and in 1850, he accepted the directorship of the Maryland Colonization Society, returning to Liberia for a short time in 1862.
Although he later signed letters "Seys Jr.," Henry Seys appears never to have gone by the name of his father, nor did he entirely follow in his father's footsteps. In 1853, Henry graduated from medical school in Baltimore, and moved to Springfield, Ohio, to set up practice. Thus Henry Seys was a doctor with eight years' experience when he answered the call to serve in the Civil War, leaving his wife and children under the care of her parents in Massachusetts. Although he is officially listed on the roll of the 3rd Ohio Infantry through July, 1862, and of the 15th Ohio Infantry from then to the end of his service, he actually spent only a fraction of his time with those regiments. Most of his service was spent in staff appointments of various sorts.
Although self-confident, Seys nevertheless harbored deep anxieties about the possibility of failure. Yet despite his fears, he rose steadily through the ranks, from Assistant Surgeon at the beginning of the war to Senior Surgeon in October, 1862, and in March, 1863, to Medical Inspector in the Army of the Cumberland, a post he owed to the support of General William S. Rosecrans. When Rosecrans was relieved of his post later that fall, however, Seys became a casualty of the general reorganization.
Seys and his wife returned to Springfield after the war, following an abortive attempt in 1864 to start a practice in Oil City, Pa. He died on June 17, 1904.
Collection Scope and Content Note
Henry Seys' letters are the product of a well educated man: sprinkled with Latin and French phrases, and quotations from poetry, they are written in a lively and engaging style. The strength of the collection lies in Seys' animated accounts of conversations in camp, fatiguing marches, and of day-to-day life during the heat of the critical Tennessee campaigns of 1863. Something of an artist, he left one map of the Tullahoma Campaign, but unfortunately, his pencil sketches of army life and personnel -- done for the benefit of his children -- have been lost.
Seys' surviving letters cluster around the Tullahoma, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga Campaigns. While not a combatant, per se , he records the eerie sensation of living with the possibility, if not probability, of imminent death. As a member of Rosecrans' staff, he became intimate with the general, and his letters provide some penetrating personal glimpses into that man's character and his subordinates' feelings about him. In a different vein, Seys' devotion to his horse, "Dr.," gives a sense of the affection that some soldiers developed for their animal friends during the stress of war. Finally, as might be expected, the collection includes information on medical aspects of the war. Seys treated not only soldiers, but his family (by mail); one letter recommends chloroform to aid his mother-in-law's asthma.
Subject Terms
- Bowling Green (Ky.)--Description and travel.
- Chattanooga, Battle of, Chattanooga, Tenn., 1863.
- Chickamauga, Battle of, Ga., 1863.
- Horses.
- Inflation (Finance)
- Marches--Tennessee.
- Medicine--Practice--Ohio.
- Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864.
- Patriotism.
- Perryville, Battle of, Perryville, Ky., 1862.
- Rosecrans, William Starke, 1819-1898.
- Starvation.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Hospitals.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Medical care.
- United States. Army--Surgeons.
Contents List
Additional Descriptive Data
- John Seys
- Henry H. Seys (1830-1904)
- (1) m. (Nov. 17, 1853) to Harriet H. Foote (d. Spring, 1876), dau. of Asahel Foote, of Williamstown, Mass.
- Mary Seys (b. 1854)
- John Seys (d. before 1897)
- (2) m. (Sept. 18, 1877) to Elizabeth E. Wickham, Racine, Wisc. She survived him.
- DeWint (b. 1832)
- Maria (b. 1835)
- Anna (b. 1842)
- Clement (b. 1844)
African Americans--ColonizationAlabama--Description and travelAmbulancesAnniversariesAsthmaBotany--AlabamaBowling Green (Ky.)--Description and travel
- 1862 February 17
- 1862 February 18
- 1862 February 20
Bragg's Invasion of Kentucky, 1862
- 1862 September 9
- 1862 September 11
Buell, Don Carlos, 1818-1898Camps (Military)--KentuckyCamps (Military)--West VirginiaCarrington, Henry, 1824-1912Chattanooga (Tenn.)--Capture, 1863Chattanooga (Tenn.)--Description and travelChattanooga Campaign, 1863
- 1863 November 1
- 1863 November 20
- 1863 November 22
- 1863 November 27
Chattanooga, Battle of, 1863
- 1863 November 1
- 1863 November 20
- 1863 November 22
Cheat Mountain Campaign, 1861Chickamauga Campaign, 1863
- 1863 August 3
- 1863 August 31
- 1863 September 9
- 1863 September 10
- 1863 September 13
- 1863 September 17
- 1863 September 18
- 1863 September 21
- 1863 September 22
- 1863 September 24
- 1863 September 26
Chickamauga, Battle of, 1863
- 1863 September 21
- 1863 September 22
- 1863 September 24
- 1863 September 26
ChristmasCivilians--Tennessee--Civil War, 1861-1865
- 1863 March 11
- 1863 March 17
Depression, MentalEnemy--RelationsFall foliageForaging--AlabamaGettysburg, Battle of, 1863Harper's WeeklyHorses
- 1863 September 17
- 1863 September 22
- 1863 September 24
- 1863 October 2
- 1863 October 23
Inflation (Finance)
- 1862 December 8
- 1863 March 11
Ladies' Aid SocietyLookout Mountain, Battle of, 1863Maps--TennesseeMarches--KentuckyMarches--Tennessee
- 1862 February 27
- 1862 March 6
Maryland Colonization SocietyMedicineMedicine--Practice--OhioMedicine--Study and teachingMill Springs, Battle of, 1862Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight, 1809-1862MoraleMorgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864
- 1862 December 29
- 1863 January 15
Nashville (Tenn.), Skirmish at, 1862
- 1862 November 7
- 1862 November 17
Nashville (Tenn.)--Description and travelOak Grove (Va.), Battle of, 1863Patriotism
- 1862 February 3
- 1862 October 13
- 1863 October 20
Perryville (Ky.), Battle of, 1862
- 1862 October 13
- 1862 October 16
Prisoners of War--Confederate States of AmericaRailroads--DestructionRailroads--West VirginiaRosecrans, William Starke, 1819-1898
- 1863 April 15
- 1863 June 28 p.m.
- 1863 October 20
- 1863 October 23
- 1863 n.d.
Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888Skirmishes--AlabamaSkirmishes--KentuckySkirmishes--TennesseeSlaverySpiritualismSpringStarvation
- 1863 October 23
- 1863 October 26
Steedman, James 1817-1893StrategyTentsTullahoma Campaign, 1863
- 1863 June 26
- 1863 June 28 a.m.
- 1863 June 28 p.m.
- 1863 July 5
- 1863 July 6
- 1863 August
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--African AmericansUnited States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Hospitals
- 1861 June 26
- 1862 May 12
- 1862 August 20
- 1863 April 15
- 1863 May 15
- 1863 August 8
- 1863 October 2
- 1863 November 27
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Medical care
- 1862 August 20
- 1863 March 17
- 1863 September 13
United States. Army--Barracks and quartersUnited States. Army--ChaplainsUnited States. Army--Military lifeUnited States. Army--OfficersUnited States. Army--SurgeonsUnited States. Army--Surgeons--Alcohol useVallandingham, Clement Laird, 1820-1871War--Psychological aspectsWashington, John A., d. 1861Women--KentuckyWomen--Tennessee
|
