This collection includes Horace B. Jewell's Civil War letters to his family in Michigan, written while serving with the 52nd Ohio Infantry. Jewell saw action in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. Captured by the Confederates in 1863 and imprisoned in Virginia, Jewell describes in dramatic detail his daring escape to Union lines. One letter (October 6, 1862) tells of the regimental surgeon giving opium to soldiers before a battle to increase their endurance. Pre-Civil War correspondence includes a letter (July 10, 1853) from Jewell to his sister, describing the agricultural conditions in Indiana.

The Civil War related materials have been transcribed, scanned and placed online at http://civilwar.archives.msu.edu/collection/7-1C-33/horace_jewell.