This collection consists of two Civil War letters of Harrison Outwater from the 1st New York Artillery. In the first letter, written to his uncle, Outwater discusses the desperate condition of Confederate deserters arriving at his camp in Bridgeport, Alabama in 1863, and the high rate of reenlistment among the Union soldiers at that time. The second letter, written in 1865 from "the once rebel city of Savannah", describes the attitude of local women toward Union songs and the American flag. Outwater also discusses the decimating effect of the war on the male population, and expresses pity for the females.

These letters have been transcribed, scanned and placed online at http://civilwar.archives.msu.edu/collection/7-1C-28/outwater/.