Archives West Finding Aid

Letters exchanged between Henry Rayner and Mahala Rayner concerning his experiences during his participation in the California gold rush, camp life in Nevada County, California, and his travels. Information includes mention of other Noble County, Ohio men who accompanied Rayner. Mahala's letters describe conditions at home and the reactions of locals to the news of family and acquaintances in California. Letters from 1864 and 1865 document Henry's experiences as a private in Company L, First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery, from the regiment's initial muster at Camp Randall, Madison, Wisconsin, to their eventual deployment in the fortifications surrounding Washington, D.C., especially Fort Willard, Virginia. Henry's letters describe his comrades and officers, garrison life, military rumors, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, conditions in Washington, the Grand Review of the armies in 1865, and his health. Original letters from 1865 which were photocopied in 1967 are missing, for the most part. The copies of these letters have been placed in Series 5. The letters in this series have been chronologically arranged.

Various printed and manuscript materials originally laid in the diaries, including recipes, financial notes, and calling cards; postmaster's commission; and military discharge.

Diaries kept by Henry, Lee, and Mary Rayner containing weather data, financial memoranda, and activity summaries of Henry while on the farm in Wisconsin, while serving in the Union Army in the Civil War, during a sales trip to the western states in 1867-1868, and while visiting veteran reunions and the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Lee and Mary's diaries have been identified as such and pertain to their day to day life on the farm near Viroqua, Wisconsin. The Civil War diary describes describe Henry's comrades and officers, garrison life, military rumors, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, conditions in Washington, the Grand Review of the Armies in 1865, and his health. Additional entries in this volume date from 1874 and relate to a trip Rayner took through Kansas and Nebraska, describing the countryside in detail. The sales diary of 1867-1868 is very sporadic and merely lists customer's names, locations, and orders. It is not clear if Rayner himself kept this diary or another family member. The diaries have chronologically arranged.

Anonymous autograph album, undated memoranda book, soldier's reunion medal, pocket bible and scientific reference book.

Photocopies and typed transcriptions of the letters in Series 1 and Rayner's Civil War diary in Series 2. The copied letters include many written by Henry in 1865 from Fort Willard, Virginia, which were missing when the collection was donated to the Museum of the Rockies in 1977. The diary, and some letters, were transcribed by a typist in 1966. The transcriptions of the scattered letters have been interfiled with the photocopies and the diary transcription has been placed in a separate folder.