Delaware Public Archives (DPA) logo



 Posts & Pages Tagged With: "Civil War"

Small Manuscript Collections, Eckles Papers, Civil War Correspondence

James N. Eckles served in the first Delaware Calvary unit as a private during the Civil War. He would later be discharged from the same unit as First Lieutenant in January of 1865. Lieutenant Eckles and the First Delaware Calvary served in the Battle of Westminster in Maryland, where they engaged a Confederate Calvary unit […]



Memorial Day Parade and Soldiers and Sailors Monument

NCC-250: On May 30, 1868, Wilmington residents placed flowers at the graves of Civil War soldiers in response to Gen. John A. Logan’s General Order 11, which called for a national day of remembrance. Honoring the sacrifices of those who died in the Civil War and later wars, May 30 became an annual tradition that […]



Civil War Motion Pictures

  RG 8005.046 Department of Public Instruction Motion Pictures“Delaware in the Civil War: Splitting of the Diamond.” A black-and-white film, approximately 15 minutes long, focusing on Delaware’s duality as a border state. The film discusses both the Union and Confederate factions in the state, the resulting debates in the state legislature, the disarming of southern […]



New Digital Collection: The Abram H. Draper Letters

The Abram H. Draper Collection consists of 34 unique pieces of correspondence, including letters and poetry from Sergeant Abram H. Draper to his wife Anna M. Wiley Draper during the American Civil War.



The Abram H. Draper Collection



Town of Kenton

KC-66: The origin of this community can be traced to the mid-18th century, when growing travel between Dover and the head of the Chester River resulted in the establishment of a Public House here to support the needs of travelers. Increasing commerce led to the growth of settlement. First known as Grog-Town and Lewis’ Cross […]



Site of Milford’s First Methodist Church

KC-65: The beginning of Methodism in this community can be traced to the organization of a local “society” in 1777. Early meetings were held in the homes of its members. On December 3, 1787, Joseph Oliver conveyed a lot of ground at this location for the purpose of “building a preaching house or church” for […]



Howard High School

Founded in 1867 by the Association for the Moral Improvement and Education of Colored People and named for Civil War General Oliver Otis Howard, the original school was located at 12th and Orange Streets.Pierre S. DuPont was the major benefactor for the new building, opened in 1928 on this site. With the annexation of the […]



Pickett’s Charge

On Saturday, July 1, 10:30 a.m. Delaware Heritage Commission member Terry Wright will present a program at the Delaware Public Archives on Pickett’s Charge, the climatic final attack at the Battle of Gettysburg. After two years of war, and several days of hard fighting on the Union flanks around the town of Gettysburg, Confederate General […]



The Road to Appomattox: Union Soldiers and Trench Warfare, 1864-1865

During the last year of the American Civil War, the main Union and Confederate armies in Virginia were engaged in trench warfare, a method of combat that was far different from the first three years of the conflict. On Saturday, June 3, at 10:30 a.m. the Delaware Public Archives will host a program presented by […]