This collection consists of photocopies and typed transcripts of Civil War letters written from John P. Whitaker to his wife Mary S. ("Dollie") Fenley Whitaker. His letters were written from Louisiana and Arkansas and contain descriptions of camp conditions, war news and rumors, and reports on friends and family, including Mary's brothers John and William, Lawrence and Charles S. Taylor, Henderson Muckleroy, John Baugh, and Capt. Joseph H. Bruton. Whitaker assisted with nursing the sick and wounded during the war and relates his experiences.

The collection also contains three letters from Mary's brother William Henry Fenley and one from her brother John Broughton Fenley.