This collection consists of typescript copies of Civil War letters between John C. Birdwell and wife Adaline Birdwell. A farmer, John Birdwell included instructions for running the farm in his absence. Her letters report the progress of crops and livestock. Both recount their hardships during the war as well as news of family and friends. John C. Birdwell describes Confederate camp conditions depicting disease epidemics, food, music, gambling, funerals, weather, and ragged condition of the troops. He was not a slaveholder and was bitter about how the slave-owners causing the war could pay substitutes to fight for them. Most of his letters were written from Camp Nelson and Camp Hope, Arkansas and contain an underlying refrain about the unreliability of mail service during the war. Biographical and genealogical materials have also been added to the collection.