Shaffner Diary and Papers, PC.247
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Shaffner Diary and Papers
- Call Number
- PC.247
- Creator
- Shaffner, John Francis, Sr.
- Date
- 1845-1867
- Extent
- 0.4 cubic feet
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], PC.247, Shaffner Diary and Papers, Private Collections, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, U.S.A.
Collection Overview
Printed, edited diary of Dr. John Francis Shaffner, Sr., of Salem, surgeon in 33rd and 4th Regts. NCT, kept while in the latter regiment (Sept., 1863-Feb., 1864). Also typed, edited copies of his correspondence and that of Carrie Fries whom he married in 1865 and of her father Francis Fries, Salem textile manufacturer. Prewar letters are from the Fries family concerning business, shopping, and sightseeing in Philadelphia, New York, Indianapolis, and Atlantic City; the woolen mill in Salem; and family slaves. Letters from Fries include comments as member of the legislature (1858-1859) and on politics in Salem (1860) and advice to Shaffner on his medical studies at Jefferson College, Philadelphia. Shaffner's correspondence during the war concerns camp and field hospitals in North Carolina and Virginia; sickness among troops; female nurses from Salem (1861); fellow surgeons and officers; an expedition against Unionists in Davidson Co. (1861); Unionist sentiment among Moravian clergy; events and entertainments in Salem; shooting of deserters; election of 1864; his own court-martial and acquittal; opinions of Governors Ellis and Clark, Col. Bryan Grimes, and Gen. Jubal Early; and reports on battles in which his regiment participated. Other letters are from H. W. Fries about the woolen mill (1857-1861); from Capt. Alfred Belo, including description of First Battle of Manassas; from Mary Fries Patterson, wife of Rufus L. Patterson; and from J. W. Fries, student at UNC in 1867. Original papers are in the Southern Historical Collection, UNC, as Fries-Shaffner Family Papers.