Centennial celebrations; Public speaking; Exhibitions; Souvenirs
Three-page souvenir transcript of an address by J.W. Thomas, President of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, delivered at the opening of the exposition on May 1, 1897. Thomas proclaimed that the event was to celebrate the state's past and...
Correspondence; Cities & towns; Campaigns & battles; Troop movements; Surrenders; Military retreats; Generals; Civil Wars; War
A three-page letter dated February 28, 1862, from John S. Brien to John C. Crittenden. Brien rejoices that Buell's troops "occupied the city and country without the necessity of shedding one drop of blood." He argues that property rights must be...
A three-page narrative describing the 1869 wedding of Thomas Green Ryman to Mary Elizabeth Baugh. The narrative describes the wedding ceremony and the dresses worn by party-goers.
A three-page narrative providing a brief history of Nashville and Tennessee. It describes the social pastimes of Tennesseans in the 18th and 19th centuries. "Chapter 1" is written in the upper left corner.
A three-page narrative describing how Thomas Green Ryman bought his first boat with $3,000 sewn into the lining of his coat. The story describes the number of times the steamer "Alpha" ran aground or sank, claiming the boat sank 13 times, always...
Three-page handwritten letter by Christopher Ammons to his family in which he states that he is now the oldest member of his platoon. He is destined next for a mission between Highway 13 (Thunder Road) and the Song Be River. Ammons relates the...
Three-page letter describing Ammons's new duty assignment at a station on Vung Chua Mountain, where he is attached to a signals unit. He describes the view from the mountain, a typical patrol (their job is to provide security on the perimeter),...
Three-page letter describes a plane crash on Vung Chua that killed eight South Korean officers. (The plane, still visible on the mountain, and a nearby monument are pictured in Ammons's photos.) No one knows why the plane was so far from the Qui...
Three-page letter written from Dong Tam, final headquarters base camp of the 9th Infantry Division. Ammons describes an air assault in which the platoon was pinned down in knee-deep water under heavy fire by the Viet-Cong. He writes, "The leeches...
Three-page handwritten letter from Ammons to his family. It contains a hand-drawn diagram of the 3rd Platoon's road-clearing operation; the account of a friendly jet dropping bombs very close to a Viet Cong village and very close to his unit as...
Three-page handwritten letter written from Ammons to his family recounting his attendance at the Bob Hope USO show on Christmas Eve in 1967. He describes being issued clean fatigues, flying on a Chinook helicopter to Lai Khe Base Camp, and viewing...
Three-page handwritten letter from Ammons at Lai Khe Base Camp to his family describing his assignment to the 3rd Platoon as a Rifleman. He will be carrying the M79 grenade launcher, two Claymore mines, trip flares, grenades, and a .45 caliber...
Three-page handwritten letter from Ammons to his family. He describes returning to his company's Lai Khe Base Camp from Close Infantry Combat (C.I.C) training to find the company had two men killed and two wounded in an ambush. The unit had...
Three-page handwritten letter by Christopher Ammons to his family describing a Viet-Cong mortar attack on the fire support base occupied by his company.
