| Physical medium | Paper handwritten printed. |
| Organization of material | Organized by type of material; arranged chronologically. |
| Abstract |
Correspondence, clippings, and a diary. Correspondence consists of letters from Kinsey to his sister written from Trinity College before the war and from camp and prison after his enlistment. The Trinity letters reflect life and studies in college (1861-1862). Civil War correspondence contains comments on the poor leadership of his regiment, revival of home textile manufacturing, service in Pitt County and at Wilmington, and life in a federal prison. Kinsey pleads for letters from home, reports on prisoner exchanges, mentions his vegetable garden, comments on the 1864 presidential election, and records the deaths of fellow prisoners. The diary gives a brief account of Kinsey's service before being captured near Charleston, S.C., in August 1863. The diary then describes life in prison on Johnson's Island, including reports of prisoner escapes, weather conditions, deaths, morale problems, the availability of newspapers, Union propaganda, battle rumors, prisoner exchanges, and his train trip back to North Carolina after Lee's surrender. Also included for 1865-1866 are diary entries reflecting his return to school teaching in rural North Carolina and listing the students attending his school. Near the diary's end is a sketch written by Capt. Simeon E. Hamilton of the Choctaw Cavalry. Hamilton, a prisoner with Kinsey at Johnson's Island, chastises whites for their attitude towards the Indians and describes the advanced living standards of the Choctaw. |
| Access restriction | Joyner- Diary restricted from active use for conservation purposes; photocopy of diary and typed transcript of its content available in the collection for patron use. |
| Cite as |
Joseph Kinsey Papers, #63, East Carolina Manuscript Collection, East Carolina University. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- 21 items; Joseph E. Kinsey; LaGrange, N.C.; deposit; Sept. 20, 1968. |
| Biographical note | Joseph Kinsey was a noted Lenoir County, N.C., educator and Civil War officer. He taught school and studied at Trinity College before entering the Confederate Army in March 1862. After being captured in 1863, he was imprisoned at Johnson Island Prison in Lake Erie, near Sandusky, Ohio, until the end of the Civil War. On his release, Kinsey taught school in Jones and Lenoir counties and founded Kinsey Institute at LaGrange. The Institute later moved to Wilson where it became the forerunner of Barton College. Kinsey subsequently became superintendent of Lenoir County schools and served in that capacity for many years. |
