 MS-138 Oscar D. Ladley Papers | |||
Access and ProvenanceThe papers of Oscar D. Ladley were accessioned into Wright State University's Special Collections and Archives in October, 1982. They were donated by Ladley's great grand nieces and nephew, Corrine Odiorne Pelzl, Eve Odiorne, and Ken Odiorne. The deed of gift imposes no restrictions on the use of material(s) in this collection |
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Series Listing |
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| Series 1: | Correspondence | ||
| Series 2: | Military Records and Papers | ||
Brief Biographical Sketch |
Born in 1837 in Cincinnati, Oscar Ladley was living in Yellow Springs, Ohio,
with his mother, Catherine, and his two sisters, Mary and Alice, when the
Civil War began. Ladley enlisted, along with at least sixteen others from
Yellow Springs, as a private in Company E of the 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Regiment and went to Camp Jackson in Columbus. In the Spring of 1861, his
regiment moved through western Virginia and he saw his first campaigning.
After ninety days service, he reenlisted for three years, taking the rank of
sergeant in Company G of the 75th OVI. The 75th fought in the battles of
Second Bull Run, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. After Bull Run, Ladley
was promoted to lieutenant. Following the Civil War, Ladley returned home
to Yellow Springs, but after a few years struggling to establish a business
career, he returned to the army in 1876 as a second lieutenant in the 22nd
United States Infantry Regiment. Ladley's service in the 22nd took him to Fort Sully in the Dakota Territory where he was stationed for about seven years. After The Dakotas, Ladley saw service in New York, Michigan, Colorado, and New Mexico. He became ill and died of pneumonia in January of 1880 near Farmington, New Mexico. |
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Scope and Content |
The papers in this collection date from 1857 to 1880 and fill 2 Hollinger
boxes and 21 file folders. Series I, Correspondence, contains letters written to
and from Oscar Ladley, his mother, Catherine Ladley, and his two younger
sisters, Mary and Alice Ladley. Oscar wrote mainly about his experiences
in the Civil War and later, his life as a frontier Army officer in the
Dakota Territory. Ladley's mother and sisters wrote of friends and events
back home in Yellow Springs, Ohio, politics, friends in the Army, marriages,
deaths and activities at Antioch College. The correspondence in this series
is arranged chronologically within each file folder and covers the years
1857-1880. Series II is a miscellaneous collection of Ladley's military papers. Included are his commission papers, some routine quartermaster's reports, copies of orders and announcements. The documents in this series span the Civil War years, 1861-1865. |
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Container Listing | |||
| Box | File | Description | |
| SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE | |||
| Correspondence | |||
| 1 | 1 | 1857-1861 | |
| 2 | January-May 1862 | ||
| 3 | July-December 1862 | ||
| 4 | January-March 1863 | ||
| 5 | April-June 1863 | ||
| 6 | July-December 1863 | ||
| 7 | January-May 1864 | ||
| 8 | June-December 1864 | ||
| 9 | 1865-1866 | ||
| 10 | January-June 1867 | ||
| 11 | June-December 1867 | ||
| 2 | 1 | January-June 1868 | |
| 2 | July-December 1868 | ||
| 3 | January-June 1869 | ||
| 4 | July-December 1869 | ||
| 5 | January-June 1870 | ||
| 6 | July-December 1870 | ||
| 7 | 1871 | ||
| 8 | 1872-1875 | ||
| 9 | 1876-1880 | ||
| SERIES II: Miliary Records and Papers | 10 | Military Records and Papers 1861-1865 | |