John Kendall Papers, 1861-1910 | UNA Archives and Special Collections

The John V. Kendall Memoir discusses the life of a private within the Tenth Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry before and during the Civil War. Kendall explains aspects of the life of a union soldier, such as drills, marches, and battlefield affairs. The geographic extend of his experience covers regions along the Mississippi River between Mongomery, AL and Nashville, TN. He intersperses explanation of daily life with descriptions of key events surrounding the removal of the Sioux from Minnesota, and his own constant migration within the army. Kendall also recognizes constrasting events, including westward expansion, the Homestead Act, and his own family life, which offers a more extensive glimspe of life during the period ranging roughly from 1861-1890.

The memoir was discovered in an unusual fashion, within a box of salt shakers and old newspapers purchased by Ms. Christine E. Goldman-Oyama at a garage sale in Phoneix, AZ in the Mid-1970s by her daughter, Georgia Rink. Ms. Rink held possession of the manuscript for approximately 50 years before donating it to the university archives.