The diary consists of short entries chronicling Simonds' Company's movements, food supplies and health. The first part of the diary was written in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, then Simonds discussed his move to Bridgeport, Alabama. Simonds was wounded in the leg during a battle on September 20th 1863. He describes this experience and being left on the battlefield for seven days. This collection also contain four letters. In the first letter Simonds writes to his father about his injury and says that his health is improving. The second letter reveals Simonds has been informed he will die within two days and he says goodbye to his father. The third letter was sent after Simonds' death and is from George H. Wright sending his sympathies to his father. The fourth letter was sent from Auditor E.B. French to Mr. Joel H. Simonds of De Kalb, Illinois closing up Simonds' service documents and pay. The final letter states Merritt's death date as October 29, 1863.

This book provides historians and genealogists with a one-stop guide to every Civil War–related manuscript collection stored in Georgia’s many repositories. With this guide in hand, researchers will no longer spend countless hours pouring through online catalogs, emailing archivists, and wondering if they have exhausted every lead in their pursuit of firsthand information about the war and the experiences of those who lived through and were impacted by it. In assembling the first state-specific bibliography to be compiled since the Indiana and Illinois bibliographies were assembled for the Civil War Centennial in the 1960s, David Slay has expanded the scope of this survey to include works relating to women, African Americans, and social history, as well as the letters and diaries of soldiers who fought in the war, reflecting society’s evolving understanding and interest in this defining period of American life. In addition, this compilation is not confined to material produced from 1861 to 1865, but also includes collections spanning the lives of prominent Civil War figures, making it an invaluable source for biographers. Organized by institution, Georgia Civil War Manuscript Collections has many time-saving features, all designed to increase efficiency of research. Each collection description contains the title and catalog number used in the holding institution. Where possible, collection descriptions have been improved upon, providing the researcher with information beyond what is listed in the holding institution’s card catalog and finding aid. It also cross-references duplicate collections that are held in two or more institutions as microfilm or photocopies. Simply put, Georgia Civil War Manuscript Collections takes the mystery out of Civil War research in Georgia.

Transcribed Civil War diary, kept by Merritt; correspondence written to his sister; and a letter (1875) from a Cincinnati law firm.