Letters of Mary Sumner Chapman, cousin of Charles Sumner, to her daughter Mary Adelaide; and letters to Mrs. Chapman from her sons Oscar and Corydon, written from army posts during the Civil War. The letters are personal and many were passed from one member of the family to another, each one adding a note for the next. Also, a diary in the hand of Mrs. Chapman for the year 1862, and of Benjamin Franklin Watkins, a descendant of Mrs. Chapman's niece, Laura Broughton Watkins.