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Inventory

Benjamin F. Boring Collection
Dates: 1861-1918
Accession Number: 991206
Donor: Emma Ehrmann
Description: One document case


RESTRICTIONS: The Boring diary is particularly fragile and faded. A photocopy of the diary is stored at the end of the collection and should be used by researchers.  The transcripts are available online by clicking on the hyperlinked letter and should be used in lieu of the originals.


Biography

Born March 16, 1840 in Marion County, Indiana, Benjamin Franklin Boring was the son of Elizabeth Buchanon and Thomas W. Boring, a travelling preacher. He was educated in Lawrence and Crawford counties in Illinois. At the age of 21, Boring was mustered into the Union Army on August 26, 1861 at Camp Butler, Illinois, for a 3 year term of service with Company D, 30th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. During the Civil War, his company was involved in many battles and skirmishes, including the battle of Britton's Lane, the battle of Belmont (where Benjamin Boring was slightly wounded), the siege of Corinth, the battle of Champion Hills, the siege of Vicksburg and took part in Sherman's push to Atlanta. Boring was mustered out of the army at the end of his term on August 27, 1864.

After his discharge, Benjamin Boring attended the Terre Haute Commercial College as well as received a teacher's certificate which allowed him to teach school at the Durham schoolhouse, school district number 1, Honey Creek Township, Vigo County, Indiana (December 1864-March 1865). In May 1865, he received his diploma from the Commercial College and moved to Robinson, Illinois, where he sold goods in a store for Dorothy & Mills. When the store closed after his three month contract of hire expired, Boring moved back to Terre Haute and firmly established his teaching career. He taught again in Honey Creek Township, but eventually became the principal of Greenwood School in Terre Haute. By 1881, Boring worked for the Federal Revenue Department as a U.S. Storekeeper and Gauger. In the 1890s, he became a grocer and opened his own dry goods store (southwest corner of 1st and Boring) near his residence on the south side of Terre Haute.

On November 21, 1867, Benjamin Boring married Sarah Elizabeth Meredith; they had two daughters, Gertrude Meredith Boring (born 1869, who eventually married Charles Ehrmann) and Hortense Bonaparte Boring (born 1874). After the death of his first wife in 1902, Boring married Christina Elisabeth Noble on October 23, 1910. At the age of 79, Benjamin Boring died at his residence (Voorhees and Dilman streets) in Terre Haute on October 2, 1919.

Donor Information

This collection was donated to the Vigo County Public Library by Emma Ehrmann, the widow of Howard Ehrmann. A handwritten genealogy of the Boring family was included with this material showing their relationship to James Buchanan, former President of the United States. The chart is purported to have been done by Howard Ehrmann, son of Gertrude Meredith Boring Ehrmann and grandson of Benjamin Franklin Boring. It is filed in the inventory folder with the collection.

Howard Ehrmann is the nephew of Terre Haute writer Max Ehrmann.


Content and Scope of the Collection

This collection contains 33 letters, one diary (of approximately 172 pages), and a few miscellaneous papers (furlough, muster-out roll, and pension certificate) of Benjamin Franklin Boring. The first 21 letters (1861-1864) were written during the Civil War by Boring to his friend William C. Jones of Robinson, Illinois. These give detailed accounts of his regiment's activities and his personal reflections. The remaining 12 letters were written much after the war (1882-1918) and are addressed to family members. They contain a variety of information on family relations, politics and recent events, health and old age. Most of these personal letters were written by Boring to his daughter Gertrude Meredith Boring Ehrmann or to his grandson Howard Ehrmann. One letter is from his first wife Sarah Meredith Boring to her sister.

Benjamin Boring's diary covers the time period March 18, 1864 to April 6, 1866 and contains a wealth of information on both his military and personal life. The Civil War section of the diary (97 pages) contains daily entries which chronicle his regiment's routine and their skirmishes or battles with Rebel troops, as well as details of the countryside, the people, and the weather. The second half of the diary (75 pages) contains daily entries (except for two gaps in time) which chronicle his life after he is discharged from the army. This section contains rich details of a veteran's attempt to go back to civilian life, including his travels in Illinois and Indiana, his social acquaintances and activities, his study at the Terre Haute Commercial College, and his early career as a teacher in Vigo County.

Document Case 1

 

 

 

 

Folder 1

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Camp Defiance, Cairo, Ill. (with envelope)

Sep. 16, 1861

 

 

 

Folder 2

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Camp McClernand (with envelope)

Nov. 27, 1861

 

 

 

Folder 3

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Fort Donalson, Dover, Tennessee (with envelope)

March 29, 1862

 

 

 

Folder 4

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Steamer Planet, Tennessee River (with envelope)

April 23, 1862

 

 

 

Folder 5

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Camp in the field near Corinth

May 27, 1862
     
  Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Jackson, Tennessee (with envelope) July 6, 1862

 

 

 

Folder 6

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Jackson, Tennessee (with envelope)

July 31, 1862

 

 

 

Folder 7

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Hatchee Bottoms, Tennessee (with envelope)

Aug. 20, 1862

 

 

 

Folder 8

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Jackson, Tennessee (with envelope)

Sep.12, 1862

 

 

 

Folder 9

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Devil [William C. Jones]: Jackson, Tennessee (with envelope)

Oct. 28, 1862

 

 

 

Folder 10

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Camp in the field La Grange, Tennessee (with envelope)

Nov. 23, 1862

 

 

 

Folder 11

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Camp in the field Water Valley, Mississippi (with envelope)

Dec. 21, 1862

 

 

 

Folder 12

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Memphis, Tennessee (with envelope)

Jan. 28, 1863

 

 

 

Folder 13

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Lake Providence, Louisiana

March 14, 1863

 

 

 

Folder 14

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Black River, Mississippi (with envelope)

May 6, 1863

 

 

 

Folder 15

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Rear of Vicksburg (with envelope)

June 10, 1863

 

 

 

Folder 16

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Rear of Vicksburg (with envelope)

June 18, 1863

 

 

 

Folder 17

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Camp at Tiffin, Miss., 14 miles in rear of Vicksburg
(with envelope)

July 6, 1863

 

 

 

Folder 18

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Vicksburg, Mississippi (with envelope)

Nov. 5, 1863

 

 

 

Folder 19

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Marshall, Illinois (with two envelopes?)

Dec.10, 1863

 

 

 

Folder 20

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to William C. Jones: Clifton, Tennessee (with envelope)

May 5, 1864

 

 

 

Folder 21

Furlough papers, for the period July 30, 1863- Aug. 29, 1863

 
     
  Muster-Out Roll of Detachment of Co. D, 30th Regiment,
Illinois Infantry		 Aug. 27, 1864
     
  Pension certificate March 15, 1890

 

 

 

Folder 22

Letter, from Sarah Meredith Boring to her sister: Terre Haute, Indiana

July 2, 1882

 

 

 

Folder 23

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Gertrude Boring Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana (with envelope)

Oct. 4, 1908

 

 

 

Folder 24

Letter, from "Aunt Frank" to Gertrude Boring Ehrmann: Atchison, Kansas (with envelope)

May 13, 1911

 

 

 

Folder 25

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Gertrude Boring Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana (with envelope)

Aug. 12, 1914

 

 

 

Folder 26

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Gertrude Boring Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana (with envelope)

Aug. 28, 1914

 

 

 

Folder 27

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Gertrude Boring Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana (with envelope)

Oct. 18, 1916

 

 

 

Folder 28

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Gertrude Boring Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana (with envelope)

[Oct. 1916]

 

 

 

Folder 29

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Gertrude Boring Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana (with envelope)

Nov. 8, 1916

 

 

 

Folder 30

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Howard Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana (with envelope)

March 20, 1917

 

 

 

Folder 31

Postcard, from Benjamin F. Boring to Gertrude Boring Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana

April 17, 1917

 

 

 

Folder 32

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Howard Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana, (with envelope)

Oct. 21, 1917

 

 

 

Folder 33

Letter, from Benjamin F. Boring to Howard Ehrmann: Terre Haute, Indiana, (with envelope)

Nov. 9, 1918

 

 

 

Box

Benjamin F. Boring Diary

(Note: Diary is misnumbered at page 100/101; gap in diary from December 30, 1864 to March 10, 1865; gap in diary from November 18, 1865 to April 6, 1866)

March 18, 1864–
April 6, 1866