The outgoing correspondence consists of letters Dawes wrote while a student at the State University at Madison, Wisconsin, and Marietta College in Ohio, which reflect the interests and attitudes of an intelligent, articulate and politically-minded young man. Beginning in January, 1861, enrolled in the 53rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Dawes wrote regularly and often to his mother and siblings relating vivid details of his daily military life, including graphic descriptions of battles he has been in including Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Jackson, Missionary Ridge, Resaca and Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, as well as observations on the behavior of soldiers in camp and in combat, his thoughts and opinions on the progress of the war and the future of the country, and many other topics that were on his mind. Dawes’s army career was over in May of 1864 because he was seriously wounded in the face, and his letters record this occurrence and the operations and painful recovery that followed. The post-war letters concern Dawes’s historical interests, family and business matters.