This collection houses four letters that Watson B. Smith wrote to his family in Michigan from East Tennessee during August and September of 1863. In them, he discusses the Knoxville Campaign, battles with Confederate troops and guerillas, and dealings with the civilian population, which was mostly (but not entirely) sympathetic to the Union. He also discusses his duties in headquarters, including his temporary appointment as aide-de-camp. Several letters written to and from captured Confederate officers were enclosed in Smith's letter to his sister, Mary Narcissa Smith.