Scope and Contents:
This collection contains the papers of O. Batson Hinman. Materials include military papers, newspaper clippings, photographs, and his diary.
O. Batson Hinman served as Corporal of the regiment Co. B Boys from Newton, Illinois in the Spanish-American War. His papers include a diary detailing course routines, drills of the day, the schedule of bugle calls, and inspections of the regiment by Illinois Governor John Riley Tanner and President William McKinley. Hinman also created two photograph books documenting his service in Havana, Cuba. The photographs show the wreck of the battleship USS Maine off the Cuban coast, the commanding officer of Camp Columbia near Havana, troops marching through Springfield as they left for Florida, and other photographs from his camp in Havana.
Other items in the collection are Hinman's military papers, which include his promotion to Corporal, furlough application, certificates of discharge, and his pass into Havana. Newspaper clippings illustrate the patriotism of the period, such as the special edition paper of Newton's Evening Star that welcomed home Company B. Also included in Hinman's materials from his military service is a "Soldier's Housewife," a cloth packet containing needles, thread, buttons, and a cake of starch, which was often used to treat rashes.
In 1990, Eunice Hinman Payne, daughter of O. Batson Hinman, gifted her father's papers to the University Archives. The collection was then transferred to the Illinois Historical Survey, the predecessor of the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections Unit.
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