This collection contains the papers (photocopies only) of Miles Washington Coe, a private in Company C, 42nd Indiana Infantry during the American Civil War. The collection consists largely of 19 wartime letters from Coe to his family, as well as eight postwar letters, six written from the Michigan Soldier's Home. Coe's war letters commence with a letter written at Indianapolis on November 4, 1864. In this and subsequent letters written from Chattanooga; Cleveland [Tennessee]; Alexandria, Virginia; Wilmington and Goldsboro, North Carolina (and from aboard the steamers Cuba and Dermont), Coe discusses his regiment's movements, prospects for furloughs, his health (including a bout of jaundice); shares his views of the war; describes his surroundings, quarters, and food; and conveys news of mutual acquaintainces. Coe's wartime correspondence ends with a letter written in a camp near Washington on June 3, 1865. Most of Coe's brief postwar letters are written from the Michigan Soldiers' Home and focus on his health and his desire to come home. A letter from the home's commandant, George H. Turner, informs Mary Coe that he considers her husband "not competent to travel alone and ... feeble in his mind." The correspondence also includes three wartime letters from relatives S. A. Covell and Chester Coe. Also included in the collection is a copy of Miles and Mary Webb Coe's marriage certificate, Coe's military discharge certificate, and papers relating to his Civil War pension.