The collection contains typed transcripts of all the correspondence by Kinzie Bates and his diary. Elizabeth Chumley Bates' 134 page diary, which contains mostly blank pages, includes a three-page chronology of Kinzie Bates' life. The collection also contains a photograph of Kinzie Bates from late in his military career, and his obituary from the Detroit Free Press.

Kinzie Bates (1839-1884) joined the 1st Michigan Infantry as a private in 1861 and saw battle during the United States Civil War at Corinth and Vicksburg, Mississippi. After the war he was promoted to Captain and stationed at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was transferred to the frontier in 1869 and married Elizabeth Chumley in 1873. Bates participated in the finals months of Colonel Nelson A. Miles' "Yellowstone Campaign" as a battalion commander in the U. S. 1st Infantry. Bates died in 1884.

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