circa 1861-1865

Photograph

Title: Unidentified 1st lieut. and woman, he is seated, she stands alongside

Graphite inscription on verso "7." Photographers imprint on verso: "D. W. Grout Photographer, Pulaski, NY. This Negative preserved. Duplicates may be had at any time without further sitting." Partial postmark on verso.

GLC05111.02.1075

1862/06/20, 1862/06/21

Header Record

Title: Daily Republican.

4 pp. each. Vol. 5 nos. 145 and 146. Discusses Benjamin Franklin Butler's "women around town" order in New Orleans.

GLC05959.59

1861

Header Record

Title: Daily true delta.

Amongst the typical foreign and local news and advertisements, the front page of this paper contains two very interesting secession-related items. A women in Charleston Owned the table used for signing the Declaration of Independence of the United States. When asked for permission to use the table for signing the Order of Secession, she replied that she would rather burn the table to ashes. Citizens of Richmond, Virginia wanted to borrow a city cannon to fire in salut of South Carolina's sovereignty. Governor Letcher refused in the interest of non-partisan politics. A small article on…

GLC05960.01

24 April 1864

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Fitzhugh (Rooney) Lee

General Lee offers condolence to his son Rooney on the death of his wife, Charlotte Wickham, from tuberculosis. Although Lee mourns her death, he maintains that "we cannot indulge in grief however mournful yet pleasing." Lee experienced a series of profound personal loss during the war; along with the death of his daughter-in-law, his daughter Annie and two of his grandchildren also died. But Lee's dedication to duty remained firm, and was demonstrated in his advice to his bereaved son. He urged Rooney to return to his brigade, reminding him that "Our Country demands all our thoughts, all…

GLC05979

24 July 1864

Cooper, Samuel, 1798-1876

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mark Alexander

Cooper, Adjutant General and Inspector General of the Confederate Army, writes to his friend Alexander. Mentions that his son recently travelled with Mrs. Captain Lee of the Confederate Navy. Complains that he is overworked, and fears he will not be able to leave his post soon due to Union General Ulysses S. Grant's recent movement north of the James River. Refers to recent Confederate success in Georgia. Transmits a report (not included) sent by telegram from General John Bell Hood discussing recent events during which "four...generals killed, one of whom, McPherson, was the master-…

GLC05980

15 July 1864

Broadside

Title: Memoriam of Capt. G. T. Burch

Broadside created as a memoriam for Captain George Tilley Burch of Co. I, 29th Georgia Regiment who was killed in the Battle of Atlanta. Died at City Hall Hospital on 13 July 1864 from wounds that pierced both his knees in a charge near Kenesaw Mountain. Says he was a graduate of Mercer College in 1861. Joined the army at Savannah, Georgia in August or September 1861 for a 3-year-term. Showed extreme fortitude during the Mississippi campaign and kept up his command in trying circumstances. Says he scorned "screening" himself during battle. Claims as an officer he was "strict, but ever just,…

GLC05987.17

February 1864

Chase, George, fl. 1864

Broadside

Title: To the veterans of the Confederate army

Asking for the public, especially soldiers, to furnish written accounts of "incidents of remarkable daring in battle, endurance, sufferings, sacrifices and other trials in imprisonment, camp, hospital or marches." Says if contributors want to wait until after the war to have their items published, they should say so. Also says diaries will be returned upon request. Would especially like to receive items from Southern women, "the Spartan-spirited daughters of the sunny South." Says the women "are worthy [of] the loving praise of a great, chivalric race." Addressed on verso to "Capt. Wm S. Keen…

GLC05987.18

27-28 February 1862

Donald, H. D., fl. 1862

Broadside

Title: Letter from Fort Craigg

From a soldier detailing the little-known Confederate expedition to capture New Mexico Territory. Appears to be two letters printed in a Southern newspaper. Written by H.D. Donald to R.V. Cook at Soloro which is "30 miles above Ft. Craigg." In first letter from 27 February writes from a hospital bed. Says they were in a "great battle" on 21 February 1862 in the valley of the Rio Grande, near Val Verde. Mentions that his captain led a charge against a battery of cannon and carried the day. Says 40 were killed and 140 injured. Says his company lost 1 killed and 22 wounded. Lists each person's…

GLC05987.33

27 August 1884

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Amy Post

Douglass writes to Post, a New York abolitionist and suffragist. Had been to Post's home in Rochester, and regretted her absence. Relates that he and Helen, his wife (they married in January 1884) had for their honeymoon traveled through Chicago, Montreal, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York, among other locations without "a single repulse or insult in all the journey." Expresses annoyance with the letters and questions regarding his wife's age, their difference in race (Pitts was white), how their friends and family feel, and other topics pertaining to the marriage. Notes that they are…

GLC05819

1853

Northup, Solomon, 1808-?

Book

Title: Twelve years a slave: narrative of Solomon Northup, a citizen of New York, kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a cotton plantation near the red river, in Louisiana.

Published in Auburn by Derby and Miller; Buffalo, New York by Derby, Orton and Mulligan; and Cincinnati, Ohio by Henry W. Derby. Woodcut illustrations. Northup dedicates the book to Harriet Beecher Stowe.

GLC05840

3 July 1833

Buchanan, James, 1791-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Isaac Wayne

Buchanan writes as United States Minister to Russia to Colonel Wayne. Relates that he has enjoyed his time in Russia, but will never be "contented to remain under the shadow of despotism longer than my duty to my country requires." Notes his rapid conclusion of a commercial treaty has induced President Jackson to summon him back to the United States. Commenting on Russia, notes "The mass of the people are slaves attached to the soil. A nobleman, in speaking of his estate never refers to the number of his acres; but always to the number of his peasants... no proper means are taken to…

GLC05790

22 May 1825

Lawton, Edward W., fl. 1810-1825

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas Evans

One letter from Edward Lawton to Thomas Evans dated May 22, 1825. Relays the details of an enslaved girl seeking refuge. States that two years prior, she had been Anthony Barklay (or Barclay) and his family during a moved to Newport. The girl escaped and has been residing at the family of Nathaniel Hathaway in New Bedford. Reports that Barclay is still searching for the girl, and friends are hiding her to protect her from Barclay's cruelty. Hathaway's wife, Anna Shoemaker, has taken to girl to Philadelphia. Hopes to obtain for the girl "the speedy and effectual protection which her case…

GLC05800

circa April 28, 1862

Beauregard, Pierre Gustave Toutant, 1818-1893

Autograph endorsement signed

Title: [Endorsement regarding defense of New Orleans]

Beauregard's signed pencil docket on telegram from General Mansfield Lovell regarding defense of New Orleans. Lovell telegramed Beauregard to inform him that he is prepared to defend New Orleans, but "will not be responsible for the loss of life to women & children if the city is bombarded." At the bottom of this telegram, in pencil, Beauregard has written his reply, saying "I believe the attempt to defend New Orleans with troops now would cause it unnecessary destruction and loss of life. But all Forts on Rivers & Lakes ought to be held to the last extremity."

GLC05812

1864

American Anti-Slavery Society

Book

Title: Proceedings of the American Anti-Slavery Society, at its third decade, held in the City of Philadelphia, Dec. 3d and 4th, 1863.

Contain an appendix and a catalogue of anti-slavery publications in America from 1750-1863. Includes writings and/or speeches by William Lloyd Garrison (Anti-slavery Society President), Henry Ward Beecher, Stephen S. Foster, Abby Kelley Foster, Susan B. Anthony, Oliver Johnson, Lucy Stone, Frederick Douglass, and John Greenleaf Whittier, among others. Bound in yellow paper cover.

GLC05821

March 1948

Coles, Howard Wilson, 1903-1996

Magazine

Title: Frederick Douglass monthly. [Vol. 1, no.1 (March 1948)]

Published by Voice Publishing Co. Contains reprint of Douglass's "Men of Color, to Arms" from the 2 March 1863 printing: "This is our golden opportunity. Let us accept it and forever wipe out the dark reproaches unsparingly hurled against us by our enemies." Also includes a printing of a radio speech by Mrs. Howard W. Coles on Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony (originally delivered 3 November 1947). Includes an article on Abraham Lincoln, and a quiz on African American history. Stamped "Sample." On first page, contains a print of a photograph of Douglass.

GLC05822

1866-1867

Header Record

Title: National anti-slavery standard. [Vol. 26, no. 35 (January 6, 1866)- v. 28, no. 34 (December 28, 1867)] [with gaps]

Volume 26 is missing issue numbers 43 and 47. Volume 27 is missing issue numbers 8,13,and 35. Volume 28 is missing issue number 28. The January 5, 1866, Vol. 27, no. 35 most likely contains misprint in either the date or the Volume and issue number. The issues contain information on the 14th Amendment & impeachment of [Andrew] Johnson, speeches of Sumner, women's suffrage, and advertisements for colored soldiers to collect bounties.

GLC05825

1853

Hale, Sarah J.B., 1788-1879

Book

Title: Liberia; or Mr. Peyton's experiments.

304 pages of text followed by twelve pages of advertisements. Published by Harper & Brothers. Contains sticker from Bryant Circulatory Library Association of Roslyn, New York.

GLC05831

1863/10/30

Kilgore, Legrand, fl. 1863

Manuscript document

Title: Document of sale for 3 slaves to be transferred from Louisiana to Texas

Sale from Kilgore to E. W. Rogers. The slaves were Bill (25), Patsey (33) and her son John (2). (Through a punctuation error the document seems to say that Kilgore fathered the boy John.)

GLC05838

1868

Keckley, Elizabeth, fl. 1818-1907

Book

Title: Behind the scenes. By Elizabeth Keckley, formerly a slave, yet more recently modiste, and friend to Mrs. Abraham Lincoln...

(title continues)... or, thirty years a slave, and four years in the White House. 371 pages, followed by eight pages of advertisements. Published by G. W. Carleton & Co. Contains a print of Keckley opposite title page. Discusses her service to Jefferson Davis, among other topics. Appendix includes letters from Mary Lincoln to Keckley.

GLC05839

1863-1865

Bloom Family

Header Record

Title: Four letters of Bloom Family of Pennsylvania [Decimalized .01- .04]

Four letters (no soldier content), with 3 envelopes. Family may be Jewish, but no significant content on that subject. Letter #1, dated 3 February 1863 in Birmingham, Iowa, is from Sarah W. Braun to Ruthanna Bloom. She misses her family and hopes the rebels do not invade. Letter #2, dated 15 December 1863, from Washington Township, is from [Asahel] Walker & wife to "Son & Daughter." Writes that soldiers have taken all his horses and reports family news. Letter #3, dated 15 April 1864, was written by Lydia F. Lerew to "Brother & sister" and describes the death of a child.…

GLC05733

25 February 1909

Mosby, John S., 1833-1916

Typed letter signed

Title: to Alexander Spottswood Campbell

Spottswood was possibly Mosby's grandson (son of daughter May Virginia Campbell and Robert Campbell). Typed on Department of Justice stationery with the printed heading, "Carbon copy for the file". Transmits a clipping from the Times-Dispatch on an essay on Robert E. Lee by "a Northern girl." Declares that it is a fair assessment of Lee, and discusses the article at length: "...if there had been free schools in the south there would have been no war simply because an enlightened public opinion in that section would not have submitted to the rule of a slave holding oligarchy. A large…

GLC05738

1911/09/25

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Typed letter signed

Title: to [George] Gray

An extraordinary and lengthy letter, full of observations about people he met, especially the crowned heads of Europe. Labeled on page 1 "For nobody's eyes but yours." Written while acting as special ambassador for the United States for King Edward VII's funeral. Considerable discussion of his Guildhall Speech (see GLC 5798). Gives his opinions on British affairs in Africa, the Arch-duke Ferdinand and other European leaders, anarchists vs ultra-clerics etc. Includes an extraordinary report of conversations(s) with the King of Spain (re: Spanish-American War), encounters with a petty…

GLC05750

1880/04

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Letter

Title: to Nahum Capen re: Grant's presidential campaign

Written in purple ink and signed (for her husband) by Varina Davis. "With all his stupidity, neglect of his duties and abuse of his trust... the case must be hopeless. [...] God forbade war to coerce the seceding tribes (of Israel) to return. "

GLC05719

24 April 1834

Whittier, John G., 1807-1892

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Samuel J. May

Whittier writes to May, an ardent abolitionist: "Until connected with the Cause of Anti-Slavery I never knew what friendship was... engaged in this holy cause of Truth & Love, I have found high & pure hearts beating in perfect unison... No matter what may be our creed- whether we follow Socinius or Fox, or Calvin,- we are all brethren." Discusses the engagement of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to Helen Eliza Benson: "It will quiet the fears of some of our good Colonisationists that our friend G. might some day or other practice upon the thing of Amalgamation- and, smitten by…

GLC05720

1810/11/19

Clymer, George, 1739-1813

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Clymer

Follows a letter to his son about his business affairs (not included) because he found himself with extra paper. Compliments a studious young woman named Eliza, possibly of some relation to them. Praises a discourse by Joseph Hopkinson, the author of "Hail, Columbia," as vindicating "the Country from foreign Calumny, and contempt." On commerce and British-French hostilities, he noted that merchants were not inclined to rest American welfare on "French faith" and that "If this uncivilized war goes on for a few years, we shall become the most formidable pirates that the seas have ever known…

GLC05725