3 March 1785

Schuyler, Philip John, 1733-1804

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles Thomson

Draft letter to Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, declining appointment [as one of three commissioners to lay out site for Federal capital] "Reduced to the painful necessity of a sedentary life by chronic disorders,… In this situation Congress will readily perceive that I could not accomplish their views." Major Gen. Schuyler had been one of the oldest officers serving in the Continental Army and in 1785 was serving his second term as senator in the New York Legislature.

GLC09242

21 July 1889

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Brigham

Writes about his recent inspections of new Western military outposts, "thank you for your letter of the 12th with map of Fort Sheridan. I saw the new Posts at Forts Riley, Logan, and Leavenworth all good and a large improvement on the old putting common in our day." To [Judson?] Brigham. With engraving of Sherman.

GLC09243

May 1853

Jones, William E., 1824-1864

Manuscript document signed

Title: Muster roll of Mounted Rifles at Fort Ewell, Texas

Muster roll of the Mounted Rifles at Fort Ewell, Texas, signed by Lt. "Grumble" Jones, later Confederate general and cavalry commander.

GLC09244

November 1863

Sickles, Daniel Edgar, 1819-1914

Manuscript document

Title: [Address at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art]

Address at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, mapping the path to Union victory. Powerful congressman in the New York Democratic Party, with ties to senior Union political and military leadership, assesses the war: "We cannot fail to see that our iron-clads and our victories have made friends for us in Europe. Let us remind my Lord Palmerston on New Year's Day that the concession of belligerant rights to the Southern insurgents was one of the instances in which the clever manager of European affairs made a blunder. Now is their time to undo this wrong.…Who believes that…

GLC09245

circa 1860-1869

Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882

Photograph

Title: [General Hooker's staff in mock battle]

Albumen print of Alexander Gardner photograph showing General Hooker's staff in mock battle. With notes by Capt. Benjamin H. Ticknor, 45th Mass. Infantry and 2nd Mass. Heavy Artillery, identifying "Mock fight over the body of A. R. Waud, artist" and "Col. Dahlgren & staff & [et]c." on the reverse side. Harper's Weekly field artist and photographer Waud was traveling with General Hooker at the time this photograph was taken.

GLC09247

6 May 1863

Longstreet, James, 1821-1904

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Daniel H. Hill

To Daniel H. Hill re plans to send Hood's cavalry in pursuit of Union troops retreating from Chancellorsville, asking citizens to delay the enemy's movements: "We have reports from scouts and persons from Maryland that Hunter's and Fosters Armies are to come to Va. The repulse of Hooker's force does not appear to be entirely decided. He has been driven back at all points but holds still a position on this side the Rappahannock near the US fords.… Burnsides failure on account of mud was quite evidence enough to me that we had abundance of time to operate wherever we chose.… Have all routes…

GLC09248

16 March 1863

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

Letter signed

Title: to James Longstreet

To James Longstreet, ordering preparations to engage Union army when it crosses the Rappahannock, noting strategy of mobility to counter the union's greater numbers: "It is also reported that it is Genl. Hooker's intention to cross the river & advance as soon as the State of the roads will permit, & that in fact he has received repeated orders to that effect.… we should be prepared to concentrate to meet him wherever he shd advance in force. From present indications it is fair to presume that we shall be called upon to engage him first on the Rappahannock, and I desire you to be…

GLC09249

15 July 1862 - 2 August 1862

Wise, Henry A., 1806-1876

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Recommendation for Thomas H. G. Poulson]

Recommending a private in the 46th Regiment, Va. Vols., who was "captured at Roanoke Island as [sic] is now on parole. He is poor and needs & desires employment." This letter is adhered to a letter dated 2 August 1862 from Thomas H. G. Poulson to Confederate Secretary of the Treasury C.C. Memminger stating, "Gen. Wise has known me from my youth…and I beg leave to refer you, to the accompanying letter from him in order that you may ascertain as to my character qualifications."

GLC09250

11 June 1863

Wise, Henry A., 1806-1876

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Report of disposition of forces]

Gen. Wise reports to Major Gen. Arnold Elzey, head of the Department of Richmond, on his troop placements north and east of Richmond. "The great consideration is forage. There are 2000 tons at least in this neighborhood calling for scythe's & reaping machines."

GLC09251

28 August 1862

Maury, Matthew Fontaine, 1806-1873

Autograph letter signed

Title: to C.C. Memminger

Asking Confederate Secretary of the Treasury C. C. Memminger to find an appointment for "Mr. Caldwell of Fredericksburg…a respectable citizen," who has been discharged from the Army after being injured. Endorsed by R.M.T. Hunter and L. C. De Jarrette, both recommending appointment. Maury was America's foremost oceanographer and was commissioned into the Confederate States Navy as Chief of Harbor Defenses.

GLC09252

26 December 1870

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles Stoess

To his brother-in-law Charles Stoess, Bavarian Consul in Liverpool. From Memphis, relating family and business news: "The fall has been the most favorable for gathering the cotton crop ever seen by 'the oldest inhabitant'. The low price has acted unfavorably on the laborers, though there will be nevertheless it is thought more cotton sent to market than there was last year."

GLC09253

February 21, 1850

Longstreet, James, 1821-1904

Autograph letter signed

Title: to George W. Crawford

To Secretary of War George W. Crawford, asking assistance in obtaining promotion. "I do not hesitate to say that I can furnish ample proof, from every Officer under whom I have served, of as much service as any Officer of my grade could have rendered. I shared a full part in every action (Save one) of the late war against Mexico. Before, and since the war I have constantly served on the Frontier. It is true that I have been breveted twice for services during the late war. But brevets have been given in such promiscuous profusion, that this is an empty requital, which confers neither fame nor…

GLC09254

circa 1860s

Lee, Sydney Smith, 1802-1869

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles Carter Lee

To his brother, Charles Carter Lee, giving news of his son Fitzhugh Lee's serious wound at the Third Battle of Winchester on 9/19/1864. "My dear Fitz was slightly wounded in the fight near 'Winchester,' Fitz has been sick for 11 days and was not well when he went into the fight… had two horses shot under him.... His poor Nelly Gray was wounded so bad he had to abandon her-… He had her in the first Manassas fight.… But alas-she has gone.… My dear boy wrote to me after he was wounded and said he had done his best....the ball that struck him went through a thigh and through the saddle and killed…

GLC09255

6 June 1860

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Anna Fitzhugh

To cousin Anna Fitzhugh, an intimate letter written on the eve of the Civil War, reporting on family news and revealing his personal anxieties and troubles: "A divided heart I have too long had, & a divided life too long led. That may be one cause of the small progress I have made on either hand, my professional & civil career. Success is not always attained by a single undivided effort. It rarely follows a halting vacillating course. My military duties require me here, whereas my affections & urgent domestic claims call me away. And thus I live & am unable to advance either.…

GLC09256

30 June 1848

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Sidney Smith Lee

Having returned from service in the Mexican War just a day before, Lee writes to his brother Sidney Smith Lee of his homecoming and other family news. "Here I am once again, my dear Smith, perfectly surrounded by this Mama & her precious children, who seem to devote themselves to staring at the furrows in my face and the white hairs in my head. It is not surprising that I am hardly recognizable to the young eyes around me perfectly unknown to the youngest. But some of the older ones gaze with astonishment & wonder & seem at a loss to reconcile what they see , to what was pictured…

GLC09257

circa 1870

Lee, Fitzhugh, 1835-1905

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Ellen Bernard

An exuberant letter to Ellen Bernard "Nellie" Fowle of Alexandria, VA, whom he married on April 19, 1871. "God bless you Miss Nellie I had no idea you were such a woman as you are. I feel as if I really know you for the first time." With small card.

GLC09258

12 October 1897

Cleveland, Grover, 1837-1908

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Fitzhugh Lee

To Fitzhugh Lee as U.S. Consul General to Havana, asking Lee to aid a New York doctor in obtaining legal proof of his brother's death in Cuba.

GLC09259

7 October 1864

Clark, John B., fl. 1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Sterling Price

Former Confederate congressman and brigadier general in the Missouri State Guard writes to Major Gen. Sterling Price, giving Northern Press reports of Price's Missouri Expedition: "it appears that you have penetrated within twenty miles of St. Louis with your forces, and that you are taking one place after another in rapid succession, filling our enemies with consternation & alarm.... I pray you may have complete success and that our people may raise and shake off the shackles that have so long bound them; may the Almighty preserve you and your noble army, and give you that success our…

GLC09260

24 May 1861

Garnett, Robert S., fl. 1861

Autograph letter signed

Title: Special Orders No. 110

"Special Orders No. 110," ordering Col. Moore's regiment of Virginia Volunteers to Manassas Junction, immediately prior to the First Battle of Bull Run. Issued by order of Maj. Gen. Lee, signed by Garnett, the first general officer killed in the Civil War.

GLC09261

27 July 1861

Reagan, John H. (John Henninger), 1818-1905

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Appointment]

Appointment of a postmaster in Virginia, signed as Confederate Postmaster General. With 5-cent Confederate postage stamp.

GLC09262

14 July 1861

Donnellan, George, fl. 1861

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Confederate spy letter]

Important Confederate spy, one week before the Battle of Bull Run: "Should any sealed dispatch be handed into your possession without any superscription, and as coming from me, you will please address the same (after satisfying yourself of the contents) to Genl G.T.B. Manassa Junction, and have it carried through by the shortest & quickest time." Donnellan carried information between Rose Greenhow, Thomas Jordan, and Gen. Beauregard on troop movements that Jefferson Davis later credited as the reason for the Confederate victory at First Bull Run.

GLC09263

28 April 1865

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Autograph endorsement signed

Title: to General Howard

Asking General Howard to protect the wife of Confederate General Robert Ransom: "I take great pleasure in committing this lady and her family to the care & protection of Gen. Howard, and beg he will let one of his staff officers see the family and assure Mrs. Ransom of the deep interest we feel in her safety and happiness." Written on verso of Minnie Hunt Ransom's ALS, 4-24-1865, to Sherman, asking for protection in occupied North Carolina.

GLC09264

20 May 1861

Lyon, Nathaniel, 1818-1861

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Colonel D. Hassendeubel

To Colonel D. Hassendeubel of the 3rd Missouri Volunteers: "In respect to your report upon Arms and the movements of the secessionists, in your vicinity and at Manchester, it is important that you keep us fully advised as possible." Written ten days after the "St. Louis Massacre," when troops under Lyon's command opened fire on a crowd of St. Louis citizens, injuring 90 and killing 28. Lyon, credited with stopping the Missouri secessionist movement, was the first Union general killed in the Civil War, in August 1861 at the Battle of Wilson's Creek.

GLC09265

20 June 1864

Schofield, John McAllister, 1831-1906

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Jacob D. Cox

During the Atlanta Campaign: "Genl Sherman is here and has given me his plans. We must force the passage of Noyes Creek today. Four o'clock is the hour set for you to begin, and you will be supported by a general demonstration along the whole line." To Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox.

GLC09266

22 September 1862

Shaw, Robert Gould, 1837-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: Professor Rogers

Re Antietam: "We had a terrible battle last week. May we soon see the last of them and of the war. You can hardly imagine the horror of that battle field the following day." After Antietam, Shaw commanded the all-black 54th Mass. Volunteer Infantry until his death in battle. With envelope, addressed to Professor Rogers.

GLC09267