September 19, 1774

Rodney, Caesar, 1728-1784

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas Rodney

Written by Rodney, an eventual signer of the Declaration of Independence, as Speaker of the Delaware Assembly to an unknown recipient, most likely Thomas Rodney. Says he wrote recipient on September 17, 1774. Says he was probably concerned about a report of the British firing on Boston. Says Philadelphia's bells rang all day when that news arrived, but that it proved to be false a few days later. When expresses were sent out from Boston to say it was false, the riders came upon 50,000 men in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Says if the men were not armed, they were carrying provisions for…

GLC00983

March 17, 1851

Tyler, John, 1790-1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Robert Tyler

John Tyler writes to his son about visiting a friend and his health. He remarks that he would be happy to see Robert's friend win the governorship. Comments that, " ... the preservation of our institutions depends on the maintenance of the sound Jeffersonian principles - The purification of the Democratic party has been affected by throwing over Van Buren and his train attendants, ... " He mentions his relations with William Buchanan as a sympathizer with the South, "To Wm Buchanan I owe nothing of sympathy - He had none for me in my severe trials, and I was well informed at the time of his…

GLC00984

December 5, 1796

Carroll, Charles, 1737-1832

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James McHenry

Senator Carroll informs McHenry, Secretary of War, that Senator Rufus King intends to move resolutions in Congress related to the 1796 United States Presidential election. He reports in detail the number of votes currently held by each Presidential candidate, expressing favor for John Adams and disapproval of Thomas Jefferson. He mentions communications between Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and Charles Pinckney, the Ambassador to France, regarding the strained relationship between the United States and France. Referring to the election and foreign relations, he states "there are no…

GLC00985

March 9, 1779

Hancock, John, 1737-1793

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Joseph Clarke

Hancock writes to Treasurer Clarke that he must deny his request for a loan, as the state is too burdened with debt. " ... the Situation of our publick Funds, & the large Calls for Money by Loans for the Service of the State, makes it impossible to obtain Loans for any other purposes."

GLC00987

June 24, 1825

Tyler, John, 1790-1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Curtis

Tyler discusses a carriage he is selling to Curtis. States that he will accept a mule Curtis has as partial payment. He mentions that his wife Letitia's health is still poor.

GLC00988

November 27, 1804

McKean, Thomas, 1734-1817

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Joseph Clay

Written by McKean as Governor of Pennsylvania to Clay as a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania. According to the docketed note of McKean, this is a retained rough draft of a letter to Clay. References Clay's letter of November 15, 1804. Clay claims there is a report of political intrigue to divide McKean's Federalist and Republican supporters (by this time his base included Federalists and moderate Republicans). McKean was a political chameleon, and was sensitive to any such division, which he denies is happening in this draft. Says it is not worthy of further notice, but thanks him for the…

GLC00989

18 February 1865

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Confederate act to authorize the exportation of produce and merchandise]

Passed by the Confederate Congress, Thomas Bocock as speaker of the House, and R.M.T. Hunter as president pro tempore of the Senate and approved by Davis as president. Authorizes the export of government-owned "cotton, tobacco, and other produce and merchandise." Docketed: "Secret." Passed by the Senate on 23 November 1864 and by the House of Representatives on 18 February 1865.

GLC00990

September 12, 1861

Zollicoffer, Felix K., 1812-1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Tazwell W. Newman

Discusses Colonel Newman's request for supplies and supply issues more generally. Also comments on the movements of a few regiments. With a brief postscript noting supplies taken by Major J. L. Brown. Zollicoffer was a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. Tazwell, a Tennessee state senator, served as Colonel of the 17th Tennessee Regiment.

GLC00991

February 21, 1862

Buckner, Simon Bolivar, 1823-1914

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary K. Buckner

Confederate general Buckner writes to his wife, states that he is on his way to Indianapolis, where he was interred at Camp Morton after surrendering Fort Donelson to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. States that his staff is with him. With an autograph note signed on verso by Buckner to Grant, asking that it go to his wife. Sent care of Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston.

GLC00992

10 May 1776

Massachusetts Bay Council

Printed document signed

Title: [Appointment of Thomas Dingley as Massachusetts militia captain]

Partially printed document signed by Perez Morton as deputy secretary of the council. Other signers from the Massachusetts Bay Council included: James Otis, W. Spooner, Caleb and Thomas Cushing, B. Chadborn, Moses Gill, John Whitcomb, Jedediah Forster, Michael Farley, James Prescott, John Winthrop, B. White, and Dr. Samuel Holten. Appoints Dingley to the 13th company, in the 2nd regiment of militia from Plymouth County, commanded by Colonel John Cushing. Includes a paper seal.

GLC00993

25 July 1775

Warren, James, 1726-1808

Document signed

Title: [Appointment of Second Lieutenant Enos Briggs]

Document of the Congress of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay appoints Enos Briggs a second lieutenant of a Company of Foot. Signed by James Warren, President of the Congress and Samuel Freeman, Secretary of the Congress. On verso is note written by John Cushing, Jr., Justice of the Peace in Plymouth, that Briggs took the oath required by officers and soldiers of the Massachusetts Army on 2 September 1775.

GLC00994

January 5, 1792

Otis, Samuel A., 1740-1814

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Remsen

Written by Otis as Secretary of the United States Senate to Remsen as principal clerk of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Otis says he will send five copies of the journals of the First Congress and says he will send eight additional copies in the future. He says more may be had if Remsen wants them.

GLC00995

December 24, 1776

Ward, Henry, 1732-1797

Document signed

Title: [Rhode Island laws]

Signed by Ward as Rhode Island Secretary of State. Printed set of laws passed by the legislature and Nicholas Cooke, Governor of Rhode Island. Second page lists members of the legislature. Each page lists resolutions and laws and each paragraph has a quick summary in a column next to it. Most of the laws and resolutions deal with military issues of the Revolution. Some examples of laws include: appointment of a council of war, regulation of prices of goods, and the raising of three regiments. Most provide for military details, the commissions of officers, and money payments. Document is bound…

GLC00996

8 May 1779

Greene, William, 1731-1809

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Appointment of John Collins as a Rhode Island delegate to the general congress]

Signed by Greene as governor of Rhode Island, countersigned by Henry Ward as secretary of state. Commissions Collins to represent Rhode Island in the general congress in Philadelphia until ratification of the Articles of Confederation.

GLC00997

circa 1897

Edwards, Oliver, 1835-1904

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Russel Alger

Draft copy, no place or date. Edwards, Brevet Major General U. S. Volunteers, writes to Alger as Secretary of War. He discusses a medal wrongly awarded by the War Department to a private for the capture of General Custis Lee at the Battle of Sailor's [i.e. Saylor's] Creek, Virginia, April 6, 1865. He claims that David White of the 37th Massachusetts Volunteers actually should have received the medal instead of the private in the 121st New York Volunteers. He explains the battle and the circumstances of the capture. Date inferred from Alger's tenure as Secretary of War (1897-1898).

GLC00998

July 9, 1862

Bixby, Horace, fl. 1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Andrew H. Foote

Bixby, seeking a mail contract, asks Foote to recommend him to Postmaster General Montgomery Blair. He notes that Flag Officer Davis has already written such a letter. He adds that in the event of his flotilla being turned over to the navy, and there being a grade of pilot established, he would like to get the position of Pilot in Chief. Andrew Foote autograph note signed at bottom of recto says "Mr. Bixby is a clever, honest man. A. H. Foote U.S. Navy." Letter written while aboard the Flagship "Benton."

GLC00999

November 1891

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr., 1841-1935

Book signed

Title: Speeches By Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior.

Inscribed to philanthropist Charles Fairchild and signed with initials "O. W. H." With autograph explanatory notes on Civil War persons mentioned in his speeches, including W. Putnam, W.F. Cabot, James Lowell, General Charles Lowell, Paul Revere (grandson of the Revolutionary figure), E.H.H. Revere, N. Hayward, Rather, H. Abbott, Charles R. Lowell, and W.F. Bartlett. Published by Little, Brown, and Company, Boston. In original brown paper boards.

GLC01001

January 25, 1865

Hill, Daniel H., 1821-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William J. Hardee

Handwritten telegram sent by Confederate General Hill stating that he needs two thousand arms, and that nine hundred men arrived from the west but one half of them have deserted.

GLC01002

1861-1865 circa

Pratt, Oliver D., fl. 1863-1864

Header Record

Title: [Collection of Oliver D. Pratt, L company, 1st battalion, 4th regiment, Massachusetts, cavalry] [Decimalized .01-.03.12]

Contains 2 diaries and 12 letters.

GLC01003

1864

Pratt, Oliver D., fl. 1863-1864

Diary

Title: [Diary Oliver D. Pratt]

Autograph manuscript signed. Pratt served in Co. L, 1st Battalion, 4th Massachusetts Cavalry. Approximately 100 pages written in pencil. Military content about war in Virginia. Dated June 10- October 1, 1864.

GLC01003.01

1864-1865

Pratt, Oliver D., fl. 1863-1864

Diary

Title: [Diary of Oliver D. Pratt]

Autograph manuscript signed. Military content about war in Virginia. Written in pencil. Dated October 1, 1864-June 24, 1865,

GLC01003.02

1863-1865

Pratt, Oliver D., fl. 1863-1864

Header Record

Title: [Collection of letters from Oliver D. Pratt to his brother Albert S. Pratt] [Decimalized .01-.12]

Includes nine dated autograph letters signed, and three undated or fragmentary autograph letters (two are signed). Pratt served in Col. L, 1st Battalion, 4th Massachusetts Cavalry. Includes fighting in Charleston, South Carolina, and Petersburg, Virginia. Dated August 7, 1863 - March 16, 1865 .

GLC01003.03

1862

Smith, Horace A., fl. 1862

Diary

Title: [Diary of Horace A. Smith, 3rd NY Cavalry]

Autograph manuscript signed. Smith served in Company A, 1st Battalion, 3rd NY Cavalry, "Van Allen's Regiment." Diary kept in ink and pencil with later pencil pagination. Includes ink drawings of Camp layouts at Poolesveille, Md. and Harpers Ferry, Va. Concerns Maryland, Harper's Ferry, and the Shenandoah campaign. Mentions Jackson's Valley Campaign repeatedly (p. 196). With later note on the Assyrian Empire at end. Dated March 11-October 27, 1862.

GLC01004

1864-1865

Williams, Seth, 1822-1866

Manuscript document

Title: 5th Corps original field orders of the last campaign

Retained letterpress copies of over 200 original field directives pasted into a bound manuscript. Copies are of the original orders sent to the 5th Corps, or V Corps, Army of the Potomac. Almost all orders were issued by General Meade and almost all originals were signed by Seth Williams as Assistant Adjutant General. Some orders are signed by other assistant adjutant generals, including Edward Davis Townsend and C.W. Foster. Contains orders concerning Lincoln's assassination, Lee's surrender, the end of the Army of the Potomac, among others. Book ends when the 5th Corps "as an…

GLC01005

February-May 1864

Allen, George Walter, 1842-1912

Autograph manuscript signed

Title: [Diary aboard the U.S.S. Nantucket]

Allen was an officer on the USS "Nantucket" during and before the bombardment of Fort Sumter. The diary appears to have been written within days of the actions. Includes manuscript pencil and ink "Sketch of Charleston Harbor and fortifications," and with his drawings of Fort Sumter after its bombardment and the ironclad USS Nantucket. An interesting table at the end lists the damage made by every mortar shot at Fort Sumter from his ship.

GLC01006