1 August 1864

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Samuel Jones

Telegram sent by the Southern Telegraph Companies. Asks Jones in Charleston, South Carolina, for a list of captured Confederate officers who might be exchanged for Union officers. Writes "If exchange is perfected furnish promptly lists of officers received that orders of assignment may be sent. Jeffer. Davis." General Samuel Jones succeeded Beauregard to head the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, during which he commanded at Charleston, South Carolina.

GLC01944

28 July 1864

Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

Autograph letter signed

Title: to George G. Meade

Grant, commander-in-chief of the United States Army, writes to Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac. Writes that General Winfield Scott Hancock will return (possibly to City Point) and will be too fatigued for active operations against Petersburg the following morning. Asks Meade if he thinks the necessary preparations can be made for a morning assault.

GLC01953

7 August 1864

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

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry W. Halleck

Gives a detailed description of the unsuccessful cavalry raids by George Stoneman and Daniel McCook, Jr. at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Both took place on the June 27, 1864 in accordance with Sherman's Order 42. Before the raids, Stoneman asked Sherman's permission to attempt to free union prisoners held in Macon and Andersonville after the battle. Sherman consented. McCook heroically led the raid against a superior force, and was mortally wounded. Sherman was criticized for this attack against General Johnston's entrenched forces, which resulted in heavy union casualties.

GLC01961

1863

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Pamphlet

Title: The letters of President Lincoln on questions of national policy.

Reprint of six letters by Lincoln: June 13, 1863, to an Albany, New York Committee, discussing his interpretation of the writ of habeas corpus in the Vallandigham case; February 3, 1862 and October 13, 1862, to General George McClellan on the management of the war; August 22, 1862, to Horace Greeley concerning amnesty for southerners; August 7, 1863, to New York mayor Horatio Seymour regarding the New York City draft riots and the constitutionality of the Conscription Act; August 26, 1863, to the Springfield, Illinois and Syracuse Conventions, defending the Emancipation Proclamation.…

GLC01969

7 March 1862

Hill, Daniel H., 1821-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Isabella M. Hill

Relates accounts of his long a hard marches. Says General Thomas Jackson's "situation is very, very, very critical," as he is being pressed by the Union army, and hopes he is "fortunate in extricating himself." While McClellan and the bulk of the Union army was attempting to take Richmond from the South, Hill and Jackson were charged with defending the Northern approach to the Confederate capitol, from which the Union also threatened. Says "It seems strange that your Father should have two son-in-laws holding the advance posts of a great Army. Perhaps, such a thing never occurred before…

GLC01977

1863

Marshall, William Edgar, 1837-1906

Sketch signed

Title: [Pen and ink drawing of council of war at Gettysburg]

Signed in pencil by Marshall, and apparently intended for publication. The original pen and ink drawing shows Meade, Sykes, Newton, Butterfield, Getty, and Howard. Mounted; dimensions refer to the image.

GLC02057

18 September 1862

McPherson, James Birdseye, 1828-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Leonard Ross

Discusses an exaggerated news report regarding the battle of Antietam. Writes "The substance of the news is that 'Genl McClellan has driven the Rebels out of Maryland with great slaughter and has bagged Genl Lee.' The bagging part I think is prospective and the other like all telegraphic news from the Associated Press must be taken with some grains of allowance. The dispatch says 'Bully for Mc'...I think on the whole it is good." Seems skeptical of the good news, and rightly so. Lee was not captured, and though he was driven from Maryland, both sides suffered heavy losses. Written on…

GLC02063.01

1864

Snyder Studio

Photograph signed

Title: [Delevan Bates]

Cabinet portrait of Delavan Bates in uniform by the Snyder Studio. Inscription on verso reads: "Brig. Gen. Delavan Bates/MOH [Medal of Honor] at Crater/121st NY Infantry/Cabinet/Signed $125.00." Bates was Union Brevet Brig. Gen., 30th U.S. Colored Infantry. Bust portrait in white stetson. Signed on image.

GLC02068

26 October 1862

Porter, David Dixon, 1813-1891

Letter signed

Title: to Henry A. Walke

Written in a clerical hand but signed by Acting Rear Admiral Porter to Captain Walke. Porter was commander of the Mississippi River Squadron while Walke was commander of the USS "Lafayette." Walke seems to have been in Hellena, Arkansas. Tells Walke to let one steamer cruise between Island No. 10 and New Madrid. Says one gunboat is enough at Hellena. Wants Fort Pillow, island No. 10, and New Madrid always protected by a gunboat. Wants to know what ship will go to Island No. 10. In 1861, David Dixon Porter joined the Navy's Gulf Squadron in command of the USS Powhatan. He was promoted to…

GLC02069

10 October 1864

Green, Joseph F., 1811-1897

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas H. Patterson

Written by Captain Green to Captain Patterson as the commanding officer of the USS "James Adger" on blockade duty. Says he has sent the captain of the USS "Geranium" to report to Patterson for blockade duty. Is transmitting despatches for Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren and asks them to be forwarded in the event of the admiral not arriving tonight. Informs Patterson that on board the "Geranium" will be a Captain Fox of the army and a contraband who escaped from Charleston last week. They are to meet with the admiral. Written while aboard the USS "John Adams".

GLC02070

13 June 1864

Parsons, Mosby Monroe, 1822-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Walker

Written as Confederate Brigadier General to Confederate Major General Walker. Talks of trying to procure brass musical instruments so that his men can form a band. Discusses war matters including mention of the failure of Union General Ulysses S. Grant's campaign against Richmond. "The news as it reaches us from beyond the Miss. is very cheering. It seems Grant has been foiled in his original plan of attack on Richmond ... he has established his base where it was first intended ... Surely the sacrifice of 40,000 to get his position, displays no great generalship. This pretext is to keep…

GLC02073

27 September 1864

Darrow, Edwin, fl. 1864-1865

Manuscript document signed

Title: List of names of members co. 'H' 39th Mo. Vol. lost Sept 27th 1864 near Centralia by Andersons Bushwackers

Lists the names and ranks of the fifty-six Union men killed by Confederate bushwhackers under the command of William "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Anderson, under whose tutelage Jesse James fought, was killed and decapitated less than a month later. Second page signed by Lieutenant Edwin Darrow certifying the list. Very faded.

GLC02074

12 May 1861-1865

Tate, Jeremiah M., fl. 1829-1877

Header Record

Title: Collection of Jeremiah M. Tate, H company, 5th regiment, Alabama, infantry [decimalized .01-.63]

Private Tate served for a time with Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah; he appears to have come from Pickensville, Alabama. Tate's letters, written to his mother and sister Mary Jane at Jenna Point (Tuscaloosa County, Alabama), concern First Bull Run, Peninsula Campaign, Seven Pines, Antietam, Stonewall Jackson, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg (letter #34 dated near Carlisle), and Petersburg. A number of letters concern fraternizing with Yanks and songs he sings. The collection has been itemized on inventory. His first name "Jeremiah" per coded name in letter #31. Some itemized letters are…

GLC02082

20 May 1861

Tate, Jeremiah M., fl. 1829-1877

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his sister

Mentions guns to keep Lincoln's ships away.

GLC02082.02

3 June 1861

Tate, Jeremiah M., fl. 1829-1877

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his sister

Written in pencil. Reports that Pensacola is the oldest & dirtiest city. Discusses some illness. Mentions Zouaves. Gives his future address as Richmond.

GLC02082.03

12 September 1861

Tate, Jeremiah M., fl. 1829-1877

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary

Written in pencil to his sister Mary. Discusses some skirmishes and camp life. Written from "Sanksters Cross Rodes."

GLC02082.09

20 November 1863

Longstreet, James, 1821-1904

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Joseph Wheeler

Possibly written in Tennessee. Marked "Confidential." Longstreet, commander of the Department of East Tennessee, writes to Wheeler, commanding cavalry corps, Army of Tennessee. Orders Wheeler to send half of General John Austin Wharton's force to Kingston, and half to cover the Union's escape route. Notes "Keep us advised hourly and send two couriers with each dispatch." Written in pencil.

GLC02013

23 August 1865

Hatch, Edward, 1832-1889

Document signed

Title: [General orders no. 4, transmitted to Captain Hervey A. Colvin, Assistant Adjutant General]

Hatch, Brevet Major General of United States Volunteers, writes on Headquarters, District of Talledega stationery. Reports, "Orders have this day been received directing me to report to another department for duty which compels me to part with the officers and men... with whom I have been so long and so pleasantly associated... I desire to express my sincere and heartfelt thanks for the cheerful cooperation with me in the performance of kindred duties, for your gallantry, self denial, and untiring energy... I will ever cherish among the brightest passages of my life, the memory of our…

GLC02014

1860-1866

Painter, Heber, 1841-1900

Header Record

Title: Collection of Heber Painter, I company, 58th regiment, Pennsylvania, infantry [Decimalized .001-.182]

The collection mostly consists of correspondence from Painter to his aunt and sisters. His letters contain descriptions of camp life, his feelings towards slavery, and anti-Yankee sentiment in Virginia shortly after the war. More specifically he witnesses fighting between the Monitor and Merrimac, the Battle at Batchelder's Creek, the Battle of Fort Harrison/Chaffin's Farm, the fall of Richmond, and the Union occupation of Petersburg. A collection inventory is available.

GLC02016

26 September 1862

Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

Manuscript document signed

Title: Special order No -

Unnumbered special order commanding Colonel William Hillyer to Memphis to meet with General William T. Sherman on "special business" and return quickly. Statement of payment scrawled horizontally on the recto.

GLC02020

1862

Holmes, fl. 1862

Broadside

Title: Attention! Company! [Recruiting broadside for New York 156th Infantry]

Announcment made by Lieutenant Holmes, the recruiting officer of the regiment. His first name could not be discovered. Printed by Hommel's Power Press Printing in Kingston, New York. Depicts large eagle holding scroll reading "The Union must be preserved." Recruits are asked for Captain P.H. Decker's company of Colonel Erastus Cooke's regiment. Headquarters is at the Ulster County House, in Kingston. Dated from the first year the regiment was mustered into the Union Army. Was previously folded into quarters. Small hole at the bottom was repaired.

GLC02028

21 June 1865

Lee, Samuel Phillips, 1812-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Mercer Brooke

Written by Acting Rear Admiral Lee as Commander of the Mississippi Squadron to Brooke, a former Confederate naval officer seeking amnesty. References that the preceding page of this letter was a copy of the letter he sent to the president on his behalf. Says he would have lauded his abilities as a seaman, navigator, and hydrographer, but thought to dwell too much on them would be a cause of complaint against him. Claims that "I have felt that if I had not been sent out of the country in the fall of 1860 that I might have helped to save some of my honest Navy friends who were so cruelly misled…

GLC02029.02

15 April 1865

McClees, J.E., fl. 1855-1865

Broadside

Title: Announcement of death of Lincoln

Announces the death of President Lincoln to the soldiers at the U.S. General Hospital. Signed on verso by Jacob Campbell, Company S, 2nd Regiment, PA with a short note bidding farewell to the "sacred evil of old Virginia."

GLC02030

3 August 1862

Hayes, Rutherford B., 1822-1893

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliakim P. Scammon

Marked unofficial. Brigadier General Hayes writes, as Lieutenant Colonel of the 23rd Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, to Scammon, his superior, as commander of the 1st Brigade. Expresses his disappointment over the detention of a Mr. Landcraft and a Mrs. Roberts. States, "I believe Mr. L is a good man and friendly to us and our cause." Of Mrs. Roberts he states, "has a rebel husband, but she is a lady and a mother. Her detention is needless, therefore cruel and I think disgraceful. Mr. L we can keep on suspicion, no great harm done, but to prosecute Mrs. R. is a business that I want to be…

GLC02032

17 July 1862

Hayes, Rutherford B., 1822-1893

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliakim P. Scammon

Writes to Scammon, his superior and colonel commanding the 1st brigade, concerning safeguarding Union loyalists in West Virginia. Mentions a Mr. Caldwell, who wants to get his family out of Mouros. Describes his plan to follow them and asks for approval. "...I will take say six or eight Cos of 23rd & 20 of Capt. Gilmore's Cavalry and two waggons and go after them. Leave here so as to cross the ferry soon after dark - go say five miles and bivouac..." Hayes signs as Lieutenant Colonel, 23rd Infantry. Docketed by Scammon. Written at Camp Green Meadows- located between New River and…

GLC02033