14 November 1863

Longstreet, James, 1821-1904

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Joseph Wheeler

Confederate General Longstreet informs General Wheeler "Your dispatch for Col Sorrel is received- I desire you to cross Little River in pursuit if you have a decided success at Marysville, or if you see the probabilities of ours by crossing. If the enemy is retreating pursue of course with the greatest vigor. If it is evident to your mind that you can assist us as much where you are as you could here, pursue, or push them- unless you can produce some consternation amongst them however it would be better to be with us." Written in pencil.

GLC02603

February 12, 1864

Pleasonton, Alfred J., 1824-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to L. S. Perley

Major General Pleasanton transmits his autograph with a letter taken from a Confederate post office to Perley, Chairman of the Autograph Committee of the Soldier's Aid Society of Northern Ohio, for a benefit fair. Informs Perley that "It always gives me great pleasure to render any assistance to the Sanitary Commission, as the important benefits conferred by that institution upon our Armies in the field, have alleviated much of the misery, hardship, and suffering, to which our noble & gallant soldiers have been exposed."

GLC02607

1863-1866

Header Record

Title: Items pertaining to the Union League of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [decimalized]

GLC02608

28 September 1863

Preston, William, 1816-1887

Letter signed

Title: to Jefferson Davis

Signed by John Gallaher as an official copy (possibly John N. Gallaher, aide and assistant adjutant general to General Simon Bolivar Buckner). Preston writes to Confederate president Davis, recommending the appointment of Colonel Robert C. Trigg from Virginia as Brigadier General. Includes the 30 September 1863 endorsement signed by General Simon Bolivar Buckner, written from the Headquarters of Buckner's command, near Chattanooga. Bucker supports Trigg's promotion, and relates that no brigadier has been assigned to the command Trigg seeks since the resignation of General Davis (possibly…

GLC02616

January 18, 1863

Southgate, William Wallace, 1834-1896

Autograph letter signed

Title: to R. W. Southgate

Written by a soldier in the 12th Vermont Militia. Argues that soldiers generally oppose the emancipation of enslaved people. Mentions James Ewell Brown [Jeb] Stuart's Cavalry charge upon them but says it did not turn into anything as they were rerouted. Envelope dimensions 6.5 x 10.8 cm. Graphic language warning: Includes expletive racial slurs when referring to Black people.

GLC02617

26 June 1864

Adams, William Wirt, 1819-1888

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Jefferson Davis

Confederate General Adams discusses a concentration of Union forces at Natchez, Vicksburg, and Memphis. Expects Davis, President of the Confederate States, to transfer troops from the Trans-Mississippi Department to Jackson, Mississippi. Discusses transporting troops across a river (possibly the Mississippi). Writes "I have ventured to make this suggestion in view of the possible contingencies of our struggle and in the hope that it may possibly assist you in the great labors... of your position."

GLC02625

11 March 1862

Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, 1816-1894

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Plan to trap Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson near the Strasburg road. Written just after Jackson began his Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Three days earlier Jackson had defeated Fremont at Battle of McDowell, the beginning of his Valley Campaign. Banks believes Jackson will now try to retreat and that "his only escape" is to "reach Strasburg, and then by the way of Woodstock go down to Harrisonburg and Staunton." Banks plans to cut Jackson off along this route, and defeat him there. Believes this position on the Strasburg road "is now perfectly safe...There is now no danger of an enemy in the…

GLC02626

19 December 1862

Birney, David Bell, 1825-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Gross

Discussing the "terrible battle" of Fredericksburg, which had occurred six days earlier. States that "Our troops behaved well." Also "My old Division true to prestige drove back the enemy and retook the lost ground & held it under Artillery & rifles." Encloses a map (GLC02630.02) of the battle. Reports his "loss was 982 kill & missing," and has now returned to "same camps" as before the battle. Wishes to know if the division he now commands "Sustained Chantilly reputation." This refers to Chantilly, the last battle the division fought under its previous commander, General…

GLC02630.01

19 December 1862

Briscoe, James C., ?-1869

Map signed

Title: Position held by the 1st Divn. 3rd Corps After Having Repulsed the Enemy Decb. 13th 1862

Map sent with a letter written by Union General David B. Birney (see GLC02630.01). Shows the Union position on the battlefield at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Various picket lines, topographical features, and the locations of troops under generals Doubleday, Birney, and Sickles appear. Shows General William B. Franklin's headquarters and pontoon bridges over the Rappahannock River at "The Folly." Fredericksburg is at the far right. Signed by Briscoe as First Lieutenant, acting engineer under Birney. Drawn at a scale of 500 yards to the inch. Date from letter.

GLC02630.02

18 April 1864

Ingalls, Rufus, 1818-1893

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Pitt Fessenden

General Ingalls writes to Fessenden, a United States Senator from Maine. Writes, "In my letter of today I probably should not have referred to the President at all, and beg you will excuse me- It is certain that Generals Hooker, Burnside and Meade wished to have me remain in the Qr. Mrs Dept" (referring to Generals Joseph Hooker, Ambrose Everett Burnside, and George Gordon Meade).

GLC02464.09

6 May 1861

Mansfield, Joseph K.F., 1803-1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Lorenzo Thomas

Mansfield informs Thomas, Adjutant General for the United States, that he accepts the appointment of Brevet Brigadier General conferred upon him from the United States President (Abraham Lincoln). Accepts the title "with the hope that in so doing I can better serve my country in the trying circumstances in which it is placed."

GLC02464.11

22 March 1864

Washburn, Cadwallader Colden, 1818-1882

Autograph letter signed

Title: to H. M. Benedict, Esq.

General Washburn replies to a note from Benedict, a lawyer in Albany, New York. Writes, "I regret that I had not sooner received it that I might have concentrated even in a very small way to the great charity with which you are connected. As you mention that the purchasers of Albums have been promised autographs which might arrive after the fair, I enclosed you a few of mine."

GLC02464.19

December 31, 1863

Wright, Horatio Gouverneur, 1820-1899

Autograph letter signed

Title: Statement concerning the service of Lieutenants Hayden and Hubbell

Major General Wright confirms that Lieutenants T.L. Hayden (possibly Thomas Lloyd Hayden), 7th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, and Henry Wilson Hubbell, 40th Regiment, New York Volunteers served as Wright's aides-de-camp from January 1862 to August 1863, and "are entitled to pay as such during that period."

GLC02464.21

1 May 1865

Augur, Christopher Columbus, 1821-1898

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Barnes

Augur, commander of the Department of Washington, Twenty-second Army Corps, writes to General Barnes, commander of the prisoner-of-war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland. Authorizes Barnes to allow a Major from the 28th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, to travel to an unspecified city to attend to business. Written on Headquarters, Department of Washington, 22nd Army Corps stationery. Marked as a telegram at the top.

GLC02465.01

29 November 1861

Berdan, Hiram, fl. 1823-1893

Letter signed

Title: to A. T. Goodman

Berdan, Colonel of the First Regiment United States Sharpshooters, informs Goodman that he is busy organizing companies already raised, and cannot issue any additional commissions. Writes "...I would be glad to have you confer with Mr. Milton P. Pierce of your city & Mr. H. Gilbert Robinson of Sandusky (to whom I have this day written on the subject) for the purpose of raising in your State a Regt. of Sharp Shooters, which as soon as ready, I shall be glad to receive into my command." Written on Headquarters, First Regiment Berdan's U.S. Sharpshooters, camp of instruction stationery.…

GLC02465.04

4 May 1861

Cullum, George Washington, 1809-1892

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John F. Cullum, Esq.

Cullum, Lieutenant Colonel and Aide-de-Camp to General Winfield Scott, writes "General Scott directs me to return his thanks for the valuable compilation of 'Naval Terms' presented to him by you."

GLC02465.06

20 July 1863

Rosecrans, William S. (William Starke), 1819-1898

Autograph letter signed

Title: to my dear Colonel

A pencil note on verso suggests that this document was intended for Colonel John Wilder. Rosecrans, Commander of the Army of the Cumberland, writes after the Tullahoma Campaign. Informs Wilder, "It would please me and your brigade if I could say My dear General. Be please to present my thanks to the Brigade for the beautiful testimonial of their confidence and respect. Tell that noble brigade that I hold in high esteem their past service, and confide in their spirit courage and good discipline for a future of increasing usefulness and honor. Accept for your self personally my thanks for…

GLC02463.19

10 October 1861

Schenck, Robert Cumming, 1809-1890

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Edward D. Townsend

Brigadier General Schenck writes to Assistant Adjutant General Townsend from Camp Ewing, to request a duplicate of an order he had misplaced. A note at the top indicates that there were originally two orders, one no. 139 and the other an endorsement on a letter. The note is written and initialed by Townsend. Says "The order issued to me from the Head Quarters of the Army on the 7th Sep. last, to proceed immediately to report in person to Genl. Rosecrans, has been mislaid. I want it as a voucher in the settlement of a question of transportation with the Quarter Master." Written at Camp Ewing.

GLC02463.20

circa 20 March 1863

Stanley, David Sloane, 1828-1902

Autograph letter signed

Title: to David Ray

Year previously inferred from content. Stanley, Chief of Cavalry in the Army of the Cumberland, writes to Colonel D. M. Ray, commander of a cavalry brigade (possibly Daniel Mack Ray). Instructs Ray to send half of his command to Salem (Virginia) at daylight the following morning to report to General Jefferson Columbus Davis. Remarks, "Rebel Cavalry in considerable force is reported at that place- Keep up your patrols on the Middleton Pike." Written on Headquarters, Department of the Cumberland stationery.

GLC02463.21

21 October 1864

Wallace, Lewis, 1827-1905

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Major Simpson or Dr. Hassan

Major General Wallace encloses "a list [not present] of wounded officers first arrived from the front. They are now at the depot in a sleeping car. Some of them will probably come here tonight. The rest ought by all means to be removed to the Hospital tonight..." Includes two endorsements by Surgeon J. Simpson on verso. In the first, written October 21, 1864, Simpson notes that Wallace's list of wounded officers was referred to Surgeon C. F. Campbell "for a full report in the case of the arrival of officers from Winchester Va." His second note, written October 23, 1864, indicates this letter…

GLC02463.22

26 August 1861

Wallace, William Hervy Lamme, 1821-1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas S. Mather

Wallace, Colonel of the 11th Illinois Infantry Regiment, writes to Mather, Adjutant General at Springfield, Illinois. Recommends Wesley B. Casey for promotion, noting that in a previous recommendation he made for Casey, he misspelled his name. Requests that Mather also transmit commissions for Thomas E. G. Ransom as Lieutenant Colonel and Garrett Nevius as Major of the 11th Regiment. Reports that he will promptly send the names of other officers to be commissioned.

GLC02463.23

circa 4 December 1863

Weitzel, Godfrey, 1835-1884

Autograph document signed

Title: [Recommendation for Captain Vandenbergh]

Brigadier General Weitzel writes: "I do not formally know Capt. Vandenbergh. But I am told by reliable officers that he is a very good man, and would make a first rate commanding officer for this regiment. I therefore hope he will be appointed, and ordered to rejoin his regiment."

GLC02463.24

24 May 1861

Willcox, Orlando Bolivar, 1823-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to General Mansfield

Willcox announces the Union capture of Alexandria: "Alexandria is ours. One Company. Captain Ball, mounted, thirty five men and thirty five horses (Captured) I regret to say Colonel Ellsworth has been shot by a person in a house." Directs bottom portion of the note to General Mansfield (possibly Joseph K. F. Mansfield): "I understand there are troops of the enemy at Junction." "Junction" possibly refers to Manassas Junction. Marked as a true copy.

GLC02463.25

6 July 1864

Wilson, James Harrison, 1837-1925

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John T. Sprague, Adjutant General of New York.

General Wilson, commander of the 3rd Division, Cavalry Corps, writes to Sprague, Adjutant General for the State of New York. Appears to have been directed to "Wm. T. Sprague," which is possibly a mistake, since John Titcomb Sprague was Adjutant General for the State of New York August 1861- January 1865. Wilson reports that Major C. Moore (possibly Caleb Moore), 8th New York Cavalry, has been assigned to command the 22nd Regiment of Cavalry by order of Major General Philip Sheridan. Requests that no appointments or promotions be made in the 22nd Regiment, except upon the recommendation of…

GLC02463.27

1861-1892

Header Record

Title: Union generals born in New England: 21 letters and documents [decimalized]

GLC02464