12 November 1858

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed letter

Title: Letter from Gerrit Smith to Rev. Dr. John Marsh; Letter from Gerrit Smith to Joshua R. Giddings.

Smith responds to an editorial published by Marsh, editor of Journal and Prohibitionist, New York. Marsh accused Smith of being "unsound on Temperance." Also replies to a published letter from Giddings, in which Giddings sought to defend the Republican party. Calls Republicanism a "one-idea-Party" unwilling to eradicate slavery.

GLC04717.41

29 November 1843

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed document

Title: Church of Peterboro

Includes a creed and resolutions of the Church of Peterboro. Resolutions name an elder for the church, cite the church's opposition to sectarianism and slavery, and cover other pertinent issues.

GLC04717.46

15 July 1845

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed document

Title: To those ministers in the county of Madison, who refuse to preach politics

Believes that the continued enslavement of millions of citizens results from religious leaders' refusal to preach politics. Emphasizes the duty of religious leaders to preach against slavery.

GLC04717.47

4 April 1849

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed letter

Title: to President Green, Whitesboro

Addresses a chief difference: "You have none, whilst I have the utmost confidence, in the capabilities of the masses to take care of themselves."

GLC04717.48

7 July 1849

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed document

Title: At the meeting of the "Church of Peterboro," held July 7th, 1849, the following Resolutions were passed, without a dissenting voice...

Accuses a clerk and store owner who sell liquor as being "out of...place" for preaching the gospel. A second resolution attests that no members of the Church of Peterboro are guilty of voting for anti-abolitionists or drinking intoxicating liquors. The resolutions are to be read in a public assembly 8 July.

GLC04717.50

20 July 1849

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed document

Title: To the Church of Peterboro

Uses an allegory of a tea, coffee, and liquor merchant to illustrate that "the wickedness in one branch... taints with wickedness every other branch..."

GLC04717.51

9 August 1849

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed letter

Title: to Hiram P. Crozier, New York

Defends the Resolutions of the Church of Peterboro, which Crozier criticized. Chastises Crozier for running a store that sells liquor, declaring "iniquity, permitted in one of the branches of the store, stamps the whole store with iniquity." Crozier served as pastor of the church.

GLC04717.52

February 14, 1873

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed letter

Title: A letter from the Hon. Gerrit Smith, to the Cuban Anti-Slavery Committee, New York.

Smith writes, "As I view it, our Government should, long ago, have conceded belligerent rights to the Cubans struggling for freedom from the yoke of Spain and from the yoke of Slavery... The world is too far advanced in a rational civilization and in an all-comprehending fraternal religion, that it should any longer be allowable for the nations to stand still whilst one of them continues to indulge in the horrid crimes of which, if they were ever guilty, they have thoroughly repented." Notes that Samuel Raymond Scottron served as the committee's president, and H. H. Garnet as vice president…

GLC04717.62

4 July 1873

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed document

Title: Let crushed Cuba arise! Substance of the speech of Gerrit Smith, in Syracuse, July 4th 1873.

Smith writes, "In our Fourth of July celebrations there are two events, which, far above all other events, we come together to celebrate. One of these is the deliverance of our country, nearly a century ago, from political despotism, and the other is the practical recognition by our nation, a few years since, of the grand doctrine that 'all men are created equal.'"

GLC04717.63

1 December 1873

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed document

Title: Spain. --- Cuba.

Discusses Spain's history of slaveholding and the role of other nations to end slavery in Cuba.

GLC04717.64

4 January 1850

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed letter

Title: to John Cochran, Isaac T. Hopper, Daniel C. Eaton, George H. Evans, and William Kemeys

Smith writes to prominent men he chose to designate the distribution of gifts of land and money among five hundred males and females from New York. Notes that he will not give the females land, but will instead bestow $50 upon each of them. Declares, "Alas, that good men should be so slow to see, that the acknowledged right of every generation, and the whole of every generation, to the use of the earth, as well as to the use of the sea, the light, and the air, is necessarily preliminary to that state of universal comfort... for which good men labor and pray!" Notes that most of the land is…

GLC04717.65

13 March 1871

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed document

Title: The West Point mob.

Smith discusses recent mob activity at West Point, New York: "Nothing else is so frightful as a mob- that many-headed monster, whose every head refuses to be controlled. Mobs and their dramshop inspiration threaten the ruin of our country. Ours is emphatically the country of mobs. Slavery made it such." Judging from Smith's text, West Point cadets kidnapped and threatened to tar and feather several African Americans.

GLC04717.66

24 May 1844

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed letter

Title: To the persons who derive title from myself or my late father to land in Charlotte River and Byrne's Tracts, in the Counties of Delaware, Otsego, and Schoharie

Discusses the authenticity of land titles, possibly for land he previously gifted to African Americans in need. Suspects that Native Americans told residents that the land titles were inauthentic in order to obtain timber from the property.

GLC04717.69

21 December 1857

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed letter

Title: From the New York Tribune. Mr. Gerrit Smith on the President's message. The currency and the hard times.

Smith writes, "There is nothing in the nature of civil government, and there is nothing in the Constitution, to justify the Federal Government in banking, or in undertaking to authorize it in others." Also criticizes economists' reference to slavery as an institution, or "an essential part of the basis of public and national credit."

GLC04717.70

22 June 1872

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed document

Title: Speech of Gerrit Smith (to his neighbors) in Peterboro, N.Y., June 22d 1872.

Smith writes "The Democratic Party is my dread. The Republican Party is my hope... I need not say that it is not the original Democratic Party- the party of my childhood and youth... But this modern Democratic party- this degenerate Democratic party- is very unlike the original Democratic party." Defends President Ulysses S. Grant against criticism. Mentions United States Senator Charles Sumner's speech against Grant, accusing Grant of insulting Frederick Douglass. In closing asks, "Is there a black man either at the North or at the South, who is inclined to vote the Democratic ticket?…

GLC04717.71

1 October 1872

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Printed letter

Title: to Horace Greeley

Mentions Greeley's run for the Presidency, noting "It is surely not for me to question the propriety of your being upon an electioneering tour." Agrees with Greeley that the reconciliation of the North and South should be the focus of the campaign, but disagrees with Greeley's "mode of treating" the topic. Criticizes the Democratic Party, declaring that "Kukluxism and Democracy are one."

GLC04717.72

31 July 1864

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Almira Winchell

Written from camp "in front of" Richmond. Discusses the Battle of the Crater. Describes the attempt of the 9th Army Corps to mine under a rebel fort, blow it up and break the Confederate line at Petersburg. Donahue's battery offered supporting fire after the explosion took place. Describes the charge, capture of the fort by a black regiment, and the fort's recapture. Writes, "All that I am Sorry for is that the Rebs did not Capture every nigger there was there and Shoot them for I think that we have got white men enough in the north to fight our battles..."

GLC04706.10

4 January 1863

Magie, James K., fl. 1862-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Magie

Headquarters 78th Regt. Ill. Vol. Misdated 1862, discusses Morgan's raid at New Haven, see GLC05241.02. Recounts more of his adventures as a spy dressed in rebel uniform. Mentions his capture of a Confederate named Floyd Price. Asks for a copy of the Macomb Journal, which printed his New Years Address. Notes that the "colored ladies" of the town held a reception for them. Briefly mentions Unionist civilians.

GLC05241.03

January 21, 1863

Magie, James K., fl. 1862-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Magie

Writes from Headquarters of the 78th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers. He asks her to write at least once a week. They have received marching orders, but heavy rains made the river rise and they may not be able to move. He spent last night playing a game "with a very pretty young lady. You must not yet be jealous about it, although I begin to think I have some right to go about among the girls as you have almost [quit] writing to me." A runaway slave from Spencer County is employed by the Colonel. He does odd jobs, dances and makes speeches. Plans to stay with the regiment and go back to…

GLC05241.06

January 27, 1863

Magie, James K., fl. 1862-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Magie

The regiment has moved to Louisville. He and a few other officers have taken possession of a building to use as their quarters. The contraband cook is practicing his spelling. He received a letter detailing Eddy's illness. He wants his son Charles to stay with his mother and go to school.

GLC05241.07

February 2, 1863

Magie, James K., fl. 1862-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Magie

Written on board the steamer J. H. Groesbeck. Notes the regiment is bound for Fort Donelson. Says he has comfortable quarters in a cabin with some other officers but the enlisted men are very crowded. Mentions that his colonel is under arrest for refusing to search the boat for escaped slaves. Notes he was put in charge of the contraband cook, who now wishes to go home with "Massa Magie."

GLC05241.09

February 22, 1863

Magie, James K., fl. 1862-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Magie

"No. 2." He has been promoted to Division Postmaster. Recounts three incidents which occurred while traveling between Nashville and Franklin. First, he tells of finding a group of men in Butternut whom he thought to be Confederates. He thought the men would capture him but they turned out to be local laborers running telegraph lines. For the next story, Magie cautioned his wife not to read the passage outloud. He then wrote how he followed a trail of calico to find a soldier and woman in a "horizontal position." He adds the couple claimed to be married. Finally, he mentions seeing two…

GLC05241.14

18 July 1776

Knox, Lucy Flucker, 1756-1824

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Thanks Henry for taking the time to write her "amidst the hurry of public business," referring to the revolutionary war activities in New York. Explains her travel plans, which will bring her to New Haven, Connecticut. Discusses their child's development, including mention of her beginning to talk, and prays that Henry will survive to take care of them. Discusses her reaction to a recent letter from William Knox that included news about her family and explains that she wants to send for her mother (see GLC002437.00368). Seeks a boy recently discharged from the army as a new servant since…

GLC02437.00381

3 May 1865

Walbridge, Charles E., 1842-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Louise Walbridge

Appointed Inspector of the Quartermaster Department for the Department of North Carolina. Reports that there are 3,500 contrabands colonized on the island, and describes a large seminary at Raleigh.

GLC04663.62

21 October 1865

Walbridge, Charles E., 1842-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Louise Walbridge

Acknowledges a letter he received since venturing south on a speculation scheme. Describes the trouble of trying to travel by rail in South Carolina. The land ladies speak against Yankees during meals at boarding houses. States that South Carolinians are more hot headed than the people of North Carolina. Negroes in the cities believe that the government will supply them with houses and 40 acres so they do not work. The problems of working a plantation with free Negroes. Describes the plight of blacks in the cities. Describes a tournament. [See also GLC04662.118, regarding blacks…

GLC04663.69