March 1859

McBlair, William, ?-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to V. McBlair

To his wife, discussing his dislike of the British, the death of a United States Consul in Sierra Leone by "homicide," and the island of Goree, a former center of the African slave trade. He states he is "Anti-Anglais," calling the British "National Pirates" on the African coast. He discusses his dinner with a French captain, commenting on their culture and the bad food. Also mentions the foolishness of the Liberian Secretary of State and complains about Navy food. He closes in expectation of orders to return home, which would soon arrive. Letter written on board the U.S.S. "Dale" off Goree,…

GLC00722.65

1857

James, William, ?-1827

Manuscript document

Title: English account of the capture of the H. M. Brig Alacrity

A handwritten excerpt from William James' "Naval History of Great Britain, Volume V," giving an account of the capture of the British brig "Alacrity" by the French brig "Abeille," which occurred on 26 May 1811 near Corsica. James describes the capture of the British ship by the French vessel of similar size, explains the reasons for the British defeat, pointing out the failures of the captain and the British naval system that allowed this to happen. Recommends revealing the full details of all British naval losses, saying the honor revealed in the details of even a defeat will outweigh the…

GLC00722.66

March 15, 1858

Unknown

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William McBlair

Discussing events at Saint Helena since McBlair left. A friendly letter, sent via Captain Goodridge of the U.S.S. "Hazard." Name of the signer is illegible.

GLC00722.69

September 27, 1858

Unknown

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William McBlair

Sends letters and information, and thanks McBlair for a dog given as a gift. Letter written from Saint George's Castle, also known as Elmina Castle, a former prison and center of the African slave trade. Name of signer is illegible.

GLC00722.70

September 19, 1779

Adams, John, 1735-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Benjamin Rush

Adams had returned from France, and comments upon the importance of having an American in Paris "who knows somewhat of the affairs of America, as well as Europe...." Letter also mentions the fight for independence and French negotiations.

GLC00748

05 March 1864

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: [Authorization to affix United States seal to a treaty]

President Lincoln authorizes Secretary of State William H. Seward to affix the United States Seal to a treaty between the United States and Britain. States the Treaty, signed 1 July 1863, settles the claims of the Hudson's Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Companies.

GLC00750

March 27, 1828

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

Letter signed

Title: to Daniel Hugunin, Jr.

Marked "private and inofficial" at the top of the page. Referring to trade between the United States and Great Britain, Secretary of State Clay informs Hugunin, a Representative from New York, that "sound policy requires that there should be the freest and most unshackled competition between the vessels of the two countries in any trade that may be tolerated on the Lakes ..." Discusses an Act passed on 1 March 1, 1823 concerning colonial ports and trade between Britain and America. Refers to a resolution recently moved by New York Representative Daniel Dewey Barnard concerning trade between…

GLC00754

June 18, 1812

Hamilton, Paul, 1762-1816

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Rodgers

The Secretary of the Navy informs Commodore Rodgers that war has been declared against Great Britain, officially starting the War of 1812. Indicates that Rodgers is entitled to use his four vessels for attack and defense. Asks him to await further instructions from New York, but permits him to attack British cruisers near Sandy Hook, if the opportunity arises, after which he should return to port. Instructs him to relay these orders to Commodore Stephen Decatur.

GLC00758

May 29, 1862

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

Letter signed

Title: to Governor Francis W. Pickens

Written to South Carolina's governor, Pickens in response to Pickens concerns about the city of Charleston. Lee writes in part, "The loss of Charleston would cut us off almost entirely from communication with the rest of the world and close the only channel through which we can expect to get supplies from abroad now almost our only dependince. [.... ] Let it be distinctly understood by every body, that Charleston and Savannah are to be defended to the last extremity. If the harbours are taken, the cities are to be fought street by street and house by house as long as we have a foot of ground…

GLC00751

28 June 1919

Paris Peace Conference, 1919-1920

Document signed

Title: Peace Congress, Versailles 1919, Session of 28 June 1919: Agenda. Signature of the Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany

Printed souvenir program signed by Wilson, Lansing, Balfour and others, including Paderewski (Polish premier and pianist) and the new leaders of the new nations of Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia.

GLC00752

May 22, 1836

Fiske, E.G., fl. 1836

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miss S. H. Fiske

E. G. Fiske writes to his sister concerning Indian problems. Discusses Texas and the capture of Santa Anna.

GLC00765

February 12, 1761

Peters, Richard, 1704-1776

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Johnson

Richard Peters writes to the British commissioner about Northern Indian Affairs in upper New York. He discusses Indian tribes and Connecticut's attempt to get a new grant from the King. He concludes: "I most heartily congratulate You in the Surrender of Canada and on the most favourable Solution of all our Affairs." Richard Peters, Provincial Secretary, superintended Indian affairs and attended the Albany Congress, 1754.

GLC00766

1765

Great Britain. Acts.

Pamphlet

Title: Act for granting and applying certain Stamp Duties...in America...

The Stamp Act. Paginated 499-520 + unpaginated title page.

GLC00769

June 30, 1805

Monroe, James, 1758-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Lee

Written to William Lee, who was serving as American consul at Bordeaux, France. Mentions that he arrived in Paris on June 20, 1805 after a 25 day trip and that he will soon proceed to London. He mentions the unsuccessful mission to Spain. In the autumn of 1804 he went to Madrid to assist Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in his efforts to secure the definition of the Louisiana boundaries and the acquisition of the Floridas. They negotiated with Don Pedro de Cevallos, the Spanish minister of foreign affairs, from January to May 1805, without success. This letter finds Monroe between missions. On his…

GLC00655.02

April 26, 1844

Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Amos Kendall

Jackson writes to the former Postmaster General, also Jackson's close friend and biographer. Jackson relates how he learned that nullifiers secretly sent an agent to Great Britain for aid during the Nullification Crisis of 1832. "... the nullifiers of the south having sent a secrite agent to Great Britain to obtain aid in carrying into effect their designs against the Union." He details the source of his information so that it might be enclosed with his papers by Kendall. Without naming his former vice president, John C. Calhoun, Jackson accuses him and other nullifiers of being traitors and…

GLC01025

July 2, 1813

Wood, B.G., fl. 1813

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Wood

He writes to his sister about his activities in Canada at Fort George and elsewhere in the northern campaign during the War of 1812. Also discusses the heroism of their brother, Eleazor D. Wood, at Fort Meigs, as recounted by General William Henry Harrison. Notes that congress will be putting a heavy duty on all spirits, and mentions the naval fight on Lake Champlain.

GLC01043.02

May 29, 1811

Fulton, Robert, 1765-1815

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas Law

Robert Fulton, writing to economist Thomas Law, discusses steamboats, Benjamin Latrobe, and a "western Canal," and attacks John Armstrong for his criticism of Joel Barlow, Fulton, the Smiths, the Clintons, and Fulwar Skipwith. With integral address leaf. Fulton begins by lamenting the difficulty in hiring captains, presumably for his growing steamboat business: "I have taken much pains to find a captain with the qualifications you mention Honesty, activity, intelligence and capital, all such and whom we call smart fellows appear to be already engaged in some established trade." He goes on to…

GLC01067

circa August 1776

Gates, Horatio, 1727-1806

Manuscript document

Title: A Journal of a Scout from Crown Point to St. John's Chamblee by Lieut Benjamin Whitcomb and four men

Clerical copy of a report of Whitcomb's spying mission in Canada 14-27 July 1776. Details their progress, the weather, attempts to get prisoners, and sightings of British troops moving supplies, etc. Notes that Whitcomb fired on a British officer [Brigadier General Patrick Gordon], whom he ended up killing though he was not aware of Gordon's identity at the time. Includes a three-line autograph note signed by Continental Major General Horatio Gates to Richard Varick, who was serving as military secretary to General Philip Schuyler, advising that the report be forwarded to Schuyler.

GLC01072

1765-1781 ( bulk: 1765-1766 )

Thomson, Charles, 1729-1824

Autograph manuscript

Title: Manuscript journal and letter book

Bulk, 1765-1769 on Stamp Act Congress; some pages cut out. In four sections: 1) Correspondence of CT and Philadelphia Merchant's Committee, re: Stamp Act, 1765-1766; 2) Resolves of colonies re: Stamp Act Congress, with minutes of the Congress from Oct. 1765; 3) Records of the Philadelphia Merchants' Committee for 1769 with CT's transcripts of letters sent to Benjamin Franklin and others; 4) Retained drafts of correspondence, 1780-1781, with two long letters to John Jay (10/12/1780 and 7/11/1781) on the Revolutionary War. Written in a reverse calf copybook with engraved label of bookbinder…

GLC01018

September 1779

Walton, George, 1740-1804

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Benjamin Lincoln

Written by Walton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Colonel in the First Georgia Battalion who was severely wounded and captured during the Battle of Savannah in December 1778, to Lincoln as commander of the Southern Department. Walton sent Major Habersaw to British General Augustine Prevost to request relief for American prisoners in Sunbury, but Habershaw was denied entry into Savannah. In response, Major Lane was sent with this letter to Lincoln to request relief. Hopes the prisoners can be exchanged for British prisoners or made prisoners at large in America. Says that the…

GLC01019

1902-1903

MacKay, Clarence H., 1874-1938

Scrapbook

Title: [The laying and completion of the Pacific cable]

Two volume scrapbook covering the completion of the Pacific cable linking North America to Hawaii, Australia, and the South Pacific. Includes cablegrams charting progress of the cable and sending congratulations from officials in places along the route such as California, Hawaii, the Philippines, etc., photographs with captions, and press clippings, all inlaid or mounted in two scrapbooks. Also includes two congratulatory telegraphs from Theodore Roosevelt (vol. 2), one draft autograph telegram signed by Grover Cleveland (vol. 2). Volume 1 entitled, "The Laying of the Pacific Cable,…

GLC01020

3 October 1778

Clinton, Henry, Sir, 1730-1795

Broadside

Title: Manifesto and proclamation to the members of the Congress

Double-column format. Issued by the British Peace Commissioners Lord Carlisle, Sir Henry Clinton and William Eden after the failure of their peace initiative. Offered a general amnesty and pardon with internal self-government and the repeal of Parliamentary taxation. Bibliographic reference: Evans 15832.

GLC01032

1778

United States. Treaties, etc.

Pamphlet

Title: Treaties between the United States and France

Printed by John Dunlap. First American printing of the first United States treaty. Contains both the Treaty of Alliance with France and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce. The Treaty of Alliance is the first Philadelphia printing and the first appearance anywhere in print.

GLC01040

January 24, 1814

Wood, Eleazor D., 1783-1814

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Wood

He discusses his desire to visit home that winter, which could not be fulfilled because he is fighting in the War of 1812. Discusses the perils of his activities in the west (in Ohio), being surrounded by Indians, and fearing he would not see his family again. He comments on various other personal news and plans to come home in the spring.

GLC01043.03

December 19, 1861

Mason, J. M. (James Murray), 1798-1871

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Price

Letter written as a prisoner of war near Boston. Mason thanks Price for the gift of tobacco he sent to the prisoners of war. Mason had been captured on board the Trent. Letter written at Fort Warren.

GLC01062