2 March 1865

Renshaw, Richard T., 1822-1879

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Ella Godley Renshaw

Writes to his wife from aboard the U.S.S. Massasoit. Expresses confusion over Ella not having received letters from him -- "I write...every two or three days, and what becomes of my letters gracious only knows." Mentions some money he has sent her recently in installments of thirty and fifty dollars. Tells her that "it is not unlikely that my Boat the Massasoit will be sent to the Sounds of North Carolina" and complains that "the Admiral keeps putting me off all the time, saying that I will get to Newbern soon and not to figgit so." Mentions that he has been busy as a member of a court…

GLC02254.25

8 September 1861

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Camp news. Discusses his company and the support his charges extend to him. He writes, "I am treated with such kindness and appreciation by the men that it more than compensates for the hardship. I know I shall be well cared for and think that I have many warm friends." Cook informs his wife that he will be corresponding "with the 'Houston Telegraph' and it would be well for you to take it if you could." Includes a promise to send her his pay once he receives it and instructions on sending mail.

GLC02570.04

January 25, 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Takes offense at the charge (by Susan, his wife's sister?) that he doesn't write as often as he could. Defends himself by saying he is very busy and does not have an abundance of materials with which to write, unlike the people at home who can write, but don't. Complains that he has received "less than 6 letters" since he left home (probably September 1861) but he writes once a week. He writes, "There is something wrong in the mails, not in the correspondents." Puts Eliza's mind at ease over whether Cook loved her. He writes, "You have sometimes laughingly intimated that I did not love…

GLC02570.14

February 11, 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Discusses Eliza's letter to Sam Jones (GLC02570, #15) that he returns with this letter. Compliments her letter writing and encourages her progress in this "art which you so much desire." Reply's to Eliza's claim that she writes every week with "I do not get a letter from you once a month. I have many complaints about the matter, every one who writes letters to Richmond (Texas) or whose letters are mailed there complain that they never go or get through. We do not know what to think of it." Misses his wife because "There is no one here, like you darling, to rub my head when it aches or…

GLC02570.17

13 August 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Cook went to visit family and "I found the whole country in mourning for relations and friends killed at the battles of Seven Pines and Richmond." Includes news about Girard and adds that Walter has been very sick but is improving slowly. He includes a story about Cornelius Sadler who was wounded at Shiloh, began recovering, and fell ill again with a pain in his side. "Dr. Burney of Montgomery examined the locality of the wound and opened a place from which he took a fragment of a shell weighing three and a half ounces. It was under the ribs." He includes new directions for sending him…

GLC02570.27

22 August 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Cook discusses camp news. He says he doesn't know where to tell her to write but has decided that sending mail by way of the private citizen is "not a good plan."

GLC02570.29

10 December 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Writes how the ink is freezing in his pen's point and it is visible in the letter. Reports on possible campaigns. Is frustrated with the mail which he calls "uncertain" and he "must learn to endure although I am inpatient when I do not get letters from my little wife. My own sweet one must think of me often, as I am very jealous of her love. I dream of you often darling Lizzie and oh! how sweet are my dreams. I see you, fold you to my heart of hearts and you look into my eyes with love and confidence." Cook is unsure of his wife's intentions and wonders if she dreams about him, thinks…

GLC02570.36

20 April 1863

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Fuss about Cook's lack of mail: "I will venture that no other wife in Texas, or sweetheart even, gets half as many letters from her lover as you do. Is it not so? And yet I do not get letters from you as often as many do from others. How come this? Who is to blame, you or the mail? Never mind though I wrote you one ill natured letter on this very subject last week and that shall gratify my spleen for a time." Discusses his loss of good looks, "…I have just lain aside my mirror in the reflection of which I have been gazing upon the once attractive features of your husband. Alas! Miss…

GLC02570.43

30 July 1863

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Discusses the rainy weather and knows that things like that are not unusual in the army and should not complain. Has an awakening (Page 4) and apologizes for being unkind and uncaring in the past. Cook promises to change his ways when he comes home. Has put in for a furlough and a transfer and was been rejected twice. Discusses his promotion to colonel and how important it is that he is fighting in the war. Writes, "Let those who prefer civil life with it's present ease and inglorious advantages but as for me enjoy it, but forbid it God that me or any of my blood should ever falter in…

GLC02570.46

31 July 1863

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Includes news from camp. Discusses his recovery from a cough. Writes about his mistrust of sending mail with someone he doesn't know. He writes, "It is a great trust to send letters home by one and a man who would betray it would very materially injure him hereafter."

GLC02570.47

January 12, 1865

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Tells Eliza that he wrote her four days ago and "sent the letter off by a very uncertain carrier but hope you will get it. I now regret not having retained it until the present as I have a most excellent opportunity to transmit letters." A friend from home has come to visit and Cook is glad to be able to give himself "up again to the aspirations of partial friends and becoming immersed in ambitious dreams of fame and power, that I sometimes tremble at the thought of a return of peace and opportunity for temptation." Relays a dream he has about their reuniting. Hopes to secure 1000 acres "…

GLC02570.66

17 June 1867

Conger, Levi P., fl. 1824-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Ann Conger

Misdated, possibly 17 June 1868. Explains to his wife that he does not write often because the post office is very far away. He believes the mountain air is good for him and feels better than he has in ten years. Says that the food seems to taste better and describes camp life and his natural surroundings. Reports having found gold, though he is not sure if it is a sign of more to come. Adds that he is in Trinity County, California, on the Trinity River.

GLC04672.01

24 June 1868

Conger, Levi P., fl. 1824-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Ann Conger

Writes to his wife that he is working hard for his mining company. Reports that the weather is cold and that the nearest post office is forty miles away. Describes the food and says that the men in the company take turns cooking and baking. The salutation reads "Mrs. R.A. Conger," for Ruth Ann.

GLC04672.05

9 August 1861

Clements, B. N., fl. 1861

Printed document signed

Title: [Appoining Adam C. Bear a postmaster]

On Confederate States of America Post Office Department stationery. Appointing Adam C. Bear as postmaster of the new Bon Air post office in Rockingham, Virginia. "Circular No. 8." printed at the top of the document. B. N. Clements was chief of the Appointments Bureau of the Confederate Post Office.

GLC02233.09

18 September 1861

Clements, B. N., fl. 1861

Letter signed

Title: to Adam C. Bear

Partially printed letter reads, "Your official bond and oath of office having been received and placed on file, I have the pleasure, herewith, to forward your commission."

GLC02233.10

7 November 1785

Mason, David, 1726-1794

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Writes to Knox in distress. Thanks him for the recommendation to Governor Bowdoin, but informs him that a Major [likely William] Perkins was appointed to a position instead of him. Declares he is now left destitute, especially since his leg was injured over the summer and he was unable to move around or work. Hopes Knox will continue in his kindness and help him find a position. Asks if Mr. Haggard might hire him to work with Mr. Hastings at the post office; declares he only has his wife and one daughter left at home to support, so any little bit helps. In a separate note at the bottom,…

GLC02437.03215

5 August 1781

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Knox

Written at camp near Dobbs Ferry by Brigadier General Knox to his brother William Knox. References William's letter of 25 July 1781. Says he wrote last week and hopes he has received the letter as the post office has been unreliable. It seems that someone in Lucy Knox's family is dying, but Henry says he will not tell her because she "will be afflicted by it beyond moderation." Says her family in England will want to know of this information, and wants to be informed when a Mrs. Winslow will sail for Plymouth, so he can write to Lucy's sisters and mother. Says the "destruction" of paper money…

GLC02437.01120

8 August 1781

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Knox

Written by Brigadier General Henry Knox to his brother William. Mentions sending a letter to him three days earlier. In that letter he says he gave as much of an account of the general circumstances of the army as possible given the chance of mail getting captured. Says they have zeal, but would not be able to overtake the enemy. Has no news other than Lord Cornwallis being named commander in chief in place of General Clinton, who returns to England. Says "This War has [invariably] disgraced every british commander and I hope eventually disgrace the nation who employs them." Requests to draw…

GLC02437.01125

3 June 1788

Wadsworth, Jeremiah, 1743-1804

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Writes, "I am told the Present Post riders from New York to this Place are asking Congress for additional pay." Complains that "they have performed badly- deprived us of the benefit of stages on the road." Asks Knox to help him persuade Congress to revive the use of stagecoaches in mail delivery between Connecticut and New York.

GLC02437.03887

February 21, 1821

Meigs, Return J., 1782-1851

Letter signed

Title: to Aaron Hobart

Informs Hobart that the words "North Halmouth" has been removed from Robert Dunham's contract and that the post office there is now operational. Written from the General Post Office.

GLC06313.04.115

8 January 1822

Holmes, Abraham, 1754-1839

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Aaron Hobart

Discusses the bankruptcy law being considered by Congress. States that his opinion is at odds with Hobart's. Holmes contends that it was a "universal understanding of the people at the time of the ratifying of the Constitution" that a clause authorized the passage of a debtors relief law, but that such a law might "destroy every principle of Justice and equity," it would "destroy every idea that we have of Natural, Civil or political Justice." Comments on problems with the petition for a "new post road." Discusses three capital trials (one for a prison murder and two for highway…

GLC06313.04.132

26 June 1863

Wood, Matthew, fl. 1862-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Sarah Wood

Written from London, Kentucky to his wife. Describes raids in Tennessee and Virginia, destroying railroads, burning bridges, tearing down telegraph wires. Also describes the rainy weather. Expresses concern because he sent a dollar in a letter, but does not trust the mail. Tells of the soldiers' dismay at Robert E. Lee's successes, but expects victory will come when they're on the "brink of despair." Expresses fatigue from the harsh treatment and difficult duty he endures.

GLC02176.07

13 November 1863

Wood, Matthew, fl. 1862-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Sarah Wood

Written from around Knoxville, Tennessee to his wife. Mentions rebel citizens are rumored to be stealing soldiers' mail. Talks of new clothes, his battalion's shabby outfitting, hopes of buying socks for a dollar with his new pay. Mentions nearly freezing on picket duty and wearing his blanket as an overcoat. Says soldiers are also so hard up they steal, describing an event in which his revolver was stolen.

GLC02176.09

January 22, 1864

Wood, Matthew, fl. 1862-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Sarah Wood

Written at a camp near Knoxville, Tennessee to his wife. Sends his wife thirty dollars, though he is uneasy because of the insecure mail. Sends the money because the rebels could come any time. Keeps ten dollars because "if the rebels come here again I don't want to sufer for the want of a little mony like I did before." Written on military stationery with the image of a camp.

GLC02176.13

18 April 1864

Wood, Matthew, fl. 1862-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Sarah Wood

Written from Camp Smith to his wife. Posits that he is missing some letters, expects "back mail" to arrive soon. Expresses concern again that his wife should receive the money he sent. Mentions an eye operation his wife is recovering from. Complains his bad officers who will not let him go on furlough, but rather make him stay to guard the camp. Laments the shame of soldiers, talking of an unburied boy at Cumberland who has no one to demand his burial.

GLC02176.15