17 September 1782

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Manuscript letter

Title: to Henry Knox

Refuses to grant leave to Captain Machin while he is on trial. "Captain Machin being under Arrest there would be an impropriety in his transacting any public business - or in granting him leave of absence from Camp. His Trial must soon come on in course, if that terminates in his favor I shall then have no objections to granting the leave requested, and if in the mean time any business of the Corps requires that an Officer should go to Philadelphia, leave shall be granted to any other you may think proper to send." Written at "Head Quarters." Washington's signature clipped.

GLC02437.09359

8 November 1782

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Manuscript letter

Title: to Henry Knox

Enclosing a note regarding a case that he wishes Knox to deal with. "You will be pleased to take up the matter in question, have a fair investigation made into the Merits of it, and cause justice to be done to the Individual concerned, as well as the Public." A endorsement in the hand of Samuel Shaw at the bottom of the page reads "Answered, and the papers returned to the man who brought them." Written at "Head Quarters." Washington's signature clipped.

GLC02437.09362

February 25, 1783

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Manuscript letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Orders Knox to inquire about the repeated theft of artillery stores at Kings Ferry. Written at "Head Quarters."

GLC02437.09381

14 May 1783

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Manuscript letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Washington writes to Knox, commander at West Point. Supports Knox's approval of officers' court martial of rioters. Writes, "I am loth at this time to consent to the absence of Officers from their Corps,- wanting their influence as much as possible, to quiet & allay the discontents of the Soldiers." Allows Knox to consent to officers' absence under special circumstances. Instructs Knox to give non- commissioned officers or soldiers with "mutinous dispositions" furloughs for "any length of time they wish- we are better without them than with them." Relates that General Huntington (…

GLC02437.09386

8 November 1862

Holt, Joseph, 1807-1894

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry W. Halleck

Recommends Donn Piatt as a Judge Advocate to a particular military commission at Cincinnati.

GLC02490.10

19 April 1776

Lee, Charles, 1731-1782

Letter signed

Title: to Chairman of the Committee of Botetourt

Written by Major General Lee as commander of the Southern Department. Says the spirit of desertion is on the rise and endangers the safety of the colonies. Requests the committee to exert themselves to secure deserters.

GLC02486

22 April 1777

Sumner, Jethro, 1733-1785

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Richard Caswell

Written by Colonel Sumner to North Carolina Governor Caswell. Encloses a list of officers, their ranks, and appointments as of the 16 April 1777. Also encloses a return of the 3rd Regiment and the names of officers he is taking northward (both lists are not included). Says the regiment has suffered by enlistment of soldiers in the service of South Carolina and Georgia as well as by desertion. Wants a system established that will deter civilians from harboring deserters. In the fall of 1777 Sumner took part in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown and wintered with his regiment at Valley…

GLC02498.13

23 April 1777-26 April 1777

Tallmadge, Benjamin, 1754-1835

Autograph document signed

Title: Regimental Orders

Writes that the primary purpose of punishment is to reform the offender. Orders that John Conolley, a prisoner, be freed but advises that others should not take advantage of this and be found guilty of the same misconduct. On verso is the first page of another regimental order dated 26 April 1777 concerning morning roll calls.

GLC02498.14

25 December 1787

Butler, Zebulon, 1731-1795

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Nathan Denison

Planned an election for battalion officers, but his men preffered to have him appoint battalion officers. Hopes Denison can inform him if this would be allowed under military law.

GLC02499.01

25 December 1768

Gage, Thomas, 1718-1787

Autograph document signed

Title: to John Bradstreet

Written by Major General Gage to Lieutenant Colonel Bradstreet. Forgot to mention in his first letter that the mayor desired "the Smith's sheep" be delivered up to him. Says he thought it was mentioned to Bradstreet before, but that he could have possibly forgot. Written as the British military was occupying Boston and in the process of quartering troops in Boston.

GLC02499.05

16 April 1776

Hawley, Joseph, 1723–1788

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Elbridge Gerry

Criticizes the use of prohibited tea. Mentions sending Gerry a memento. Comments that regiments are ineffective without "a man of Judgment and Spirit" leading them. A long postscript discusses Artemas Ward's resignation (because of poor health) from his position as the commanding major general in the Continental Army in April, 1776, and his sensitivity to issues relating to liberty and property. Also mentions quartering soldiers.

GLC02505.23

10 May 1863

Vallandigham, Clement L., 1820-1871

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Brooks

Two notes written in pencil (one beneath docket) indicate that this letter was written to Brooks, a U.S. Representative from New York and fellow Copperhead. Vallandigham, a former United States Senator from Ohio, had recently been arrested for treasonable remarks, and was held in military custody. Writes, "I have just read your speech as reported, (I believe) in the Journal of Commerce, & thank you ten thousand times for it. The whole country responds to you, & indeed, indeed it is time that it should. Not a moment is to be lost. I am still here 'awaiting orders!'- military…

GLC02467.28

circa 1862-1864

Letcher, John, 1813-1884

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Zebulon Baird Vance

Letcher, Governor of Virginia (1860-1864) replies to a note from Vance, Governor of North Carolina (1862-1865). Discusses Colonel James P. Dillard, 70th Regiment, North Carolina militia. Writes, "On enquiry I can hear nothing of the criminal therein mentioned. If he can be found and arrested, I will cheerfully deliver him to you on requisition. I will most cheerfully unite with you in all efforts to arrest deserters and return them to their commands." Relates that many deserters are along the line between Virginia and North Carolina. Written on State of Virginia, Executive Department…

GLC02469.11

5 March 1862

Wirz, Henry, 1823-1865

Autograph document signed

Title: [Special order: Arrest warrant from a Confederate state military prison]

Orders that John Thomas be brought to the prison "dead or alive." Signed by Wirz as Sergeant of Post, at the Confederate Military Prison at Tuscaloosa, before he was promoted to Commandant of Andersonville Prison, where he gained notoriety. Accompanied by a seller's undated manuscript note describing Wirz as "The Demon of Andersonville." One black and white bust engraving of Wirz included.

GLC02514

18 September 1823

North, William, 1755-1836

Autograph manuscript signed

Title: [An account of the execution of Major John Andre]

Details the execution of Major John Andre, accused of being a spy, and expresses his sympathetic feelings toward Andre's unfortunate fate. Describes how Baron Von Steuben could not comply with Andre's wish to suffer a soldier's death by being shot since the only suitable death for a spy is hanging.

GLC02541.02

20 July 1813

North, William, 1755-1836

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Major Jackson

Written by North in retirement in Major Jackson. Marked at address that the letter is "to be published as a private letter." Sees in the newspaper that General Hull is to be tried on the charge of treason and cowardice during the surrender of Detroit in August 1812. Says he does not believe the charges to be true. In emotional language he attacks the rumors against Hull and defends his Revolutionary War record. Is especially outraged over the rumors of compensation money the British allegedly gave Hull. Says if fear was part of the surrender, then it wasn't a selfish fear, but one based on…

GLC02542.20

4 April 1779

Schuyler, Philip John, 1733-1804

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Written by Major General Schuyler to an unknown recipient, but seller's description says it is probably to Continental Congressman James Duane. References recipients letter of 20 March and another undated letter. Says the president, probably Continental Congress President John Jay, sent him the resolution rejecting his resignation. Schuyler had put in his resignation after an October 1778 court martial, which he requested, acquitted him of incompetence over the loss of Fort Ticonderoga in 1777. Says he wants to resign because Congress deprived him of the command of his army when they selected…

GLC02545

1837-1908

Stafford, Robert H., fl. 1837-1866

Header Record

Title: Robert H. Stafford Collection [Decimalized .01- .98]

Stafford enlisted as a sergeant in the 12th Alabama infantry. Contains letters and newsclippings about the Peninsula Campaign, advance into Maryland, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Early's raid on Washington, D.C. Preliminary inventory included.

GLC02618

6 March 1848

Butler, William Orlando, 1791-1880

Broadside

Title: [Military convention for the provisional suspension of hostilities]

Order No. 18, ratified by William Orlando Butler as Major General Commanding on March 5,1848. Signed by Adjutant Irvin McDowell. Orders a suspension of hostilities following seventeen articles by the Military Convention. The Convention provisions were made at Guadalupe Hidalgo before the treaty ending the war.

GLC02561

21 August 1865

Clay, Clement Claiborne, 1816-1882

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Virginia Clay-Clopton

Clay, a former U.S. and Confederate Senator, writes to his wife while imprisoned at Fort Monroe. Informs her that, "The hardest part of my trial here has been my solicitude about you, my parents and other kindred, who, I feared, would be tortured by newspaper accounts of my condition, or bold assertations of my guilt, or possibly, reports of evidence establishing it." States that he is relieved to hear that she gives little faith to newspaper accounts. Comments on his health, which is fair. He has not had to use any of the medicinal remedies that frighten his wife, such as "prussic acid,…

GLC02590

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

January 27, 1862

Dana, Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh, 1822-1905

Letter signed

Title: to Charles Stewart

Written in camp near Edward's Ferry (possibly in Virginia). Dana, Colonel and Acting Inspector General, writes to Stewart, Assistant Adjutant General, Corps of Observation. Supports unspecified charges against Colonel George W. B. Tompkins, 2nd New York State Militia. Includes notes concerning Tompkins's muster and pay rolls for Company B to be used as evidence. Also encloses the pay accounts of Tompkins (not included). Numbered "52" at the top.

GLC02464.02

1867

United States. Supreme Court

Pamphlet

Title: Review of the Decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, in the cases of Lambdin P. Milligan and others, the Indiana Conspirators.

Original printing of the Supreme Court's April 3, 1866 decision in Ex Parte Milligan, rejecting the military's claim of legal jurisdiction to try and sentence Lambdin P. Milligan and other so-called "Butternuts," Confederate supporters in southern Indiana. Published by the Union Congressional Executive Committee, Washington, D.C. Printed by Chronicle Print.

GLC08445.02

1884

Greenleaf, Halbert S., 1827-1906

Pamphlet

Title: Speech of Hon. Halbert S. Greenleaf of New York, in the House of Representatives, Saturday, January 19, 1884.

Representative Greenleaf discusses the court-martial of General Fitz-John Porter. In support of Porter, concludes "Why, then, in view of these clearly established facts, should we longer delay this simple act of justice to a most meritorious but much-abused soldier? Why wait for a more auspicious day? Why wait till this perfectly innocent man has gone down with his gray hairs in sorrow to the grave? Let us act, here and now... I support this bill for his relief with all my heart..."

GLC08445.04.01

February 3, 1864

Drake, George Bernard, 1838-1921

Pamphlet

Title: Regulations for the government of Negroes and plantations.

Issued by command of Major General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks. Provides for the division of parishes, the establishment of schools for black children, forbids soldiers to visit plantations without written consent of their commanding officer, forbids flogging and other cruel punishments, calls for employers to implement share cultivation and the establishment of banks, etc. Drake issues the order as Assistant Adjutant General.

GLC08446