22 September 1781

Wayne, Anthony, 1745-1796

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Nathanael Greene

Major General Wayne writing shortly before the siege of Yorktown, looks forward to the arrival of Admiral François de Grasse and praises the French forces. Predicts victory over Lord Cornwallis. Expects that the arrival of George Washington "will enable us to complete the investiture immediately." Comments on the Marquis de Lafayette's illness and his own wound. Describes the British fortifications at Yorktown and Gloucester and expresses his "fervent hope to see the American Colours...displayed upon the British lines."

GLC06691

14 June 1791

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter

Title: to William Duer

Writes, "Mr. Samuel Ogden transmitted by the post yesterday to the Massachusetts [committee] a full [renumeration] of my claim on the eastern lands..." Says this will make things easier for Henry Jackson. Discusses the details of two drafts for $5,000. Has given them to Captain Randall and hopes Duer will accept them. Tells Duer that his son William has been injured in a fall.

GLC02437.04993

20 October 1789

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Eustis

Discusses the payment of the pensions to the invalid regiments. Congress considered holding further investigations, but decided against it, as they "were of opinion that it would have a very improper affect to subject the invalids to any further investigations." Considers who might be responsible for paying out the pensions. Also discusses future positions Dr. Eustis might hold in the public service and offers to help him.

GLC02437.04392

13 December 1789

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Eustis

Relates that he delayed responding to Eustis's previous correspondence in hopes that Congress would decide upon an arrangement for paying the invalids (refer to GLC02437.04414 and GLC02437.04386). If someone is specially appointed to the post of paying the invalids, and Mr. [John] Lucas (commissary of pensioners) resigns, Knox thinks Eustis can easily obtain the appointment. Predicts that the Secretary of the Treasury will make the appointment with the approval of the President. Discusses Society of the Cincinnati diplomas Eustis previously requested. Agrees with Eustis regarding the…

GLC02437.04439

January 23, 1790

Eustis, William, 1753-1825

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Discusses pensioners of the Revolution, especially the fact that he feels that "this State has judged her citizens so grudgingly & so exclusively that she has not her just number & those who are pensioned do not receive enough." Also states that many soldiers were cut off from their pensions, leaving especially those who have been disabled from the war, without a means of support. Asks Knox for his help in supporting this cause. Mentions the Waldo patent, saying without fully understanding the subject he does believe the settlers pose any danger to the heirs of the patent.

GLC02437.04479

20 July 1794

Beaumez, Sarah Lyons Flucker, fl. 1784-1801

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Expresses her pleasure over their upcoming meeting. Mentions Thomas [Flucker?] has been in a great deal of pain from his accident (from falling into boiling water). Comments the wound proved far worst than everyone first thought. Notes he can now sit-up. Discusses land deals and how anxious she is to hear Knox's advice and information on which path she should take regarding her children's property. Mentions her sons being in the military academy and how they might go to England. Sends her best wishes to Knox's family. Sarah Lyons Flucker was Knox's sister-in-law.

GLC02437.06148

February 22, 1782

Eyen, Frederic, fl. 1782-1787

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox [in French]

Written from Burlington, likely in New Jersey. Mentions John Doughty. Cannot go to Philadelphia due to a broken arm sustained in a fight, possibly with Doughty. Appear to have served as a cook.

GLC02437.01358

January 31, 1790

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Eustis

Replies to Eustis's letters written on the 17th and 23rd (see GLC02437.04479). Discusses the situation of the invalids, particularly the invalid pensioners. Upon reviewing the subject with other general members, believes it to be impracticable to obtain a new inspection of the invalids. States that "the subjects of invalid pensions had better remain on its present footing for the following reasons..." Goes on to list the reasons, most of which deal with how the individual states handle their own invalids and finances. Also discusses his legal trouble with the Waldo patent.

GLC02437.04492

28 March 1790

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Eustis

Informs Eustis that "[o]ur delegates have not yet brought forward the motion relative to a new inspection of the invalids." Stresses the importance of another inspection, in order to ensure all invalid soldiers are accounted for and paid appropriately. Discusses other business related to the inspection.

GLC02437.04560

17 November 1782

Eustis, William, 1753-1825

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Written from "Hospital Huts." Writes, "I have examined Jedediah Norton a soldier in Colo. [John] Lamb's Regiment and find him ruptured which disqualifies him for field duty; but as the complaint existed previous to his inlistment, there is every reason to imagine he would (as many others have done) be sent out with the first levies next campaign in [case?] he was discharged, I can only recommend him as a proper subject to be transferred to the Corps of Invalids."

GLC02437.01717

1862-1863

Magie, James K., fl. 1862-1863

Header Record

Title: Collection of James K. Magie, C company, 78th regiment, Illinois, infantry [Decimalized .01-.51]

Private in the Army of the Cumberland. The letters are written to his wife, Mary, who lived in Macomb, Illinois. (There are 46 manuscript items plus 5 printed items which include 3 newspaper clippings.) Magie also held the position of Brigade Postmaster while stationed in Franklin, Tennessee. This position allowed him to make frequent trips into Nashville, where he bought newspapers for 5 cents each and sold them in camp for 10 cents. He frequently discusses his profits and cautions his wife not to let anyone else know how much money he is able to send her. At home Magie was a co-owner…

GLC05241

4 March 1862

Bridgman, Laura Dewey, 1829-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Williams

Bridgeman, a deaf-blind mute who learned to read via embossed letters, writes of a deeply religious life. She fulfills his request for a letter, and offers Williams a prayer.

GLC05508.049

January 1974

Cushing, Peter, 1913-1994

Typed letter signed

Title: to Children

Thanking children (apparently disabled or otherwise disadvantaged) for a drawing they sent at Christmas time. He explains to them that even though they are different from other children, they must learn the lessons of life to obtain "higher places." Their present conditions will not matter in the next life because "all imperfect bodies will be made like unto His glorious body."

GLC05508.079

circa April 6, 1865

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: [to Mary Todd Lincoln]

Last three pages of a longer letter. Recipient inferred based on content. Senator Sumner, en route with Mrs. Lincoln to City Point to meet up with the president, responds to her note regarding Lincoln's return to Washington in the wake of Secretary of State Seward's serious carriage accident. The First Lady wanted the president to wait at City Point for their arrival; Sumner strongly advises that they wait for the president. The carriage accident would end up, indirectly, saving Seward's life on the night of the Lincoln assassination.

GLC05603.01.03

28 December 1874

Kell, John McIntosh, 1823-1900

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Raphael Semmes

Writes to Semmes about "my recollection of the capture of the Whaling Ship Levi Starbuck." Gives a detailed description of the events leading up to the ship's capture and the situation of the Levi Starbuck's prisoners on board -- "I most solemnly hold that no prisoners on board of the Alabama were treated with severity" but "greater restrictions were necessary...perhaps confinement in irons." Mentions that a man named Whitney claims that "the loss of the use of his hands" occurred while he was imprisoned on the Alabama and calls the accusation "simply absurd." Writes that Whitney…

GLC05591

16 November 1863

Rawlins, John A., 1831-1869

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary E. Hurlbut

Discusses his love for her and Ulysses Grant's drinking problem. To his fiancée, with pencil lines between the pen. On Grant's drinking: "The necessity of my presence has made almost absolute, by the free use of intoxicating spirits liquors at Head Quarters which last nights developments showed me had reached to the General commanding. I am the only one here (his wife not being with him) who can stay it in that direction & prevent evil consequences resulting from it. I had hoped but it appears vainly his New Orleans experience would prevent him ever again indulging with this his worst…

GLC05606

8 October 1781

Clift, Samuel, fl. 1777

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Sally Clift

Clift, a captain in the Continental Army from Connecticut, writes to his wife describing preparations for siege of Yorktown: "till night before last we erected our first parallel within 600 Yards of the Enemies Lines, we shall continue to approach nearer & nearer till the Enemy fall into our hands." Also mentions casualties, his good health, and missing her.

GLC05307

14 September 1782

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

Autograph document signed

Title: [Order to the Commissary for the arrearage of provisions due to Mrs. Corbin of the Invalids]

Includes a note at the top of the page, in Shaw's hand, from Jonathan Pugh, Lieutenant of Invalids, which reads, "This is to certify that Mrs. Margaret Corbin (wife of John Corbin a soldier in the corps of Invalids) has not drawn any liquor with the ration allowed her since the 1st Jany 1782." Below, Shaw relates that Mrs. Corbin has two Congressional resolves in her favor, "she having had a husband and son killed and was herself wounded at Brandywine in 1777. She is allowed a full ration per day, half pay for life and a suit of clothes annually. " Orders the Commissary to give her the…

GLC02437.01611

15 December 1783

Young, Joseph, 1733-1814

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Discusses the order that the Albany hospital is to be closed, which he was not aware of, and the lack of firewood for the patients. Also reports back to Knox about his preparation for closing the hospital. Young signs as hospital physician. Noted as sent "By Express" and on "Public Service."

GLC02437.02832

29 September 1783

Holmes, Silas, fl. 1775-1783

Autograph letter signed

Title: to W. S. Smith

Praises a Doctor Bayley for his humanitarian effort and attitude toward the sick and wounded in his care. Noted as a retained copy and on the verso as "No. 2".

GLC02437.02582

14 August 1800

Houston, Robert, 1765-1824

Autograph document

Title: Report

Docket reads that this document is a report "given by Robt Houston...of the murder of a Mr. Winslow a resident near Portland."

GLC02437.07444

18 November 1783

Jackson, Michael, 1734-1801

Manuscript document

Title: to the Congress of the United States.

Noted as a copy. A memorial for Michael Jackson to receive a Brigadier General's salary or of equal value for his service to his counrty and for the wounds he recieved while fighting in the [Revolutionary] War.

GLC02437.09811

April 12, 1782

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Letter written by Lafayette to Major General Knox. Letter of introduction for Chevalier de [Lameth], whose brother was severely wounded in the attack on the redoubts at Yorktown. Asks that he be introduced to "our Brother officers."

GLC02437.01385

15 October 1777

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Lucy Knox

Written from camp 24 miles from Philadelphia. Sends this letter by Captain Randall, who had "the misfortune to be again made a prisoner after being slightly wounded in 7 or 8 places." Asks why she has not mentioned a gold watch he sent, worrying that the watch has been lost or stolen. Addresses Lucy's concerns regarding their future provision, assuring her to trust God. Reports that Continental defense along the Delaware River has hampered British shipping to and from Philadelphia: "If the enemy cannot get their shipping up Philadelphia is one of the most ineligible places in the world…

GLC02437.10455

July 1788

King, Joseph, fl. 1788

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Solicits employment in the War Office. Writes "I have spent near about Eight years in the service of my Country, and for the Service have Received Sundry Securities which as yet do me but very little good... For the want of some payments, or only the Interest on those Securities I am unable to enter into any business- By means of wounds received in Battle and Imprisonment with the Enemy I am Rendered incapable of Labour..." Docket notes "answered verbally."

GLC02437.03951