14 October 1880

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Letter

Title: to Marcus Wright

Written and signed by Varina Davis, for her husband. Responds at length to General Wright's questions concerning the conduct of General Joseph E. Johnston's defense of Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. With references to numerous letters, Davis explains his own decisions, comments on problems with supplies, and discusses the role of records in building, maintaining, and defending personal reputations. Many of Davis's official letters had scattered since the war, and so-called supporters of Davis had stolen quite a few, including much of the correspondence between Davis and…

GLC04269

1862

Stevenson, C. L. (Carter Littlepage), 1817-1888

Manuscript document signed

Title: Regulation under the act of Congress providing for the granting of bounty & furlough to privates and non commisioned in the provisional army.

Clerical copy of Judah Benjamin's orders regarding reenlistments, signed by Carter L. Stevenson. Those who reenlist to receive fifty dollar bounty and thirty day furlough. Also discusses reorganization of regiments. Date inferred, based on Stevenson's rank as major general.

GLC04270

2 April 1898

Lee, Fitzhugh, 1835-1905

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Sampson

Dispatch regarding the arrival of Spanish torpedo fleet at Martinique. Written in pencil.

GLC04275

6 May 1861

Confederate States of America. Congress

Broadside

Title: An Act recognizing the existence of War between the United States and the Confederate States; and concerning letters of marque, prizes, and prize goods.

Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, approved this act 6 May 1861. States "Whereas the earnest efforts made by this Government to establish friendly relations between the Government of the United States and the Confederate States, and to settle all questions of disagreement between the two Governments upon principles of right, justice, equity and good faith, have proved unavailing by reason of the refusal of the Government of the United States to hold any intercourse with the Commissioners appointed by this Government for the purposes aforesaid... and whereas, by the acts and means…

GLC04284

1865

Various

Photograph

Title: [Carte de visite vignette of General Robert E. Lee & a card with hand printed flags]

Signed on mount. The gilt bordered has been retouched at upper right. Depicts General Robert E. Lee in a suit and tie posing for the camera. Includes a cancelled postage stamp on the verso. The card depicts two CSA National hand printed flags (apparently from a frame).

GLC04518

February 13, 1864

Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864

Letter signed

Title: to John Cabell Breckinridge

Confederate General Morgan expresses approval that Breckinridge will take charge of a Department in South Western Virginia. Writes "am satisfied that you will get recruits from our Old State," (possibly referring to Kentucky, though Morgan was not born there). Reports that his soldiers "are all, as you are aware, fine soldiers, and very anxious to go into Kentucky where they can certainly serve The Confederacy best, as they will, by the invasion of that State, withdraw ten times their number from the Federal Army at Chattanooga..." Relates that the railroad from Danville, Kentucky to…

GLC04534

February 5, 1862

Halleck, H.W. (Henry Wager), 1815-1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas A. Scott

Asks that all possible reinforcements be sent to Cairo to assist "as I wish to cut the enemy's line before Beauregard arrives. Noted "in cypher."

GLC04537

18 October 1863

Longstreet, James, 1821-1904

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Daniel Harvey Hill

General Longstreet writes, "Your note of today is received. I am surprised and grieved to learn that you have been relieved from duty with this Army. We have stood side by side in so many severely contested battlefields that I have learned to lean upon you with great confidence... I am yet full of faith that a kind and infinitely merciful Providence will not abandon us. And that we shall, after all, be successful."

GLC04545.02

24 December 1886

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Letter

Title: to Daniel Harvey Hill

Written from Beauvoir, the estate of former Confederate President Davis. Written and signed in the hand of Davis's wife, Varina. Davis relates, "I truly regret that you should have misconstrued my action in relieving you from duty with the army of Tennessee as a condemnation of your conduct in the battle of Chickamauga. That was not the question upon which I had to act... I assigned you to duty with the Army of Tennessee without an application from the commander of that Army... The relations which I found existing between yourself and the Commander of the Army of Tennessee, made it…

GLC04545.03

circa 25 May 1863

Hill, Daniel H., 1821-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Isabella Morrison Hill

At the time he wrote this letter, Hill was in command of the Department of North Carolina. He expresses his disappointment over an embarrassing incident during the actions around Kinston, in the southeastern part of the state. Date inferred from content. Hill relates that his troops at Kinston recently suffered a surprise attack, during which 150 of his men were captured before Confederates fired a shot. Hill signs as "Husband." Says "...A Regt. was most disgracefully surprised on the 22d," he writes, "& without firing a shot had 150 men captured. The day was intensely hot, but I got…

GLC04545.04

circa 1870

unknown, fl. 1870

Photograph

Title: Battles and battleflags of the 89th Regiment, N. Y. S. Vols.

One undated albumen print entitled, "Battles and Battleflags of the 89th Regiment, N.Y.S. Vols." Image is a collage composed of two separate images of printed lists of Civil War battles where the New York's 89th Regiment was present, the United States flag and the regiment's own flag. In the images of the flags, the United States flag is tattered at its ends and the regiment's flag has a large hole completely torn into the center, where the United States arms and motto formerly appeared.Battles include: Drury's Bluff, Suffolk, Swift Creek, Camden, Chapin's Farm, Kingsland Creek, Petersburgh…

GLC04558.208

June-November 1863

Gifford, Haviland, fl. 1863

Header Record

Title: [Collection of Haviland Gifford, field and staff, 93rd regiment, New York, infantry] [Decimalized .01- .12]

Haviland Gifford served as a Lieutenant in charge of guarding Union General George Gordon Meade and his staff. Provides information he learned about strategy from being in close proximity to high command. Highlights include letter #1, written on 20 June 1863, about opposing strategies of different generals; #3, of 28 July 1863, an eight-page letter concerning the draft and movements of the Army, with mentions of Generals Lee, Grant and Banks; and #4, written 10 September 1863 and containing a long analysis of how to take Richmond. In that letter he also discusses Fort Wagner's hold-out, as…

GLC04560

1 January 1865-13 Mayt 1865

Whipple, Milton, fl. 1865

Diary

Title: Diary of Milton Whipple

Early entries are brief and mostly record staff changes, troop movements, drills, and the weather but the entries lengthen as Whipple details the Appomattox campaign and the last few weeks leading up to General Robert E. Lee's surrender. On 24 January he writes that his regiment prepared for attack because the Confederate troops were near. States that he heard Fort Brady on the James River in Virginia was destroyed or captured by the Confederates. He reports word of the fall of Charleston, Columbia, Branchville, and Wilmington on 20 and 24 February. On 26 March he notes marching to meet…

GLC04561

12 August 1863

Soule, Pierre, 1801-1870

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Edwin DeLeon

Marked confidential at the top. Soule writes to DeLeon, Confederate Envoy to France 1862-1864. Relates, "I came to the confederacy by the way of Nassau & Charleston. Before leaving Nassau, we had the news of a great battle fought at Gettysburg, of a glorious victory won, and of fourty thousand prisoners taken from the enemy. Upon our landing at Charleston, we learned that the affair at Gettysburg had been a last reserve to our arms, and that Vicksburg & Port-hudson had fallen. The effect which these disasters had produced upon the country were visible in the dejected countenances…

GLC04570

1861-1866 circa

Colfax, Schuyler, 1823-1885

Photograph album

Title: [Photograph album of Major Schuyler Colfax]

Album belonging to Schuyler Colfax with over one hundred cartes des visite of New York, Washington, famous policians and other sights. Includes forty outdoor cartes of New York City by E & H.T. Anthony; 16 of Washington and environs by Gardner and by Gardner & Gibson; 12 of Richmond by George O. Ennis; and 5 of Boston by John Soule; 26 portraits by Anthony (Grant, Farragut, Sherman, etc.), Lee and Jefferson Davis by Vannerson and Jones, etc. The album is full calf with beaded decorations and brass clasp edges with all edges gilt, with silver beads sewn over original leather on cover…

GLC04689

5 December 1867

Mercer, Hugh W., fl. 1867

Autograph letter signed

Title: to C. C. Jones re: applying for pardon, for financial reasons

Writing to Jones about business, especially about the matter of seeking a direct pardon. He adds: "...Now that the Pres[iden]t. & Congress are renewing the fight, things will only go from bad to worse, we may suppose."

GLC04676

1870

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Autograph quotation signed

Title: [Quote on the authority of governments from Davis's inaugural address]

Writes: "The Rightful powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed." Quoted from his inaugural address as Confederate president, but probably written after the Civil War. Written on a card.

GLC04677

27 May 1858

Johnston, Joseph Egleston, 1807-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to the Assistant Adjutant General

A report for the general commanding. Describes the numbers, condition and discipline of the troops preparing to march towards Utah. Docket reads: "marched on the 28th. [illegible]." Signed as Lieutenant Colonel and Acting Inspector General.

GLC04685

4 May 1882

Arthur, Chester Alan, 1829-1886

Document signed

Title: [Presidential authority to the Secretary of State to affix the seal to the pardon of Fitz-John Porter].

GLC04576

1863-1878

Maury, William Lewis, 1813-1878

Header Record

Title: Maury papers including CSS Georgia list of prizes [Decimalized .01-.47]

The C.S.S. Georgia was supposedly the only Confederate cruiser which itself was captured as a prize. (In fact, it was captured in 1864 from a British merchant and claimed as a prize.) Collection includes 6 Maury documents signed regarding the CSS Georgia, 16 autograph letters signed to his wife, 4 letters from French naval officers to Maury and post-war materials such as a printed bill to "remove political disabilities imposed by the fourteenth amendment" on Maury. William Lewis Maury, who had commanded the U.S.S. Saratoga during Perry's expedition to Japan, joined the Confederacy at the…

GLC04572

27 December 1863

Johnston, Joseph Egleston, 1807-1891

Manuscript document signed

Title: [General Orders Number 1]

Johnston informs General Wheeler, commanding cavalry division, Army of Tennessee, that he (Johnston) has assumed command of the Army of Tennessee.

GLC04583

May 2, 1862

Beauregard, Pierre Gustave Toutant, 1818-1893

Printed document

Title: Message rallying troops before an anticipated battle at Corinth, with illegible signature

Calls on the "Soldiers of Shiloh and Elkhorn" to "drive back into the Tennessee the presumptuous mercenaries collected for our subjugation." Tells his men "We are about to meet once more, in the shock of battle, the invaders of our soil, the despoilers of our homes, the disturbers of our family ties. Face to face, hand to hand, we are to decide whether we are to be freemen, or the slaves of those who are free only in name...Let the impending battle decide our fate, and add one more illustrious page to the history of our Revolution; one to which our children will point with noble pride,…

GLC04593

30 June 1862

Campbell, Fannie, fl. 1862

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas E. Vermilye

Campbell, a nurse, informs Pastor Vermilye of events which took place while she rode aboard the Union hospital steamer, the Kennebec, travelling to White House, Virginia. States that while on the Pamunkey River, the Kennebec met many transports traveling in the opposite direction, escaping fires and battle that raged behind them. The Kennebec then retreated to Yorktown, Virginia, as "mild flowers were blooming on the banks Nature in her rich June dress enthroned like a queen sat bland and smiling as if the bloodred hand of civil war was not lifted in her domain." Reports that General…

GLC04636

22 August 1862

Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864

Broadside

Title: Proclamation. To the inhabitants of Kentucky!

Urging Kentuckians to join the Confederate cause, during his first raid into Kentucky. Proclaims: "Better death in our sacred cause, than a life of slavery! Young men of Kentucky flock to my standard, it will always wave in the path of honor, and history will relate how you responded to my appeal, and how, by so doing, you saved your country." Printed on a press Morgan had recently captured at Hartsville.

GLC04892

2 May 1863

Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 1821-1877

Autograph letter signed

Title: to the authorities of Rome, Georgia

Forrest, commander of a cavalry brigade in the Army of Tennessee, writes from Headquarters (of an unspecified post), "twenty miles west of Garrison." Informs the authorities of Rome "There is a Federal Force of Fifteen Hundred cavalry marching on your place I am pursuing them prepare your selves to Repulse them- they have 2 Mountain Howitzers. I will be close on them I have kild 300 of thir men They are Runing for their lives."

GLC04940