circa 1866

K.L.K., fl. 1866

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles Sumner

A vitriolic death threat signed with initials: "Your infamous equal rights bill if passed will secure your death inside of 8 months. The spirit of 76 is not dead yet & the Land which my & our forefathers fought for shall never be compelled to submit to the motion of a petifoger, or the filthy arm of an alien Black ignoramous nor shall her [2] sons & daughters be made to bow their heads, & grovel in the earth at the command of an Alien. So beware I sware & I never sware falsely your life shall be the penalty." Signs the letter, "Yours with extreme disgust." Writes a post…

GLC07202.03

3 January 1866

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John A. Andrew

Writes to the Governor of Massachusetts that he believes Massachusetts did its share in the Civil War. "The physical battle has been fought and a new one of ideas has begun. In this your state is preeminently gratified to take a leading part ... during the war I was constantly with Massachusetts men who are imminently practical, moral and useful citizens ... " Assures Andrew that he will do whatever is in his authority to protect Massachusetts citizens.

GLC07309

February 25, 1880

Hunt, Henry Jackson, 1819-1889

Manuscript

Title: to William Sherman

Hunt's analysis of artillery at Gettysburg, written as part of his long, ongoing feud with Winfield Scott Hancock. The first part of the manuscript explains and defends the organization artillery and the post of Commander in Chief of the Artillery. Hunt quotes Hancock's letters and responds at great length, mapping out the role of the artillery in battles prior to Gettysburg, pointing out weaknesses in the lack of centralized command. He notes why batteries were placed in certain positions, why they fired and did not fire at certain times during the battle, etc. In an earlier letter to the…

GLC06415.02

January 15, 1874

Herndon, William H., 1818-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Noyes

Replies to a request for a lecture on Abraham Lincoln's religion. Describes Lincoln as "a kind - tender & sympathetic man feeling deeply in the presence of suffering - pain - wrong or oppression in any shape: he was the very essence and substance of truth ..." States that in the 25 years he knew Lincoln, he never knew him to do a wrong thing. "I never knew so true a man - so good a one - so just a one - so uncorrupted and so uncorruptable a one." Remarks at the end that Lincoln was not a social man.

GLC06648.02

February 23, 1866

Bryant, William Cullen, 1794-1878

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Bradford R. Wood

Bryant, editor of the New York Evening Post, replies to a letter from Wood, former Representative from New York. Discusses Black suffrage: "I utterly detest the narrow principles of that party which denied equal rights to any of our fellow men on account of race. The right of suffrage is the due of the negro as well as of the white man... But it does not follow from this, that we may employ any means we choose in conferring this right." Regarding Black suffrage, advocates the opinions of Trumbull and Fessenden (probably Senators Lyman Trumbull and William Pitt Fessenden) as opposed to the…

GLC06631.01

1 August 1917

Dalzell, J.M., fl. 1867-1917

Autograph manuscript signed

Title: The Blue and Gray of 1867.

A song opposed to reconciliation with the South, praising the loyalty, honor and bravery of Northern soldiers, while condemning the treason of Confederate soldiers. The song was originally written the same year that the Reconstruction Acts passed Congress. This is a handwritten copy of the original.

GLC06640.02

22 November 1885

Herndon, William H., 1818-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Kirk

Gives a friend his perceptions of Abraham Lincoln as a thinker, man, and statesman. He writes in part that Lincoln was "in the best sense of the word..., a deep, thorough and persistent thinker and a great reader of the political history of his country ... he was honest - prudent - far seeing - sagacious - he was cautious - conservative ... " He goes on to say that Lincoln had not reached his full mental maturity as he was assassinated at only 56 years old. Mentions that Lincoln also had negatives as he was not a perfect man, but does not list them.

GLC06648.01

7 December 1875

Johnston, Joseph Egleston, 1807-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John P. Nicholson

Possibly to John Page Nicholson, who published many essays on Civil War related topics. Discusses an article published by a Colonel Chesney in the "Fortnightly." Defends himself against Chesney's accusation that he (Johnston) exaggerated Federal losses. Attests that on pages 357 and 358 of his own narrative, his estimates of killed and wounded depend on the difference between the testimony of newspapers and prisoners. Also notes that it would have been impossible to beat troops as skilled as those led by General William T. Sherman "with insignificant losses like those reported by their…

GLC06656

11 July 1865

Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1818-1893

Letter signed

Title: to F. A. Angell

General Butler writes to Angell in Brooklyn, New York. "A mans right to self government is inherent and inalienable. It does not depend on the degree of his intelligence or on other accident. It is the correlative of self defence. Is the negro a man? But it is said that the negro will vote as his late master directs, and thus increase his master's political power. Be it so... I do not see how he or we are worse off if the negro votes with him [the master]... we gain and can loose nothing by giving the negro the right of suffrage."

GLC06660

1865

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Pamphlet

Title: The equality of men before the law, claimed and defended in speeches...

Title continued: "by Hon. William D. Kelley, Wendell Phillips and Frederick Douglass." Lacks original wrappers, stab-stitched. Douglass' speech was made to the annual Anti-Slavery Convention. Blockson Collection 2779. Schomburg 324.15-K. USE WITH CARE.

GLC06831

1867

Book

Title: Six hundred dollars a year: a wife's effort at low living under high prices

Contains information for women on managing household finances, making money, and filling out tax forms. Complains of high taxes. Written in the form of one anonymous woman's experience. Anonymous. Printed by Ticknor & Fields.

GLC06854

10 August 1865

Clark, Warren, fl. 1865

Letter

Title: to Fanny P. Clark

Discusses the possibility of Grant as next president and whether [General] Butler is fit to manage rebels.

GLC06475

1861-1890

Phillips, George W., fl. 1861-1890

Header Record

Title: Letters of soldier in 9th Alabama infantry

111 wardate plus 62 reconstruction and postwar letters.

GLC06729

30 December 1865

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary F. Jarvis

Lee, then president of Washington College, responds to an enquiry about whether or not a young man of Pennsylvania would be welcomed at the Virginia school. Although it was less than a year from the end of the Civil War and tensions were still runing high, Lee assures Jarvis that there would be no objection to the admission of a Northern student, as long as he met the requirements. He remarks that "from the young & thoughtless, he may occassionally hear some unpleasnat remark...The majority of the students are too high minded & generous to knowingly wound his feelings."

GLC07005

18 May 1793

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter

Title: to Winthrop Sargent

This is the letterpress original that was used to make the copy of GLC02437.05892. Refer to that record for a full catalog entry. Fragile with areas of text loss.

GLC02437.05894

2 October 1866

Baily, Joseph, 1810-1885

Autograph letter

Title: to Edwin McMasters Stanton

Working draft of letter of Baily, a former U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, to the Secretary of War Stanton regarding President Andrew Johnson's reconstruction policies. Informs Stanton, Secretary of War that "the union party at this time is stronger and more determined and resolute than it ever was; and will be carried by the majorities ... The people also demand equality of representation in Congress ... will this be the case if the rebel states are admitted with out a change in the Constitution?" Argues that citizens of the North insist on ratification of a proposed amendment that…

GLC05512

February 25, 1909

Mosby, John S., 1833-1916

Typed letter signed

Title: to Alexander Spottswood Campbell

Spottswood was possibly Mosby's grandson (son of daughter May Virginia Campbell and Robert Campbell). Typed on Department of Justice stationery with the printed heading, "Carbon copy for the file". Transmits a clipping from the Times-Dispatch on an essay on Robert E. Lee by "a Northern girl." Declares that it is a fair assessment of Lee, and discusses the article at length: "...if there had been free schools in the south there would have been no war simply because an enlightened public opinion in that section would not have submitted to the rule of a slave holding oligarchy. A large…

GLC05738

1865-1866

Dickson, William G., fl. 1861-1866

Header Record

Title: Letters to Dickson's grandfather [Decimalized .01-.06]

Among other topics, Dickson discusses reconstruction, turpentine and rosin production, post-slavery labor concerns, cholera in Georgia, and his bleak marriage prospects.

GLC05732

17 April 1865

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mrs. Schoolcraft

Fears that President Johnson "will not feel as much kindness toward the South." Also, plans to meet to debate slavery. The letter was written three days after President Lincoln's assassination.

GLC05743

1953

United States. Supreme Court

Pamphlet

Title: [Supplemental brief from the United States Supreme Court regarding Brown v. Board of Education]

Brief prepared on behalf of the United States for reargument by Attorney General Herbert Brownell, J. Lee Rankin, Philip Elman, and other attorneys at the Justice Department. Devoted to information regarding the case of Oliver Brown, et. al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, et. al. Title mentions four other cases. Includes a preface discussing the Fourteenth Amendment with respect to its effect on racial segregation in public schools. Contains five sections exploring the limits of judicial power in deciding the constitutionality of racial segregation in public…

GLC05160

3 October 1865

Stevens, Thaddeus, 1792-1868

Pamphlet

Title: [Speech by Thaddeus Stevens]

Stevens, a United States Representative from Pennsylvania, addresses his fellow citizens regarding an upcoming election for state governmental officials. Discusses post-war debt and expresses disapproval regarding the policies of President Andrew Johnson. Criticizes provisional governments and lack of governmental representation among southern states. States "If we succeed it will so strengthen the hands of the Union Members of Congress as to enable them to overcome all opposition, and Reconstruct the Government upon the principles of Justice." The edges of this document are discolored and…

GLC05156

11 April 1869

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Horace Greeley

Claims that the newspaper clamor over the terms of Confederate surrender, including slavery, would not have arisen had Lincoln not been assassinated. Fragment of a letter.

GLC05507

17 August 1867

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Frank H. Alfriend

Noted at top "Strictly Confidential." Discusses events of 1850, 1857-8-9 and 1860-61. He argues that repeal of the Missouri Compromise logically allowed nullification of other things as well. Blames abolitionism. Argues that the South had to withdraw rather than work against Lincoln because eventually it would be outnumbered whatever it did. includes justification for "The exercise of the sovereign right of state revocation of its Grants and withdrawl from the union." Alfriend was author of The Life of Jefferson Davis. Marked "Strictly Confidential" at the top. Written a few months…

GLC05344.01

1865-1869

English, John G., fl. 1827-1869

Autograph manuscript

Title: [Post-war plantation diary and journal of Mississippi cotton planter]

English mentions Confederate generals visiting, Civil War battles, slavery, and Reconstruction, among other topics. Provides a list of all slave families on this Mississippi Cotton plantation. Contains a detailed account of crops planted, weather, and other topics related to plantation life. (Refer to related items GLC05496, an antebellum journal, and GLC05460, English's presidential pardon). There is a space in the front of this manuscript as the result of pages which were cut out. Rebound, but accompanied by original cover.

GLC05497

3 July 1866

Wood, J.H., fl. 1866

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown [incomplete]

Warns of the impending arrival of emancipated Black people seeking to buy land. Lists reasons not to lease land them. Encourages White people to move away.

GLC05337