1865-1870

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Title: Ho! For Salt River!

Undated woodcut cartoon attacking Freedmen's Bureau and freed blacks. Supposed tour boat "excursion" on the "Radical Demigog" up "Salt River." Contains an image of a black man rowing a boat full of others participating in the "excursion." Includes remarks printed underneath the image describing the facetious excursion in a racist and sarcastic way.

GLC08714

1863- circa 1896

Header Record

Title: Correspondence related to George W. Koonce [Decimalized .01-.08]

GLC08606

1889

Blair, Lewis Harvie, 1834-1916

Book

Title: The prosperity of the south dependent upon the elevation of the Negro.

First edition inscribed, but not signed, by "the author" on free front endpaper. Inscription dated January 7, 1894. Published by Everett Waddey, Richmond, Virginia.

GLC08410

14 April 1865

Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872

Newspaper

Title: The New York daily tribune. [Vol. XXV, no. 7495 (14 April 1865)]

Covers General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox in detail. Includes an account of the events leading up to the surrender and the terms of the surrender. Publishes articles on the dawn of peace, reconstruction, the Battle of Fort Sumter 12-13 April 1861, and other news surrounding the surrender and end of the Civil War. Includes an article on the proposed exploration of the North Pole. Other articles detail local, international, political, court, and ship news, advertisements, and public announcements. Issue is uncut.

GLC08429.20

21 April 1865

Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872

Newspaper

Title: The New York tribune. [Vol. XXV, no. 7501 (April 21, 1865)]

Covers President Abraham Lincoln's assassination and funeral. Reports on capturing the assassins, John Wilkes Booth, and on the funeral ceremonies being held in many cities and states. Includes an article on the disapproval of surrender terms between Union General William T. Sherman and Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston. Mentions reconstruction plans, and reports the escape of Jefferson Davis. Issue also includes the Evening Edition of the Tribune for the same date. This covers Richmond, Virginia news concerning Lincoln's assassination and the reconstruction of the city, and news of…

GLC08430.12

May 12, 1866

Cooper, Peter, 1791-1883

Manuscript letter signed

Title: to John Sherman

Cooper, an inventor and philanthropist, discusses disagreement between President Andrew Johnson and Congress regarding reconstruction. Suggests to Sherman, a Senator from Ohio, that Johnson and Congress require Southern Congressional members to take an Oath binding them to maintain the Constitution of the United States. Also recommends "that all persons who may at any time on the floor of Congress either advocate the right to secede from the Union, or the repudiation of the National debt, or propose any unrepublican laws ... shall be declared guilty of treason, and the party so offending,…

GLC00150

circa 1868

Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878

Autograph manuscript

Title: [Manuscript denouncing Benjamin Wade]

Welles rails against Congress, and Senate President Pro Tem Benjamin Wade in particular. Probably written during the Johnson impeachment crisis. Welles was a Johnson supporter and a strong opponent of Wade. If Johnson's impeachment had resulted in removal from office, Wade would have become president. Welles noted in his diary that the thought of the much disliked Radical Republican Wade becoming president may have, in and of itself, prevented Johnson's conviction. Excerpt: "What a virtuous, abstinent and reserved imbecile would our radical Ohio Senator become were he only made President…

GLC00254

February 15, 1872

Woodruff, George B., fl. 1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to the Singer Manufacturing Company

Written to The New York Singer Office, enclosing an invoice of the "Pearl" amounting to slightly over 136 pounds (not included). Says he has been busy "flying" all over the United Kingdom completing business. Is pleased that their offices are being organized efficiently. Says business is good except for "those bug-bear Alabama claims." American claims against Great Britain for outfitting the CSS "Alabama" privateer had gone to an international arbiter, which will hurt their bottom line and might lead to war between American and Britain.

GLC08682

circa 2 October 1866

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph manuscript

Title: [One man power versus Congress]

An attack on President Andrew Johnson delivered at the Music Hall in Boston. Includes a draft of a letter to Johnson, 12 November 1865. Unknown assigned date. Transcript available.

GLC00496.088.01

December 26, 1866

Buchanan, James, 1791-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James W. Wall

In the letter, James Buchanan is attacking Radical Republicans, whom he sees as self-destructive. Also discusses strengthening the Democrats in New Jersey, and Johnson's failed veto on the Civil Rights Act.

GLC00576

December 8, 1877

Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889

Autograph letter signed

Title: to General C.J. Wright

In the letter, Jefferson Davis writes about his political future and Reconstruction. Davis upholds the secessionist notion of the Union: "The word Union implies volition among the members...." The location where the letter was written is possibly Mississippi City or Missouri City.

GLC00578

October 5, 1866

Foster, Lafayette Sabine, 1806-1880

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Wakeman

Foster, a U.S. senator from Connecticut, discusses his views on reconstruction with Wakeman, a lawyer. Foster says that he would restrict the right to vote to those with "capacity and virtue," but that it would be "arbitrary, unjust, and tyrannical to make any discriminations…on account of color…" He writes extensively about the rights, especially voting rights, of the "negro," and he states "There is no more sense in talking of a man's natural right to vote, than there is in talking of his natural right to be the Chief Justice, or the President of the United States…It is dangerous to commit…

GLC00544

June 10, 1865

Van Valkenburgh, Franklin Butler, 1835-1924

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his wife

Date written in pencil at the top of recto as "June 10 1865?" Content of GLC00686.22 and GLC00686.24 suggest this date might be accurate. Signed twice by Frank, once in pen and once in pencil. Written aboard a ship on his way to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to assist his twin brother Gerrit, who was in trouble with the law. Mailed letter from Memphis. Says he has not stopped thinking about her and their son. Says "Our Crew of say 50 men are mostly negroes, and such a crowd you never saw." Mentions that the former enslaved people are toting their plunder onboard. Describes ship, passengers, and…

GLC00686.19

June 11, 1865

Van Valkenburgh, Franklin Butler, 1835-1924

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his wife

Written part in pen, part in pencil. Reports on conditions in the South after the Civil War. Frank was travelling to Arkansas to help his twin brother Gerrit who was in trouble with the law. Says he knows he wrote recently, but since he is stuck in "this God forsaken hole" he is going to write another. He mentions meeting a Confederate soldier who thought he was his twin brother Gerrit. The former soldier was released from prison the week before and Frank relates his story. He reports that many people know his twin brother, Gerrit. He says "they say Warren [Arkansas] never saw so exciting a…

GLC00686.20

July 1, 1865

Van Valkenburgh, Franklin Butler, 1835-1924

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary B. Van Valkenburgh

Unsigned letter. Letter is apparently missing the ending and incomplete. Letter written on Waldo, Ody & Van law firm stationery. Written by Frank to his mother. Says he just arrived back from assisting his twin brother Gerrit. It was a two-day stay with 20 days of travelling. Says he was assured by the commanding officer of the district in Arkansas where his brother was being held that the "charge was entirely false & unfounded - He has taken the Oath of Allegiance & is gain a Citizen &c - He has done what he could for the South under the full conviction that they were right…

GLC00686.21

July 3, 1865

Van Valkenburgh, Franklin Butler, 1835-1924

Autograph letter signed

Title: to J. Van Valkenburgh

On Waldo, Ody & Van law firm stationery. Written by Frank to his father in Michigan. Says he received his father's letter from June 28, 1865 with the $50 for Libbie. Says they fed 850 returned soldiers last night and are consequently tired. Sends along family news. Says his father will probably have visitors soon. Wants his mother and father to visit. Mentions that Gerrit, his twin brother, is in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and has been sick.

GLC00686.22

August 18, 1865

Van Valkenburgh, Gerrit S., 1835-1885

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary B. Van Valkenburgh

Written by Gerrit to his mother Mary. Says he loves his relatives in the North and often thinks of them. Mentions that his brother, Frank, has already written about his release from the prison. Says the charges against him were false. Since he has been in Pine Bluff, he has been sick with chills and fever - he thinks typhoid. Reports that he is feeling better though. Says he boards with his employer, who is originally from Connecticut. Mentions an uncle who lives in Warren, Arkansas and says "their slaves - or former slaves - [are] still with them." The uncle bought a flour mill and his sons…

GLC00686.24

25 June 1868

Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875

Document signed

Title: [Presidential authority to the Secretary of State to affix the seal to the pardon of Joseph E. Johnston].

GLC00656

June 7, 1894

Longstreet, James, 1821-1904

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William J. Fowler

General Longstreet discusses the reconstruction policies of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson with Fowler, a judge in Boston, Massachusetts. He states "The independent action of President Johnson, was the error that lead the grave troubles that came to the south, and to the north afterwards. Had Congress been called in extra session after the surrender, affairs would have been arranged in a way that would have been, as promptly accepted as was the independence policy" of President Lincoln.

GLC00671

December 25, 1866

Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry L. Benning

Cobb, former President of the Confederate Provisional Congress, requests Supreme Court reports from Benning, Confederate General and former Georgia State Supreme Court Justice. Bitterly discusses legal property cases during reconstruction, claiming that Radicals in Congress are attempting to force the District Attorney "to account for their failure to prosecute such cases. I am inclined to the opinion that the Radicals have abandoned blood and turned their attention to plunder."

GLC00771

March 15, 1868

Harris, Isham G. (Isham Green), 1818-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas C. Reynolds

Harris discusses his return to Tennessee after escaping to Mexico after the Civil War. He describes how he went to England to investigate the prospects of making a living there in the cotton industry. After a three year absence, he realized "I should never be contented separated from the ties and associations of my former life." Consequently, he "resolved to brave all the consequences and return to Tennessee and share the fortunes of her people." He discusses turning himself in to face the indictments against him, his anticipation of the charges being disposed of, and his view that he will be…

GLC00909

May 9, 1866

Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888

Letter signed

Title: to J. J. Crosby

Philip Henry Sheridan orders Colonel Crosby to inspect the steamer "Virgin" to see if it had been used as a slaver. Letter written on printed stationery of "Headquarters Military Division of the Gulf, New Orleans, La." "Mobile" has been crossed-out and the steamer "Virgin" has been substituted.

GLC00930.02

27 November 1865

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

Autograph endorsement signed

Title: to David D. Porter

Autograph endorsement signed of Sherman to Porter on a letter of Lewis Wolfery, a resident of Louisville, Kentucky to Sherman dated 23 November 1865. Wolfery writes to General Sherman to inform him that, on the recommendation of Copperhead Representative Burwell Ritter, James Wheeler, a former Confederate guerrilla who was tried as a spy, had been appointed to Annapolis Naval Academy over "two true Union boys," Tommy David Jackson and James Gore. Wolfery claims that Wheeler was, " ... a rebel soldier, one of the meanest types that while belonging to the army was back in the State,…

GLC00947

October 1, 1866

Wise, Henry A., 1806-1876

Autograph letter signed

Title: to B. Rush Stoddard

Signs a letter with his title as "Brig. Genl. C.S.A. Prisoner of War on Parole," in compliance with Stoddard's request, possibly for an autograph.

GLC00805

10 November 1864

Newspaper

Title: Daily wanderer. [Vol. 1, no. 24 (November 10, 1864)]

Published as Railroad Edition. Printed on smaller size paper. Partial reprint of an article from the New Orleans correspondent of the "New York Times," says "Although the cotton crop is naarly [sic] a total failure, the laborers are being employed throughout the department ... Excepting a few crops, which were planted early, there will be but little cotton realized in this department." Takes on comments made by the "Milledgville Union," that the "Daily Wanderer" is too excited about reconstruction, saying "In our opinion there never was a more useless and unnecessary labor performed.…

GLC00842