4 September 1864

Tillotson, George W., 1830-1918

Autograph letter signed

Title: To his wife

Continued on Sept. 6. Promoted to first sergeant, regiment moves to Fort Powhattan. Expresses his views on blacks. "I think you must have been delightfully entertained by the "darkies" to form so favorable an opinion of them. I declare you are getting to be as radical as our old Quarter Master used to be. He said he had rather his daughter would marry a negro than a white man. For My part sooner than come to that I would see the whole black rase [sic] exterminated. To be sure the negro is a human being and as such has a right to stay on the footstool, but the farther he gets from me the…

GLC04558.159

9 September 1864

Tillotson, George W., 1830-1918

Autograph letter signed

Title: To his wife

Continued Sept. 10th. Cross written. Describes arrival at the Fort and Garrison duty. Fort is manned by "the 89th New York [GWT's regiment], one company of darkey cavalry, one company of heavy artillery, and a signal station." Relieved to hear the family was all well.

GLC04558.160

30 December 1899

Hay, John, 1838-1905

Typed letter signed

Title: to John G. Walker

Typed letter on Department of State letterhead signed by Hay as Secretary of State. Written to retired Rear Admiral Walker as President of the Isthmian Canal Commission. Says that President McKinley wants Senator George Peabody Wetmore's son to accompany the commission on its trip to the Isthmus "in some capacity in which his services may be made available." Leaves the decision of salary and expenses to Walker's discretion. Says Wetmore will call upon Walker to receive his orders. When the letter was folded the wet ink left a mirror impression of the signature at the top of the letter.…

GLC03804.36

26 March 1918

Stewart, Charles, 1890-1921

Typed letter signed

Title: to Rebecca Pickering Walker

Written on stationery of the Office of the Naval Records and Library of the Navy Department. Signed by Stewart as Superintendent of the Naval Records and Library to Walker as the wife of the late Rear Admiral John G. Walker. Stewart reports that John G. Walker's name has been selected for one of the new destroyers being built. Would like her to designate a family member to act as a sponsor when the vessel is launched.

GLC03804.44

3 April 1918

Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948

Typed letter signed

Title: to Francis Pickering Walker Thomas

Written on stationery of the Navy Department. Signed by Daniels as the Secretary of the Navy to the daughter of the late Rear Admiral John G. Walker. Daniels says that he is acting on the suggestion of her mother by nominating her to act as a family sponsor to the launching of the USS "Walker," the newly commissioned destroyer. Says the ship is being built at the Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts. Will be ready to launch sometime in June. Letter has two punch holes at the top.

GLC03804.45

10 May 1920

Staunton, Sidney A., fl. 1867-1920

Typed letter signed

Title: to Rebecca Pickering Walker

1 page cover letter written and signed by Rear Admiral Staunton, a former colleague and friend of the late Rear Admiral John G. Walker, to Walker's widow Rebecca. Followed by 3 pages of typed reminiscences by Staunton. Cover letter says that he is working from his memory with no journal or letters to help him. Hopes the recollections will be of use to her son. The recollections start after 1867 when Walker was at the Naval Academy on the staff of Admiral Porter, go through his service during the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, and finish with Walker's service on the Isthmian Canal…

GLC03804.49

3 November 1822

Watkins, Tobias, 1780-1855

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Aaron Hobart

Desires to be appointed to the now vacant position of Clerk of the House of Representatives. The office of the Clerk is filled by a vote among the Representatives, and Watkins was requesting Hobart's vote. Details his credentials, having been a public servant for nearly twenty years. Also notes that he has eight children to support, and is therefore in need of the position. Hopes for Hobart's support. Watkins was not elected as Clerk.

GLC06313.04.193

22 August 1867

Porter, David Dixon, 1813-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John G. Walker

Written by Porter as Superintendent of the Naval Academy to Commander Walker as a member of Porter's staff at the Academy. Tells him to not worry about returning quickly as little is happening. Congratulates him on the birth of his daughter. Makes reference to rumors about him in Annapolis (the handwriting is hard to decipher here), but he hopes Congress will work it out. Written on stationery of the U.S. Naval Academy.

GLC03804.12

28 July 1869

Anderson (professor), fl. 1869

Autograph letter

Title: to the officers and men of the USS "Sabine"

Invitation says that Professor and Mrs. Anderson have the honor to write to the captain, officers and men of the USS "Sabine" inviting them to see the play "Magic & Second Sight" at the Theatre Royal. The professor says he has always felt kindness toward the United States, especially because two of his daughters are natives there. Hopes they will accept because the season ends on Saturday night. Written on Anderson's personal stationery.

GLC03804.14

15 August 1884

Chandler, William Eaton, 1835-1917

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John G. Walker

Written by Secretary of the Navy Chandler to Commodore Walker. Says he has telegraphed to suspend the orders to Europe of Surgeon Rixey and the leave of absence to Commander Evans. Asks him to follow through on it. Wants to know if Rixey is entitled to another European cruise or if he is being sent there simply because he is the son-in-law to the Commander-in-Chief. Says as to Evans, that he does not want to give him a leave of absence to go to Europe "until the correspondence with his friend concerning his recent detachment came to an end."

GLC03804.21

10 April 1918

Wakeman, Samuel Wiley, fl. 1917-1929

Typed letter signed

Title: to Francis Pickering Walker Thomas

Written on the stationery of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd.'s Fore River Plant. Signed by Wakeman as the General Manager of the shipyard to the daughter of the late Rear Admiral John G. Walker. Says he has been informed that she will christen the USS "Walker," which his shipyard is currently building. Says the boat will be launched sometime in the late summer and that he will notify her of exact arrangements.

GLC03804.46

10 September 1918

Wakeman, Samuel Wiley, fl. 1917-1929

Typed letter signed

Title: to Francis Pickering Walker Thomas

Written on the stationery of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd.'s Fore River Plant. Signed by Wakeman as the General Manager of the shipyard to the daughter of the late Rear Admiral John G. Walker. Tells Walker's daughter that the USS "Walker" will be launched on 14 September at 6 p.m. Will have a car sent to pick her up in Boston.

GLC03804.47

circa 1918

Typed document

Title: Walker

Document giving a description of the destroyer USS "Walker" -- named after the late Rear Admiral John G. Walker. It is noted that the ship was 314 feet long, was launched on 14 September 1918 at Fore River, Massachusetts, and that the family sponsor of the vessel was Francis Pickering Walker Thomas, the admiral's daughter. Provides a quick biography of Walker, focusing on his service in the Civil War. Very faded stamp at top says "Return to Mrs. R.T. Hall 611 Overbrook Avenue. Philadelphia, Pa." Underneath the stamp and written in pencil is a note saying "if incorrect." Document typed on very…

GLC03804.48

7 November 1860

West, Lewis H., 1829-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to R. West [incomplete]

Says he arrived in Foochow on 26 October after a 14 day voyage from Hong Kong. Ran into a northeast monsoon along the way. Says "Foochow is one of the few places I have never visited before on the coast of China." Goes on to describe the city, saying it only recently became an important city in the tea trade and that the Min River, which empties at Foochow, is very dangerous. Says the first thing he did upon arriving in port was a "regular house cleaning," and says the ship now looks like "a pretty girl rigged up for a ball, the handsomest craft, here!" Has taken on 200 tons of tea after…

GLC03836.01

6 June 1860

West, Lewis H., 1829-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to R. West

References his mother's and Mary's letters. Says he is finally in Shanghai "after one of the hardest passages I ever made, to, or from, the Indies." Says their sails froze to the mast in January and they could barely get them set. Goes on to describe the bad weather of the voyage in detail, including running into a hurricane after rounding the Cape of Good Hope. Says the voyage to China took 142 days and said "It is a relief to find other people worse off than yourself, so I was exceedingly pleased to learn that the, Magenta, a rival clipper, which sailed 8 days before us, was not yet arrived…

GLC03836.03

12 May 1861

West, Lewis H., 1829-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to R. West

Tells his mother that he is sailing for the Chesapeake tomorrow. Says they have an entirely new complement of officers on his ship, except for him. Says the changes are for the better. The captain is from New Hampshire and is "sound on the goose question." Says he will write when they get to the seat of war "where I believe every body belonging to the brig is anxious to get, to relieve the monotony of our lives, which is perfectly disgusting in such stirring times as these." Hopes to "do my share of maintaining the honor of the flag."

GLC03836.05

21 May 1861

West, Lewis H., 1829-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to R. West

Says they were supposed to leave earlier, but had to wait for the paymaster. They might leave tomorrow. Says the "secessionists" got some batteries up on both sides of the river and fired on the "Monticello" (West says she was also called the "Star") and goes on to describe the firefight. Six shots hit the ship, but no one was hurt. Says an English ship tried to pass through the blockade, but the USS "Minnesota" stopped her. Says his ship is a "contemptible little brig" in comparison to the "Minnesota" and the "Star." Reports that the "officers of the larger vessels kindly assure us we will…

GLC03836.06

8 June 1861-16 July 1861

West, Lewis H., 1829-?

Autograph letter

Title: to R. West

Letter begins on 8 June at sea and continues on 17 June (he writes July 17, but that is impossible) at Fernandina, Florida; 27 June; 8 July; and 16 July at Hampton Roads, Virginia. On 8 June says he is 30 miles south of Savannah and near their destination of the boundary between Georgia and Florida. Says their departure from Charleston was sudden and was not able to tell her that he was put in charge of the privateer that was captured a week earlier. Was overhauling her and found the signal book, which gave them the ability to read Confederate signals from the shore. Tried to trick another…

GLC03836.08

16 July 1861

West, Lewis H., 1829-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to R. West

Signed twice by West. A follow up letter to GLC03836.08. Says his ship will resupply at Hampton Roads and then cruise between there and Cape Hatteras. Hopes that "we shall do our duty more efficiently than we have so far, as the blockade we established of the St. Mary's river was nothing but a ridiculous farce, had there been any vessels in there they could have got out at any time." Says this was partially because of their captain "having the most extraordinary ideas of blockading ever heard of." Goes on to say "he was afraid of being becalmed inshore and having a steamer come out to attack…

GLC03836.09

21 October 1781

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Adams

A detailed account of the siege of Yorktown. Affirms the correctness of Adams' ideas about a need to conduct a major attack against the British in the southern states. Announces the recent surrender of Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown. Explains the "harmonious concurrence of circumstances" that made the victory possible, mentioning the fleet from the West Indies commanded by Admiral Comte de Grasse, the American and French troops marching down from the Hudson River, and a fleet from Rhode Island under the command of Compte de Barras. Provides a chronological explanation of the…

GLC02437.01252

17 November 1864

West, Lewis H., 1829-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary West

References her letter of 17 October. Says he is taking an interest in the election and says "In fact it is the only election that I ever did take any interest in ... since I have turned my attention to politics I am amazed that I was ever anything but a radical abolitionist and it is astonishing how anybody can be anything else, after the charming results of having persisted in sacrificing the right to the expedient for the last 30 years, on the slavery question." Says New York is the only state to give ballots for sailors and that he heard McClellan has a 10 or 11 more votes than Lincoln…

GLC03836.78

26 January 1865

West, Lewis H., 1829-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Harriet Moore

References receiving her letter of 5 January. Says his Christmas was subdued, but that he did manage to get a turkey for dinner. Says "By the way, was not Sherman's dispatch to the president presenting Savannah as a Christmas gift, a neat thing?" Says the only present he gave this year was "a calico dress to the old darky woman who washes for me and the result is that she wants to send a barrel of peanuts to my mother, in return." Assumes that Sherman is in South Carolina by now. Recommends that her father read "Army & Navy Journal," a weekly journal based in New York, as it is better…

GLC03836.85

24 February 1865

West, Lewis H., 1829-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Harriet Moore

References her letter of 28 January. Reports that he heard of the news of the fall of Charleston. Says that all the ports into the Confederacy are now closed and that Mexico is the only way to bring goods into the South now. Reports that "The rebel cavalry on the main land are hunting the negroes to drive up the country and have shot some of them. I carried off from the main, the other day a party of eighty of all ages and both sexes. There were some infants a week or two old and some very old people among them." Says he put them on a plantation on St. Catherine's Island and made a raid to…

GLC03836.86

8 February 1850

Gibson, Gibson, fl. 1846-1850

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his brother Tobias Gibson

Gibson tries to prepare his brother for his wife's (Louisiana Gibson) death, as she is gravely ill. He also discuss failures on his plantations and the education of his children.

GLC04501.059

6 November 1850

Gibson, Tobias, fl. 1861-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his wife Louisiana B. Gibson

He writes that due to the heat and a recent dry spell, the river is not high enough to let boats pass therefore, Louisiana will not be able to join the family. The younger boys are learning the "sugar business". He has heard from Randall, who is at South Hampton, but not from Hart. He sends his love to Sarah and Loula.

GLC04501.060