28 April 1865

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

Autograph endorsement signed

Title: to General Howard

Asking General Howard to protect the wife of Confederate General Robert Ransom: "I take great pleasure in committing this lady and her family to the care & protection of Gen. Howard, and beg he will let one of his staff officers see the family and assure Mrs. Ransom of the deep interest we feel in her safety and happiness." Written on verso of Minnie Hunt Ransom's ALS, 4-24-1865, to Sherman, asking for protection in occupied North Carolina.

GLC09264

20 May 1861

Lyon, Nathaniel, 1818-1861

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Colonel D. Hassendeubel

To Colonel D. Hassendeubel of the 3rd Missouri Volunteers: "In respect to your report upon Arms and the movements of the secessionists, in your vicinity and at Manchester, it is important that you keep us fully advised as possible." Written ten days after the "St. Louis Massacre," when troops under Lyon's command opened fire on a crowd of St. Louis citizens, injuring 90 and killing 28. Lyon, credited with stopping the Missouri secessionist movement, was the first Union general killed in the Civil War, in August 1861 at the Battle of Wilson's Creek.

GLC09265

31 October 1887

Averell, William W., 1832-1900

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Recount of Battle of Bull Run]

Union general vividly recounts his first battle, at Bull Run in 1861: "My feeling on entering the battle was, as I saw the enemy hastening to their positions, that there was a great and useless Crime about to be Committed; - the second as I can remember the whizzing and hurtling of the first solid shot from the enemy through the trees and tearing along the ground was of the fierce and terrible force of a cannon ball… and to skip to the last uncontrollable indignation and mortification at the failure of our army to win the battle as with the rear we withdrew from the field. I trust you will…

GLC09268

1865

Whitley, Albert, fl. 1865

Header Record

Title: [Collection of 5 letters written during Sherman's March to the Sea] [Decimalized .01- .05]

Five letters written during Sherman's March to the Sea and the subsequent pursuit of the Confederates up into North Carolina until the end of the war. Including: 1-1-1865, from Savannah, Georgia: "We entered this City Dec. 21st the rebels having evacuated it the night before, they left all of their siege guns...[and] crossed over into South Carolina. Our men have taken out the Torpedoes in the River & now our steamers & transports can run in.... General Sherman has reviewed his entire army in Savannah, it was a grand & imposing scene & one long to be remembered by all present…

GLC09271

1863

Nichols, Ambrose S., fl. 1863

Diary

Title: Diary belonging to a Civil War soldier

A war-weary soldier's diary provides contemporary eyewitness accounts of the entire Gettysburg Campaign, including the march from Maryland up into Pennsylvania, the battles at Brandy Station and Gettysburg, and the later push in pursuit of the Confederates. Nichols served in the 10th New York Cavalry. His entries are dated January 1-6 and April 12 - November 27, 1863, describing cavalry battles and engagements, the execution of deserters, and the horrors of battlefields during that critical war year. From Saturday, July 4, at Gettysburg: "They kept up the fite last nite till 10 o'clock and…

GLC09272

1 September 1863

Mallory, Stephen R., 1813-1873

Letter signed

Title: to C.C. Memminger

As Confederate Secretary of the Navy, to C. C. Memminger, Secretary of the Treasury, cancelling a requisition for nearly three million dollars "Captain Samuel Barron C. S. Navy, having returned to the treasury department the drafts drawn in his favor… I have the honor to request that the said requisition be cancelled on books of the Treasury Department." This may relate to the money that was to have paid for two ironclad turret ships secretly being built in England for the Confederacy, supervised by Capt. Barron. Federal diplomacy resulted in their seizure by the British government in…

GLC09274

1856-1859

Jackson, George E.G., 1856-1859

Header Record

Title: [2 ship's logs]

The HMS Antelope, on anti-slavery duty off the West African coast. Two ship's logs,"From 3rd Dec 1856 till 20th March 1859, Commanded by Lieutenant John Wm. Pike, Kept by Geo. E. G. Jackson, Master's Asst." Text and hand-drawn pencil sketches, diagrams of the ships, and watercolor representations of islands visited in enforcing the British prohibition against slavery. "29th day of June 1857… Anchored off Whyda … 3:45 Stopped & came too…a schooner - under American colors - sent on board to examine Schooner - Found her the late "Montague" of New Orleans but now claiming no nationalty fully…

GLC09275

26 April 1865

Laurence, A.B., fl. 1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Certification of authenticity of flag fragment]

Lt. Col. and Quartermaster of the U. S. Army 24th Corps certifies "That the accompanying is a fragment of the Rebel Flag that floated over the Capitol of the Confederacy in this city, and was taken by the troops of this command. The flag- made it is said of 'English Neutrality Bunting' - has been this day cut up and distributed as one of the most significant trophies of this terrible war; and the rope to which the flag was attached is left for the special service of Jeff Davis and all such traitors."

GLC09276.01

[3 April 1865]

Object

Title: [three fragment of Confederate flag]

Three attached fragments of the last Confederate flag to fly over the Richmond Capitol.

GLC09276.02

12 October 1862

Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Pegram

To Col. John Pegram, Chief of Staff, re orders for his cavalry near Lexington, Kentucky. "I sent out scouts to Shakertown & also Col. Duke's Regt. with orders to hold the enemy in check in case they were advancing until I could go to his assistance with the remainder of my command…. I Shall move with the remainder of my force to Shakertown immediately where I will remain...according to Gen. Bragg's orders. I am very much confused by the various conflicting orders which I have read, & have necessarily been kept so constantly moving that I have not been able to procure subsistence for…

GLC09278

26 August 1861

Clark, Edward, fl. 1877

Broadside

Title: Proclamation to the People of Texas

Recruitment Broadside by Governor of Texas: "You require no appeal to animate your patriotism.... Then should every man be up and doing. If you want a speedy peace, you must be prepared to conquer it."

GLC09280

12 October 1846

Dupont, Samuel F., 1803-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Stevens

Mexican War naval and land operations while in command of the Cyane: "there is no hope whatever of a peace & we will have to conquer the whole country or form lines of occupation of what we already have taken."

GLC09281

1 July 1863

Manuscript telegram

Title: to unknown

Telegram to Brigadier General Scammon of the 23rd Ohio. "Reports from Harrisburg Represent all quiet there Rebels having dispersed from that neighborhood - Genl McClellan passed through here today on his way to Washington - it is now settled that Banks will be Secry of War." Written on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

GLC02414.230

3 August 1861

Wright, Augustus Romaldus, 1813-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miller A. Wright

Further problems getting troops there, because of the "difficulty between the Pres [Davis] & Genl [Brown]. It is to be hoped however, the country will not be permitted to suffer by a disagreement between these two distinguished gentlemen, both worthy the confidence of their countrymen." Richmond is "a very gay place at present because of the influx of strangers. The equestrian statue of Washington in the public grounds, is perhaps the finest in the world...Troops continue to pour in here. I presume we shall have some more terrific fighting before long. Great preparations are being made…

GLC02691.11.013

January 15, 1863

Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832-1913

Autograph document signed

Title: [Notice granting permission for Miller A. Wright to return to camp]

Notice granting permission for Miller A. Wright of General Jackson's Division to return to the camp and leave by railroad. Lee signs as post commander. George Washington Custis Lee, a son of Robert E. Lee, graduated first in his class from West Point in 1850. At the outset of the Civil War, he was commissioned captain in the CSA Corps of Engineers (July 1, 1861), was promoted to colonel and served as adc to Jefferson Davis (August 31, 1861), promoted to brigadier general PACS (June 25, 1863) and then to major general PACS (October 20, 1864).

GLC02691.11.033

28 July 1863

Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832-1913

Autograph letter signed

Title: [to Miller A. Wright]

Written from Headquarters, Military Post, Atlanta, Georgia. Lee informs the recipient of the letter [probably Miller] that he can receive his pay at the post at which he is stationed.

GLC02691.11.042

1 August 1863

Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832-1913

Autograph endorsement signed

Title: [George Washington Custis Lee endorsement on letter from F. Glackmeyer]

Written on F. Glackmeyer Autograph Letter Signed to Col. G.W. Lee. Mr. Glackmeyer was a special agent in the post office department. He is writing Col. Lee to inform him of a recent series of postal crimes. A soldier by the name of Guttenberger was found to have been using his position as a military guard on the Macon and Western Railroad to transport newspapers free of postal charge, which he subsequently sold to newsboys at the end of the line, turning an exceptional profit. Because the man was a soldier, Mr. Glackmeyer chose to inform an army officer of the circumstances, rather than…

GLC02691.11.043

January 13, 1864

Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832-1913

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miller A. Wright

Miller's assistance is needed for a military matter.

GLC02691.11.051

23 September 1777

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Letter signed

Title: to John Hazelwood

As commander-in-chief, sending confidential orders to Commodore John Hazelwood, introducing Captain Samuel Treat, who is delivering "a message of so interesting and important a nature, that I thought it unadviseable to commit it to writing.…" Per the orders conveyed by Capt. Treat, Hazelwood's garrison at Fort Mifflin on the Delaware River delayed the British fleet until Washington's troops could safely reach winter quarters at Valley Forge.

GLC09378

8 April 1863

Carter, J. D., fl. 1863

Manuscript telegram

Title: to Eliakim P. Scammon

Telegram to Brigadier General Scammon of the 23rd Ohio. "I have arrested a S Edwin…for aiding the enemy…I took from his farm five (5) Horses and mules also three (3) negroes…Shall I keep them or return them when I have done with them? He is rich and a very mean secesh…."

GLC02414.227

10 August 1861

Wright, Miller A., fl. 1861-1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his brother

Miller has heard that there will be "a great battle to Come off soon" and that his brother may be slated to fight in it. "We have no news here all is uneasy as to the results of the coming Contest..." He also expresses some doubts about the war: "Courage fails when there is nothing but suffering no hope of martial triumph. But remember those who fought in the revolution they fought with but little hope of glory...there whole military life was one of suffering ...a man an die with composure perhaps with triumph when there is an eye to admire & a tongue to praise...but to die unknelled…

GLC02691.11.015

January 14, 1863

Higdon, John B., fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miller A. Wright

Higdon was an officer in the same company as Miller A. Wright. John informs Miller of the latest news of the regiment. Three men were caught trying to desert, and he is trying to get his troops ordered back to Georgia. He expresses frustration with Virginia, and Jackson's army. "I am heartily tired of this State service...I am willing to go anywhere so that we leave Jackson's Army, and Virginia...." Mentions another two men arrested and states "I would not be surprised if they were not shot."

GLC02691.11.032

January 20, 1863

Wright, Augustus Romaldus, 1813-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miller A. Wright

Augustus sends Miller a large sum of money for the purpose of settling his finances back home. Haas spoken with "the Secretary" (of War?) re transferring Miller's company and having it armed with artillery. "On the subject of our cause, it is best to say nothing or speak hopefully never disparagingly It can do no good & may do harm...Be guarded in all your expressions. Whether the democrats will offer us terms or not is yet doubtful - if they do it will be time enough then to attend to it."

GLC02691.11.034

8 February 1863

Higdon, John B., fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miller A. Wright

Miller had been reported Absent Without Leave. Higdon claims that Miller has no one to blame but himself, as he did not alert the proper authorities of his condition at the proper times. Higdon suggests that Miller believes "now more than ever that this military business is a humbug." He himself is none too pleased with the army. "You never saw such times. Genl lee rules this whole Confederacy - He is chief cook of this whole department at least. Genl Jackson's pass is not worth a copper." He and his men are living a tough life. As is the case of seven others, Higdon cannot claim a…

GLC02691.11.036

23 June 1863

Pryerley, Jake, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Miller A. Wright

Pryerley is marching a small band of convalescents from Richmond under his care to their division. They are to be armed in order to fight bushwhackers along the way. "Genl Ewells Hd. Qrs. is in Sharpsburg Md. a part of his corps was last Sunday morning in Chambersburg, Pa. making preperations [sic] to fire the town. Our Brigade done the principal part of the fighting at Winchester...Genl Ewell has so far proved himself to be as good if not better than Genl. Jackson...." Discusses capturing batteries and suggests that Miller's company should get a battery through his father's influence with…

GLC02691.11.039