29 December 1780

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Richard Meade

Discusses selection of an American envoy being sent to France. Congress had decided to send an envoy extraordinary to France to secure a loan and improve supply shipments. Lafayette tried to help Alexander Hamilton attain this post, but failed. Says that all admitted Hamilton was the "best calculated for this mission," but "he is not very popular" and not a "Southern Man" so he was not chosen by the Congress. Instead John Laurens was selected. Inform his "very good friend" that a French officer will soon be arriving to meet Meade. Happy to hear from Martha Bland that Meade will be in…

GLC03647

28 February 1863

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: Presidential authority to the Secretary of State to affix the seal to pardon John Mardes].

GLC03648

09 August 1864

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: to Edward Canby re: orders to allow exportation of Texas cotton

GLC03649

10 October 1864

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: Pardon of Levi Underwood

Convicted of larceny and sentenced to one year in prison. Justice associates suggested Executive clemency, and recommended a pardon. Levi was granted a full and unconditional pardon by Lincoln (c/s Seward)

GLC03650

1824

Marshall, John, 1755-1835

Autograph manuscript

Title: Supreme Court Opinion, Osborn et al. v. the Bank of the U.S.

The case upheld the primacy of Federal law over the states. Not in Rhodes' calendar of Marshall's papers (1969). Compare: writings (1839) 315-42, Dillon, Complete Constitutional Decisions of Marshall, (1903) 466-511, and other sources.

GLC03653

circa 1862-1865

Hopte, John W., fl. 1862-1865

Map

Title: [Pencil illustration of the Cumberland Gap]

Depicts rolling mountainsides dotted with trees. Portrays forts, roads and other details specific to Civil War sites and events. Shows a rifle pit and an American flag waving atop a fortress. Signed by Hopte, who served in Company G, 42nd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

GLC03604

1861-1864

Lyman Family

Header Record

Title: [Lyman family letters] [Decimalized .01- .32]

The three Lyman brothers came from Delaware, Ohio. They enlisted in the 18th U.S. Infantry Regiment and served in the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee and Mississippi. The collection also includes letters from Sergeant Nelson Pierce, a friend from Delaware, Ohio, who died on 1 January 1863 from wounds sustained in the Battle of Stone River; Fred Bundy who was probably another neighbor; and George Ellis, whose relationship with the Lymans is not known. Ellis served in the Union Navy and saw action at Corinth, Mississippi, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana. Letters also describe the…

GLC03606

1861-1863

Brigham, George, fl. 1861-1863

Header Record

Title: [Collection of George and Bart Brigham] [Decimalized .01-.08]

Letters are from George Brigham and H. B. Brigham to their sister Lucretia. With a hand-drawn "Plan of the Battle of Fredericksburg, VA."

GLC03607

1863-1865

Header Record

Title: Collection of three items related to Dighton Goddard [Decimalized]

GLC03608

September 1789

Rhode Island

Broadside

Title: An Act relative to a convention ratifying the Constitution

John Carter imprint.

GLC03609

October 1788

Rhode Island. General Assembly

Broadside

Title: State of Rhode-Island, and Providence-Plantations. In General Assembly, October Session, 1788.

This document is a copy of a proposed amendment to the proposed Constitution that was distributed to town-clerks throughout Rhode Island to provide information about what progress was being made towards ratification. This particular broadside contains an amendment proposed by the General Assembly of New York. The document was printed in Providence, Rhode Island by Bennett Wheeler and is docketed on verso.

GLC03610

5 May 1862

McClellan, George Brinton, 1826-1885

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Sedgwick

Major General McClellan writes to Brigadier General Sedgwick to discuss his plans for attacking Yorktown. He directs Sedgwick to move toward Yorktown and take additional orders from General Franklin. Written on stationary marked "head-Quarters, Army of the Potomac".

GLC03612

21 December 1791

Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804

Letter signed

Title: to the President and Directors of Bank of the United States

As Secretary of Treasury, Hamilton requests that the President and Directors of the Bank of the United States furnish the Collectors of Import and Tonnage throughout the United States with the signatures of the President and Cashier. This will enable them to detect counterfeits in cash notes of the Bank of the United States. Hamilton also mentions the payment details arranged with the Collectors of the District of Philadelphia, the city where the Bank was based.

GLC03613

1839-1875

Reynolds, Joseph, fl. 1839-1875

Header Record

Title: [Collateral collection of 18 items containing mostly printed general orders detailing other commissions and appointments of General Reynolds.] [decimalized]

Includes official notifaction of Joseph J. Reynolds commission to major general of volunteers, dated November 29, 1862, signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The only letter in the collection (#16) describes various improvements to the city of San Antonio. GLC 3614 is the official commission of Joseph J. Reynolds, signed by Abraham Lincoln and countersigned by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, to the rank of Major General. This collateral collection contains mostly printed general orders detailing other commissions and appointments of General Reynolds. Reynolds, a West Point…

GLC03614.02

4 January 1864

Peyster, John Watts de, 1821-1907

Letter signed

Title: to Edwin D. Morgan

Encloses an address he delivered in Vermont on secession in Switzerland (not present) and asks Morgan to read it as an example for the United States. Writes, "I sincerely hope that you will do me the honor to read it in as much as the treatment and fate of Secession in Switzerland would have served as a complete lesson to our authorities had they been willing to profit by the experience of others." Printed illustration ("Battle of Pittsburg Landing, April 6, 1862") on blank leaf of paper.

GLC03615

circa 1861

Ellsworth, E. E. (Elmer Ephraim), 1837-1861

Header Record

Title: [Song sheets pertaining to the death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth] [decimalized]

Includes 9 song sheets plus print on small card in one folder. Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth, a friend of Abraham Lincoln, was commander of the 11th New York Infantry, a unit of Zouaves from the New York City Fire Department. He was killed on 24 May 1861, attempting to remove a Confederate flag from the Marshall House, a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia.

GLC03617

31 July 1864

Williams, George W., fl. 1864

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mary Williams

Williams, a Union soldier, informs his sister that he was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Crater by Confederate forces the previous day. Relates that he was not wounded, and is in excellent health. Instructs Mary to write to Mrs. L. F. Hand of Binghamton, New York, to inform her that her husband, Sherman P. Hand, was also taken prisoner. Cross-writing on verso reveals that Williams served in Company I of the 48th Pennsylvania volunteers, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps. Page three measures 10.6 x 7.1 cm. Envelope states "Care of Col Ould Com of Exchange C.S.A. to be…

GLC03618

1861-1865 ca.

Header Record

Title: Approx. 35 Civil War Items, including two David Porter [decimalized]

GLC03619

1862-1899

Header Record

Title: Various Civil War documents [Decimalized .01-.15]

Includes an address from The New England Women's Auxiliary Association encouraging women to assist in the efforts of the United States Sanitary Commission. Contains various letters, printed song sheets, and one military document regarding the War.

GLC03619.01

1861-1865

Header Record

Title: [Group of 21 Civil War letters, documents, and envelopes] [Decimalized]

Includes lists of supplies, President Jefferson Davis's message, prints of General Halleck, blank enlistment papers, provost marshal and quartermaster papers, military issues receipts, envelopes, and cards.

GLC03619.02

1863-1864

Various

Book

Title: [Virginia state documents]

One bound volume that includes messages by and reports to Governors John Letcher and William Smith. From a variety of departments including: messages of the Governor, report of the board of visitors of the Virginia Military Institute, report relative to the returns of elections, papers relative to the recent call for enslaved people to build and work on fortifications, report of the editor of public accounts, report of the board of public works, report of the superintendent of the penitentiary, report of purchases of raw materials for the penitentiary, report on public library, the…

GLC03620

21 August 1818

Adams, John, 1735-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Tudor

Adams argues repeatedly from James Otis's work concerning Parliament's attempt to exercise control of the American colonies. He concludes with the statement "[t]hat Parliment had not Authority over America in any case Whatever."

GLC03625

31 August 1815

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Eustis re: treaty of Ghent, Napoleonic wars, and threat of Barbery

Discusses the Treaty of Ghent, Napoleonic Wars, threat of Barbary pirates, and the new Netherlands consititution. Re: the Napoleonic Wars, Adams writes: "France is a conquest, and as a conquest will be treated."

GLC03626

17 January 1862

Buell, Don Carlos, 1818-1898

Autograph letter signed

Title: to George H. Thomas

Orders Thomas to pursue and defeat General Felix Zollicoffer's forces, located on the north side of the Cumberland River in Kentucky. Also discusses road improvements, communication, and rations. The note at bottom, written and initialed by Buell, dates on or after January 19, 1862 (the Battle of Mill Springs), indicating that this was a retained copy or that the entire document is a later copy.

GLC03628

1 April 1851

Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Chase writes to an unknown recipient, apparently the editor of a weekly Ohio newspaper, the "Democratic Standard." Chase remarks that the recipient excerpted his letters for publication in the paper, and suggests several edits, including reducing his name to "S. Chase," noting "I never liked Salmon as a name for a human." Compliments the recipient's recent article on the next Whig candidate for president. Argues that the next nomination for the presidency must be made by a compromise between William H. Seward in the Senate and Badger, Dawson, Bell, and others from the South (possibly…

GLC03629