9 December 1864

Lee, Sydney Smith, 1802-1869

Document signed

Title: to William Lewis Maury

Orders from the Confederate Navy Department releasing Maury from active duty at Wilmington Station due to poor health. Sidney (or Sydney) Smith Lee was Robert E. Lee's older brother. A commander in the Confederate States Navy, S. Lee was chief of the Bureau of Orders and Detail at the time he signed this document.

GLC04572.24

7 February 1865

Maury, William Lewis, 1813-1878

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Nan [Maury]

Year inferred from content. Mentions the peace conference between Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, President Lincoln and General U. S. Grant. "I hope that it [the outcome of the conference] will have the effect to unite our people & convince the faint hearted that the only road to peace is a vigorous prosecution of the war." Discusses the health and bereavements of friends in Richmond. His comments on the bereavement of Mrs. Sinclair on the loss of her husband may be a reference to the death of Confederate States Navy Commander Arthur Sinclair when his blockade runner sank…

GLC04572.25

12 February 1865

Maury, William Lewis, 1813-1878

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Nan [Maury]

Mentions family and friends in Richmond. Captain Lee thinks there may be an opening for him in the Navy in an ironclad at Charleston.

GLC04572.26

13 February 1865

Maury, William Lewis, 1813-1878

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Nan [Maury]

Mentions family and friends in Richmond. Reports that the government is still unsure about what to do with the Navy officers; a rumor indicates that they may be put in the Army. Writes, "We are now nearly excluded from the water." Year inferred.

GLC04572.27

17 February 1865

Maury, William Lewis, 1813-1878

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Nan [Maury]

Maury tried to get leave to go home to comfort his wife and help take care of their son, who has diphtheria, but was appointed to a court martial. When the trial is over he will try to come home. Writes, "the returned prisoners are coming in pretty fast, those from Pt. Lookout are the first to arrive...." Year inferred.

GLC04572.28

20 February 1865

Lee, Sydney Smith, 1802-1869

Letter signed

Title: to William Maury

Letter appointing Maury as a member of a Naval General Court Martial. Maury is ordered to report to Richmond four days from the date of the letter. Includes penciled directions on how to get to Richmond on verso. With autograph note signed by Captain Lynch confirming that Maury reported 26 February 1865. Sidney (or Sydney) Smith Lee was Robert E. Lee's older brother. A commander in the Confederate States Navy, S. Lee was chief of the Bureau of Orders and Detail at the time he signed this document.

GLC04572.29

20 February 1865

Maury, William Lewis, 1813-1878

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Nan [Maury]

Updates his wife on family members and expresses happiness that his son is better and recovering. Says that Humphreys wants the government to go into the cloth-manufacturing business "now that Wilmington is closed & we will have to look more closely to home for our supplies." Notes that the Navy "is confined to such a narrow compass now that it is hard to find work for the officers."

GLC04572.30

21 February 1865

Maury, William Lewis, 1813-1878

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Nan [Maury]

Reports that prisoners returning from federal camps are frostbitten and ill. Notes that the court martial will convene on Friday, and comments that "hopes are entertained the soldiers will be better fed" since the appointment of the new Commissary General and Secretary of War. Mentions someone who was in the "Schultz" when it was blown up.

GLC04572.31

27 February 1865

Maury, William Lewis, 1813-1878

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Nan [Maury]

Comments that Mrs. Sinclair (widow of Confederate States Navy commander Arthur Sinclair) bears the loss of her husband well. Reports that a black woman who frequently stayed in Baltimore set fire to the house of her mistress, the wife of Confederate Admiral [Franklin] Buchanan. Discusses Buchanan's convalescence (Buchanan was wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. He was exchanged the month this letter was written). Presumes the woman's friends put her up to the crime. Writes, "They seem to be expecting a fight soon on our right. Nothing positive from Sherman,…

GLC04572.32

2 December 1871

Hitchcock, Robert B., 1804-1888

Letter signed

Title: to R. H. Maury

United States Navy Commodore Hitchcock recommends William Maury to superintend the deepening of the James River. The previous superintendent has passed away.

GLC04572.34

December 3, 1871

Pinkney, Robert F. fl. 1871

Autograph document signed

Title: to R. H. Maury

Statement recommending William Maury to superintend the James River project. States that he has known Maury since 1837 and that Maury was noted in both Navies for his morality and professional intelligence. Robert F. Pinkney commanded the Confederate ironclad Savannah during the Civil War.

GLC04572.38

12 October 1876

Pegram, Robert Baker, 1811-1894

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William L. Maury

Congratulates Maury on his new venture. Answers questions regarding shipping and insurance and offers to be of assistance. Pegram was a former CSN commander.

GLC04572.42

25 October 1876

Goldsborough, John Rodgers, 1808-1877

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Lewis Maury

Apologizes for his delay in writing. Promises to forward the $30 by Adams Express. Goldsborough was a U.S. Naval commander during the Civil War.

GLC04572.43

8 November 1876

Murdaugh, William H., fl. 1850-1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Lewis Maury

Murdaugh heard that Maury switched professions from farming to insurance. Comments that if Tilden is elected, "there will be more openings for us [former Confederates] than ever have been since the day of Appomattox." In order to write to Jeff Page (Confederate States Navy Commander Thomas Jefferson Page) in Buenos Aires, Maury must send the letter to England first since no steamers are running to Brazil. CSN Lt. William H. Murdaugh had lost an arm early in the war; he later served at the Norfolk ordnance yard.

GLC04572.44

23 October 1877

Phillips, John, fl. 1877

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Lewis Maury

On stationery of the New York Custom House. Writes on behalf of the Collector, appointing Maury "Storekeeper of Private Bonded Warehouses at a Compensation of $1460 per annum."

GLC04572.45

24 July 1878

Merritt, Edwin A., 1828-1916

Letter

Title: to David Dixon Porter

Marked "Copy" at the top. Has not yet made Mr. Maury's acquaintance but assumes he is "performing his duties satisfactorily."

GLC04572.47

7 April 1863

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Almira Winchell

He is writing from his "little Log hut" and laments the death of General Edwin Sumner. He expects to attack Richmond and claims the army is not as demoralized as the people back home think.

GLC04706.01

3 May 1863

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Almira Winchell

Written from the battlefield. Expects the Confederates to withdraw by the next night. Reports that Confederate prisoners are poorly clothed but "are as saucy as ever." Expresses patriotism and confidence in the Union cause and also"[G]reat confidence in fighting Jo. Hooker," (General Joseph Hooker).

GLC04706.02

18 August 1863

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Almira Winchell

Battle of Gettysburg & his hopes to take Richmond before winter. "I suppose you heard about the Great Battle of Gettysburg it was an awful place I tell you, to See the men and horses falling all around but thank god I escaped unhurt through it all although we had eleven of our men killed and 20 wounded."

GLC04706.03

29 October 1863

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Almira Winchell

Describes hard marching between Culpepper and Centreville, and crossing the old Bull Run Battlefield where the skeletons of those killed were visible. Writes, "[L]ast week we Crossed the old bull run battle Field and we could See lots of Skeletons of men killed there a year ago and were left on top... if I were home and See that I would think it an awful but to See a dead man here, why it haint nothing. I have Seen dead Rebels at the Battle of Antietam lay right in the road and the wheels of the Guns would run over them..."

GLC04706.04

22 February 1864

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Almira Winchell

He has just returned from home and reports that 20 other men have gone home on furlough.

GLC04706.05

22 March 1864

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Almira Winchell

Hopes the war will not last too long and reports the news of his comrades returning from furlough.

GLC04706.06

6 April 1864

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Almira Winchell

Talks about some of the other people whom he is corresponding with. He jokes about the number of children they will have and a trip to the fortune teller. He wants to find out who started the rumors about him doing "Something else besides kissing..." while he was on furlough.

GLC04706.07

26 April 1864

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Almira Winchell

Irritated over rumors he married another woman. Discusses his opinion of Grant: "I guess the rebels wont have long to wait before they have U S Grant after them and as you Said I Hope that where ever he Strikes he will be victorious. I Saw General Grant the other day he is a very Good looking man... "

GLC04706.08

9 June 1864

Donahue, Thomas, fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to: Almira Winchell

Written from camp "in front of" Richmond. Reports that the battery left Brandy Station on 4 May and has been fighting every day since then. Writes about the entrenchments around Petersburg: "Grant has drove them into their breast works around the City and I think that he is a Going to Come Vicksburg on them. [O]ur works and the Rebels are So Close together that they Can Stone each other."

GLC04706.09