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to Isora Skinkle

Informs her of Emma's wedding. Discusses the wedding and all the festivities around the wedding. Describes her ordeal with typhoid fever. Writes that she was bed ridden for the first three years and so sick that every day everyone expected her to...

GLC03523.32.43

to Isora Skinkle

Informs her that he is working by the month earning $18 a month for eight months. Reports that they are having fine weather and that the crops are looking well. City is listed as Otsego, but no state is noted. Could be Minnesota or Michigan.

GLC03523.32.44

to Isora Skinkle

Writes to her cousin. Informs her that they now have another baby. Reports on the rest of the family and friends. Request that she keeps her informed about all the happenings in Richmond, Illinois. City is listed as Otsego, but no state is noted...

GLC03523.32.45

to Libby Kessler

Reminisces of their childhood in the schoolroom. Discusses her school and teacher. Letter has an embossed seal in the upper corner.

GLC03523.52.01

to Libby Kessler

Informs her she did not receive her letter in time to meet her. Inquires if she will be attending the excursion next week. Mentions she would like to room together if they attend school. Letter has an embossed seal in the upper corner.

GLC03523.52.02

to the President

Would like to pay his respects and ask when the president can see him. On Arlington Hotel stationary. Possibly to Benjamin Harrison who was U.S. President at the time.

GLC05603.01.31

to Colonel Shank

Corrects a date for an event.

GLC05603.01.32

to the South Carolina House of Representatives

Writes about raising the 1st South Carolina Infantry. "I have called a regt. into active service... some of the companies of this regt. are now in positions on Sullivan's Island in the rear of Fort Moultrie, and other companies are rapidly arriving...

GLC09194

to Governor Francis W. Pickens

South Carolina senate confirmation for cavalry officers William De Saussure and Nathan G. Evans.

GLC09195

to Governor Francis W. Pickens

Two Virginians offer to fight in the army of South Carolina, which had already seceded, "to show to the Rest that we are sincere in what we say and in the cause of... the Southern confederacy." With an autograph endorsement by Pickens.

GLC09196

to the House of Representatives

Informs the legislature of J. W. Hayne's confidential mission to negotiate with Buchanan over the right to reinforce Fort Sumter. "The letter of the President...asserts in plain terms, his right to send reinforcements, and I cannot disconnect this...

GLC09197

to L. P. Walker

South Carolina Army units to be received into the Provisional Confederate Army. The "Convention...shall adopt the necessary ordinance for their transfer to the Confederate States. They will...be fully prepared & equiped to serve the country at any...

GLC09198

to Governor Francis W. Pickens

A Boston entrepreneur suggests that machinery for knitting hosiery be adapted to cotton thread. "All of the labor except a man to manage the carding machines, could be better done by female slaves than any other. There is a cotton factory in your...

GLC09199

to Governor Francis W. Pickens

General Beauregard supports Colonel R. W. Habersham's submitted plan for enlisting planters' help to provide grain and hay for army livestock. "I think the above suggestions of Col. Habersham of so much importance, that I have the honor to enclose...

GLC09200

to Colonel Richard H. Anderson

Detailed instructions on how he expects Colonel Anderson to command the defense of the Charleston harbor. "If any great emergency should arise, I am determined to hold this fortress at all hazzards, as it is the key of the harbor, and is essential...

GLC09201

to Captain Stephen Dill Lee

Writes about sending troops to Virginia. "Capt. Walker has a company of about seventy-five men who are prepared as he says to be mustered into service...to fill up the vacancies in the 7th Regt...you are authorized to furnish them with the ordinary...

GLC09202

to Governor Francis W. Pickens

Informs Governor Pickens that his constituents believe too many troops have been sent to Virginia, leaving the seacoast vulnerable. Senator Alston says "something ought to be done for our own Sea Board for they do not think that the troubles of...

GLC09203

to Governor Francis W. Pickens

Suggests furnishing privateers with captured guns. "Frequent applications are made at the Ordnance Office by persons wishing to fit out privateers, for guns to arm their vessels...this is one of the most economical and effectual modes of carrying on...

GLC09204

to Governor Francis W. Pickens

Detailed report from the secretary treasurer of South Carolina on finances, supplies, audits, etc. "...only Eighty three thousand dollars of accounts have been audited since I left Richmond. This delay is criminal..." With autograph endorsement...

GLC09205

to the South Carolina Legislature

"The public mind has in some degree over-estimated the essential importance of our cotton to England & France - in supposing that if deprived of it they would be forced to interfere in this contest with our enemies. They will be governed solely by...

GLC09206.01

[Letter fragment]

"...Why these appointments should cause such excitement amongst the junior officers in Fort Sumter I am at loss to understand."

GLC09206.02

to Christopher G. Memminger

Criticizes General Ripley's failure to report troops sent from South Carolina and requesting arms. "[Ripley's] proper place is in Fort Sumter & Moultrie & to command the batteries - and he is suited to nothing else...when I had Beauregard there...

GLC09207

[Confederate Goverment document]

Document containing clerical copies of correspondence over conscription in South Carolina written by Jefferson Davis; Governor Francis W. Pickens and the Executive Council; James Chestnut, Jr.; and G. W. Randolph. "Four Regiments to be accepted for...

GLC09208

to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard

Defends his decision to suspend an earlier state militia reserve call-up, saying that the untrained militia are inefficient and would be more valuable planting crops at home. Supports his opinion with extracts from telegrams sent to General...

GLC09209

to Governor Milledge L. Bonham

Replies to Bonham's defense of 9 March 1863. "I was fully alive to the sacrifices and hardships which a call on your militia must entail, ...but at the same time, I have regarded the alternative consequences that might be involved without the...

GLC09210

to Governor Milledge L. Bonham

Requests specific information on troops in South Carolina state militia service who are "subject to military duty under the Conscripts Acts," to counter assertions of preferential treatment published in other states' newspapers. With newspaper...

GLC09211

to Thomas Bragg

Replies to Bragg's "interrogatories." "With the view to counteract the unfounded assumption that this State has hitherto failed to furnish to the common service her full quota of troops, I beg to add that it appears...this State had contributed to...

GLC09212

to Major D. B. Harris

Unfulfilled requisitions to the South Carolina government for slaves "leaves the Capt almost entirely without laborers and consequently without the means of carrying on satisfactorily the work expected to be done" for coastal defense. With autograph...

GLC09213

to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard

Responds to complaints that the impressed slaves are idle. "Requisitions have from time to time been made upon the State authorities for slave labor, not for the purpose of harassing the planters or interfering in their business, but, for the...

GLC09214

to Major D. B. Harris

Explains "the seven or eight negroes he [Senator Mazyck] speaks of were idle a few days, they were detailed for contingencies in the city,...and variously employed on small jobs." With autograph endorsement signed by Harris.

GLC09215.01

to Governor Bonham

About complaints that the impressed slaves are idle. "Nothing is known of this matter at these Hd Quarters."

GLC09215.02

to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard

Replies to Beauregard's forwarded report by William Echols of 20 April 1863. "I have directed Col. Shannon to call on two Divisions...for the month of May, which I hope will enable the Engineer to complete the works, as the cultivation of the...

GLC09216

to Major D. B. Harris

Details the lack of slave laborers supplied during March and April. General Beauregard forwards the report to Governor Bonham with comment. "It is probable that sooner or later a still more determined attack on Charleston will be made & it is of...

GLC09217

To General Johnson Hagood

Bonham's secretary asks General Hagood to investigate "a lad of 14 years of age...having run away from his mother, and joined Co. 'G' Nelson's Battalion" and to refuse the boy's enlistment if he is that young.

GLC09218

[Emergency proclamation]

Emergency proclamation empowering agents to seize slaves for military labor. "I must rely on my Countrymen...in the speedy discharge of this duty. Planters may be assured, that the true way to serve their own interests is to do what they can to...

GLC09219

to Governor Bonham

Forwards clerical copy of Major William Echols's report of 16 April 1863 to Major D.B. Haris, "List of Negroes received month Jul 1863."

GLC09220

to Governor Bonham

Summarizes the history of the policy resolutions to defend Charleston. "...at any cost of life or property...they would prefer a repulse of the enemy, with the entire city in ruins, to an evacuation or surrender on any terms whatever." Quotes...

GLC09221

to Governor Bonham

Answers another compaint about idle "negores," he requests Governor Bonhma to "require all reports and rumours officially communicated to you, should be made in writing, in order that you may refer the communication to me when of sufficient...

GLC09222

to Governor Bonham

Responds to resolutions passed by the South Carolina General Assembly, which feels burdened by the Confederate government's taxation and impressment of slaves for military labor. "[I]t has been the studious effort of the Department to temper its...

GLC09223

to James Seddon

Copying an urgent telegram from General Beauregard. "If two thousand (2000) or three thousand (3000) small arms called for by my Chief of Ordnance from Col. Gorgas be not furnished I must disband several six months regiments lately called out."...

GLC09224

List of General and Field Officers in the Provisional Army from the State of South Carolina who have died whilst in Service.

Compiled through June 1864. Forwarded by Melton to the adjutant and inspector general of South Carolina. Among those listed are brigadier generals Bernard Bee, who gave "Stonewall" Jackson his nickname; Maxcy Gregg; and Micah Jenkins. Autograph...

GLC09225

to Governor Bonham

General James Longstreet, wounded in a friendly fire incident at the Battle of the Wilderness, mourns the death of Brigadier General Micah Genkins, killed by the same volley. "He has left to the youth of your state a noble legacy in his dauntless...

GLC09226

to Colonel R.B. Johnson

Governor Bonham's secretary asks the state agent to turn over for prosectuion "the names of the Sheriffs who have made default in executing the law in relation to procuring Slave Labor - together wiht the names of witnesses &c.... in all such cases...

GLC09227

to Brigadier General M.L. Bonham

Account of the victory at First Bull Run by a colonel in the 8th South Carolina Infantry. "The enemy now fled in the utmost confusion throwing away everything which at all impeded his flight...my Sergant Major...took as a prisoner Mr. Ely a member...

GLC09228

Training Negro troops

Mounted albumen print of the members of the Louisiana Native Guard learning to read at Port Hudson, Louisiana, at a school set up for the soldiers and freedmen. The guard was one of the first all-black units in the Civil War, formed by Benjamin...

GLC09229

to L. Pierce Jr.

Retained copy of letter to the U.S. Consul at Matamoras, declining to intervene in the ongoing Civil War in Mexico. "The federal government of Mexico is on terms of intimate friendship with ours... if your danger is iminent you should remove herer...

GLC09230

to his sister

Unidentified soldier of the 16th New Hampshire Volunteers in Mansfield, Louisiana, describes a prayer meeting at a black church, visits to New Orleans, and army life. "We are thinking that the Conscription Act will go rather hard with some of the...

GLC09231

The Anti-Slavery Record, Vol. 1

Six issues of The Anti-Slavery Record published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, each bearing a dramatic woodcut illustrating the horrors visited upon slaves. 12 pages each.
Includes: No. 6 - June, No. 7 - July, No. 9 - September (2nd edition)...

GLC09232

The Great Orations and Senatorial Speech of Daniel Webster

Collection of 16 antebellum pamphlets, including several scarce and rare items, touching on the major political topics in post-Jacksonian politics, mainly the future of slavery. Partial contents: "The Great Orations and Senatorial Speech of Daniel...

GLC09233

[California Gold Rush archive][Decimalized .01- .25]

Documents the activities of Thompson Baxter of Quincey, Massachusetts, and his store in Stockton, California. Includes letters to and from his wife, printed cartoon panel ("This is a true Picture of Callifornia I have seen it And experienced it...

GLC09234

A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery

"A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery," imploring non-slaveholding whites in the South to combine with slaves to overthrow plantation owners. "Your numbers, combined with those of the Slaves, will give you all power. You have but to use it, and the...

GLC09235

[Slave sale broadside]

"Administrator's Sale! …at public auction, to the highest and best bidder…a likely young Negro Woman, Named Mary, and her child.…J. M. M'Cutchen, Administrator." Posted in Boonville, Missouri-rare slave sale broadsides from west of the Mississippi.

GLC09236

[South Carolina's 1860 Act of Secession]

Lithographic facsimile of South Carolina's 1860 Act of Secession. On March 3, 1865, a detachment of the 102 U.S. Colored Troops captured what they believed to be the original manuscript of South Carolina's Secession ordinance. (In fact, they had...

GLC09237

to Charles T. Congdon

To Charles T. Congdon of the New York Tribune. Douglass thanks Congdon for his recently published reminiscences of Charles Sumner. "It was not merely the seed time of a great harvest, but the hard time when old and knarly oaks were to be hewed down...

GLC09238

to Thomas Adams

Richardson, a medical officer, to Thomas Adams in Albany, a lengthy and detailed description of the Indians and the English armies as he travels up the Hudson through New York. "I accidentally met with Brigadier General Gage…who was traveling the...

GLC09239

to J. A. J. Creswell

As president, regarding his daughter's White House wedding. "In directing invitations for the Cabinet to attend the marriage of our daughter tomorrow, Mrs. Grant is not certain whether one was sent to Miss McIntyre or not. If none was sent it was an...

GLC09240

[Abraham Lincoln speech delivered July 17, 1858]

Speech delivered on July 17, 1858 in Springfield, IL, as a prelude to the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Contains Lincoln's stands on key national issues including the Dred Scott decision and the Lecompton Constitution. "My declarations upon...Negro...

GLC09241

to Charles Thomson

Draft letter to Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress, declining appointment [as one of three commissioners to lay out site for Federal capital] "Reduced to the painful necessity of a sedentary life by chronic disorders,… In this situation Congress...

GLC09242

to Mr. Brigham

Writes about his recent inspections of new Western military outposts, "thank you for your letter of the 12th with map of Fort Sheridan. I saw the new Posts at Forts Riley, Logan, and Leavenworth all good and a large improvement on the old putting...

GLC09243

Muster roll of Mounted Rifles at Fort Ewell, Texas

Muster roll of the Mounted Rifles at Fort Ewell, Texas, signed by Lt. "Grumble" Jones, later Confederate general and cavalry commander.

GLC09244

[Address at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art]

Address at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, mapping the path to Union victory. Powerful congressman in the New York Democratic Party, with ties to senior Union political and military leadership, assesses the war: "We cannot...

GLC09245

[General Hooker's staff in mock battle]

Albumen print of Alexander Gardner photograph showing General Hooker's staff in mock battle. With notes by Capt. Benjamin H. Ticknor, 45th Mass. Infantry and 2nd Mass. Heavy Artillery, identifying "Mock fight over the body of A. R. Waud, artist" and...

GLC09247

to Daniel H. Hill

To Daniel H. Hill re plans to send Hood's cavalry in pursuit of Union troops retreating from Chancellorsville, asking citizens to delay the enemy's movements: "We have reports from scouts and persons from Maryland that Hunter's and Fosters Armies are...

GLC09248

to James Longstreet

To James Longstreet, ordering preparations to engage Union army when it crosses the Rappahannock, noting strategy of mobility to counter the union's greater numbers: "It is also reported that it is Genl. Hooker's intention to cross the river &...

GLC09249

[Recommendation for Thomas H. G. Poulson]

Recommending a private in the 46th Regiment, Va. Vols., who was "captured at Roanoke Island as [sic] is now on parole. He is poor and needs & desires employment." This letter is adhered to a letter dated 2 August 1862 from Thomas H. G. Poulson to...

GLC09250

[Report of disposition of forces]

Gen. Wise reports to Major Gen. Arnold Elzey, head of the Department of Richmond, on his troop placements north and east of Richmond. "The great consideration is forage. There are 2000 tons at least in this neighborhood calling for scythe's & reaping...

GLC09251

to C.C. Memminger

Asking Confederate Secretary of the Treasury C. C. Memminger to find an appointment for "Mr. Caldwell of Fredericksburg…a respectable citizen," who has been discharged from the Army after being injured. Endorsed by R.M.T. Hunter and L. C. De Jarrette...

GLC09252

to Charles Stoess

To his brother-in-law Charles Stoess, Bavarian Consul in Liverpool. From Memphis, relating family and business news: "The fall has been the most favorable for gathering the cotton crop ever seen by 'the oldest inhabitant'. The low price has acted...

GLC09253

to George W. Crawford

To Secretary of War George W. Crawford, asking assistance in obtaining promotion. "I do not hesitate to say that I can furnish ample proof, from every Officer under whom I have served, of as much service as any Officer of my grade could have rendered...

GLC09254

to Charles Carter Lee

To his brother, Charles Carter Lee, giving news of his son Fitzhugh Lee's serious wound at the Third Battle of Winchester on 9/19/1864. "My dear Fitz was slightly wounded in the fight near 'Winchester,' Fitz has been sick for 11 days and was not well...

GLC09255

to Anna Fitzhugh

To cousin Anna Fitzhugh, an intimate letter written on the eve of the Civil War, reporting on family news and revealing his personal anxieties and troubles: "A divided heart I have too long had, & a divided life too long led. That may be one cause of...

GLC09256

to Sidney Smith Lee

Having returned from service in the Mexican War just a day before, Lee writes to his brother Sidney Smith Lee of his homecoming and other family news. "Here I am once again, my dear Smith, perfectly surrounded by this Mama & her precious children...

GLC09257

50th Annual Report of the American Colonization Society

Fillmore's copy of the 50th Annual Report of the American Colonization Society, Washington. The Society supported returning former slaves to the newly established colony of Monrovia in Liberia.

GLC09287

[Prisoner of war autograph book]

Prisoner of war autograph book of Capt. George Washington Gordon of the 48th Tennessee Regt. of Volunteers, from Union prison at Johnson's Island, in Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie. Over 650 autographs of Confederate soldiers and sailors, most listing their...

GLC09309

to Gideon Welles

Telegram as commander of the South-Atlantic Squadron, to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, providing the first news from Sherman's army that the march to the sea had been successful: "I have just received a communication from Gen. Sherman's Army...

GLC09330

to Joseph Vose

Hospital surgeon to Vose, requesting an orderly to attend to some wounded men from his regiment. On the verso of the Eustis letter is glued an invitation from General Washington, dated Aug. 12, to bring six officers of his regiment to dinner.

GLC09338.06

to Ellen Bernard

An exuberant letter to Ellen Bernard "Nellie" Fowle of Alexandria, VA, whom he married on April 19, 1871. "God bless you Miss Nellie I had no idea you were such a woman as you are. I feel as if I really know you for the first time." With small card.

GLC09258

to Fitzhugh Lee

To Fitzhugh Lee as U.S. Consul General to Havana, asking Lee to aid a New York doctor in obtaining legal proof of his brother's death in Cuba.

GLC09259

to Sterling Price

Former Confederate congressman and brigadier general in the Missouri State Guard writes to Major Gen. Sterling Price, giving Northern Press reports of Price's Missouri Expedition: "it appears that you have penetrated within twenty miles of St. Louis...

GLC09260

Special Orders No. 110

"Special Orders No. 110," ordering Col. Moore's regiment of Virginia Volunteers to Manassas Junction, immediately prior to the First Battle of Bull Run. Issued by order of Maj. Gen. Lee, signed by Garnett, the first general officer killed in the...

GLC09261

[Appointment]

Appointment of a postmaster in Virginia, signed as Confederate Postmaster General. With 5-cent Confederate postage stamp.

GLC09262

[Confederate spy letter]

Important Confederate spy, one week before the Battle of Bull Run: "Should any sealed dispatch be handed into your possession without any superscription, and as coming from me, you will please address the same (after satisfying yourself of the...

GLC09263

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...

GLC09264

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...

GLC09265

to Jacob D. Cox

During the Atlanta Campaign: "Genl Sherman is here and has given me his plans. We must force the passage of Noyes Creek today. Four o'clock is the hour set for you to begin, and you will be supported by a general demonstration along the whole line."...

GLC09266

Professor Rogers

Re Antietam: "We had a terrible battle last week. May we soon see the last of them and of the war. You can hardly imagine the horror of that battle field the following day." After Antietam, Shaw commanded the all-black 54th Mass. Volunteer Infantry...

GLC09267

[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...

GLC09268

to James B. McPherson

To Gen. James B. McPherson, reporting on disloyalty of W.W. Shaw, who plans to ship cotton, and attacks Col. B. G. Farrar of the 30th Missouri: "...his men and officers can not be trusted in the country alone. They pillage and plunder and destroy...

GLC09269

to Horatio Seymour

Colonel of the first regiment of Union marksmen, "Berdan's Sharpshooters," to NY Governor Horatio Seymour, supporting requests for promotion for several of his men. [Berdan personally demonstrated his marksmanship to President Lincoln when requesting...

GLC09270

[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...

GLC09271

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...

GLC09272

[Collection of 50 letters of a soldier in the 189th regiment NY volunteers] [decimalized]

This collection consists of fifty letters from Horace J Hammond to his wife, Eleanor. Hammond enlisted on August 17, 1864 at Avoca, NY as a Private. He served largely at City Point, Virginia, the headquarters for General Ulysses S. Grant. While at...

GLC09273

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...

GLC09274

[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...

GLC09275

[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...

GLC09276.01

[three fragment of Confederate flag]

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

GLC09276.02

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...

GLC09278

to Josiah Drummond

About an upcoming lecture tour by Frederick Douglass in Maine: "I have guaranteed him fifty dollars for this city-twenty five dollars in each of the other towns-I shall entertain him while here." To Josiah Drummond.

GLC09279

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

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