Letters of prominent American political and military figures

Collection — manuscript box: 21 - folder 1

Identifier: 45m

Scope and content

Individual letters, mostly on routine business, written and signed by prominent Americans, including Charles Francis Adams, Robert Todd Lincoln, U.S. federal judge John Baxter, Mercer Beasley, Thomas Durfee, John W. Forney, attorney Isaac Hardeman, Congressman Frank Hereford, U.S. comptroller John Jay Knox, Congressman William McClelland, Civil War general Thomas H. Ruger, Congressman John Sergeant, U.S. Treasurer Francis E. Spinner, John Wentworth, and Civil War naval officer Henry Knox Thatcher. Also, a resolution by the General Assembly of the Rhode Island legislature concerning the construction of a harbor at Block Island, signed by secretary of state John R. Bartlett, 1868; and a vivid note from Henry R. Storrs on the celebrations at the inauguration of President Andrew Jackson, dated March 4 [1829].

Dates

circa 1826-1884.

Creator

no primary creator (Person)
Adams, Charles Francis, 1807-1886. (Person)
Bartlett, John Russell, 1805-1886. (Person)
Baxter, John, 1819-1886. (Person)
Beasley, Mercer, 1815-1897. (Person)
Durfee, Thomas, 1826-1901. (Person)
Forney, John W. (John Wien), 1817-1881. (Person)
Hardeman, Isaac. (Person)
Hereford, Frank, 1825-1891. (Person)
Knox, John Jay, 1828-1892. (Person)
Lincoln, Robert Todd, 1843-1926. (Person)
McClelland, William, 1842-1892. (Person)
Ruger, Thomas Howard, 1833-1907. (Person)
Sergeant, John, 1779-1852. (Person)
Spinner, Francis Elias, 1802-1890. (Person)
Storrs, Henry Randolph, 1787-1837. (Person)
Wentworth, John, 1815-1888. (Person)

Language of Material

In English.

Biographical / Historical

Charles Francis Adams was the U.S. ambassador to Britain from 1861-1868. Robert Todd Lincoln was U.S. Secretary of War from 1881-1885. Mercer Beasley was Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Thomas Durfee served as Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. John W. Forney was an author and politician. John Wentworth was a Congressman and, later, mayor of Chicago.