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A forty day trip to California and the two expositions
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Memoir of Trip to California
Manuscripts
A collection of the personal and professional papers of Edward Davis Townsend. Included in the collection are official and private correspondence, chiefly letters addressed to him, military records, journals, memoirs, and a few photographs. Two journals cover the 2nd Seminole War from 1837 to 1838, and his service in California from 1851 to 1856. The latter was incorporated into a memoir entitled "A Trip to California;" both accounts are accompanied by pencil sketches. An unfinished memoir covers Townsend's life and career until the beginning of the Mexican War. The collection also contains a group of personal and political correspondence of Elbridge Gerry, including pieces related to his diplomatic and political career from 1772 to 1814, and the correspondence of Ann Thompson Gerry and Eliza Gerry Townsend. Also included are a copy of Samuel Auchmuty's 1761 sermon on 1 John 5:7, and contemporary copies of Jefferson Davis's letters to his wife Varina Howell Davis from 1861 to 1865. The collection also includes a spool of thread with a hidden note in it, 1861 February 10, and a cotton ball from the steamer Emma, which was loaded with cotton when its crew burned it at Fort Pulaski on August 31, 1862, to prevent its capture by the Union forces under the command of William B. Barton.
mssHM 41698
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A trip from England to California
Manuscripts
The journal, which is made up of letters Cowan wrote back to friends in England, covers her voyage from Liverpool to New York City on the ship Etruria, and her train trip across the country to Loomis and Monterey, California. Cowan writes in great detail about her fellow passengers and the scenery around her. She also describes the ship Etruria and the train on which she travels and often makes comments regarding the odd cultural behavior of Americans. Cowan also gives detailed descriptions of the events that take place around her including a fire that stopped her train near Truckee, California; Cowan and her fellow passengers eventually had to hike to another train. The handwritten journal is illustrated with clippings from magazines and Cowan's hand-drawn sketches.
mssHM 66797
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Reminiscences of a trip across the plains in 1846 and early days in California
Rare Books
15584