Manuscripts

Duncan McKercher papers

Description: The collection includes three pocket diaries kept by McKercher from January 1, 1862 to March 3, 1865, detailing his military service and his imprisonment. Also included are memoirs, based on the diaries that McKercher composed later, and some additional regimental records. There is also a group of 41 notes from South Carolina enslavers requesting various forms of punishment for enslaved persons. The requests are addressed to the Master of the Charleston "workhouse," the city's notorious jail for enslaved persons. McKercher apparently took these papers while incarcerated in Charleston jail on his way to Libby Prison. Also included is a military commission issued by Governor of Alabama, May 29, 1861, a special instruction for officers guarding Libby Prison, April 30, 1864, and a letter from Theodore Schock, a prospector of Needleton, Colorado describing his wife's suicide, written on January 9, 1889.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1855-1889
Call number: mssHM 48562-48568
Creator: McKercher, Duncan(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Mrs. Helen N. Ogilvie, February 1961.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
Find out more: View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab); View in the Online Archive of California(Opens in new tab)

Duncan McKercher papers

Manuscripts

The collection includes three pocket diaries kept by McKercher from January 1, 1862 to March 3, 1865, detailing his military service and his imprisonment. Also included are memoirs, based on the diaries that McKercher composed later, and some additional regimental records. There is also a group of 41 notes from South Carolina enslavers requesting various forms of punishment for enslaved persons. The requests are addressed to the Master of the Charleston "workhouse," the city's notorious jail for enslaved persons. McKercher apparently took these papers while incarcerated in Charleston jail on his way to Libby Prison. Also included is a military commission issued by Governor of Alabama, May 29, 1861, a special instruction for officers guarding Libby Prison, April 30, 1864, and a letter from Theodore Schock, a prospector of Needleton, Colorado describing his wife's suicide, written on January 9, 1889.

mssHM 48562-48568

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Life in Libby Prison manuscript

Manuscripts

Account of Jones' experience in Libby Prison, 1864 to 1865.

mssHM 3208

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Duncan Richmond accounts

Manuscripts

Accounts kept by Duncan Richmond between 1757-1758; there are six clearance notes in the hand of Earl of Loudoun. Also included are 32 receipts and accounts, mostly for feed and repairs, and the the account with Richmond (1758, Nov. 20), and Samuel Sackett (1758, July 22).

mssHM 444

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Goff-Williams papers

Manuscripts

The letters from Robert H. Williams to his parents and fianc√©e Elizabeth Goff contain detailed accounts of duty at Muddy Branch, Maryland; military operations at Berryville Pike, Winchester, Cedar Creek, and expeditions to Danville and Petersburg, Virginia; camp life, promotions; discussion of war politics and commanding officers, especially Philip Henry Sheridan and William Tecumseh Sherman; and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The collection also contains a letter to Robert H. Williams from his father regarding the Pike's Peak gold rush, a letter to him from Elizabeth Goff, and a letter from his brother Richard describing Tennessee at the end of the war. James M. Goff's letters to his father and younger brother Oscar in Delavan, Wisconsin describe camp life, the march from Kentucky to Tennessee, and life in Libby prison. There is also one photograph album, loose photographs, ephemera, and newspaper clippings.

mssHM 28864-28884

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Henry Edward Williams letters, (bulk 1862-1864)

Manuscripts

Letters of Henry Edward Williams of the 34th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment from Virginia and West Virginia to his family. In his letters, Williams discusses military operations including the raid on Harrisburg in December 1863, skirmishes outside of Charleston, South Carolina, and encounters with guerrillas. He also mentions his time in Libby Prison and military hospitals, Confederate deserters and prisoners, as well as fugitive slaves. In a letter dated 1864 August 28, Williams expressed his unhappiness about having shared a hospital room with wounded African American soldiers. Also included is a 1914 letter setting up a foundation to benefit the estate of Colonel George D. Wells, one of the commanders of Williams' regiment who died in 1864 after being wounded in battle, other regiment information, and biographies and obituaries of Williams.

mssWilliamsh

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J.D. Duncan letters to A.H. Campbell

Manuscripts

In these two letters to his brother, J.D. Duncan writes that he has arrived in the town of Stockton, California from Wisconsin and plans to head north to the gold mines. A year later, he writes that he has found work with "a large Ditch Company." He writes of the current state of crops, of the scarcity of gold, and the danger posed by Indians. Nevertheless, J.D. believes there is still "plenty of gold to be had." HM 25788 is dated 1857, February 4, and HM 25789 is dated 1858, September 13, and both were written in Stockton, California.

mssHM 25788-25789

Duncan McKercher papers

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Duncan McKercher papers

Life in Libby Prison manuscript

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Goff-Williams papers

Henry Edward Williams letters, (bulk 1862-1864)

J.D. Duncan letters to A.H. Campbell