Manuscripts

Isaac Swain letters to James Fowler Simmons

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Description: Swain, who lived in San Francisco, wrote these letters to Rhode Island Senator James Fowler Simmons. In the letters Swain discusses business interests he still holds in Rhode Island, politics in California, his lawyer Annis Merrill, the south seceding from the Union, the Fort Sumter situation, and Simmons' speech to Congress regarding secession.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1852-1861.
Call number: mssHM 67912-67914
Creator: Swain, Isaac(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Whitman Bailey, April 4, 1945.
Associated people: Simmons, James Fowler, (1795-1864,)
Find out more: View in the Library catalog

Isaac Mann letters

Manuscripts

Primarily letters that Isaac Mann wrote to his wife Susan Deaver Mann from Jan. 1 1862 to Aug. 7, 1864. The bulk of the letters were written during the march to Huttonsville, W.Va. (Feb. 1862), expedition ot Lost River, W. Va., (Apr. 1862), pursuit of Stonewall Jackson to Shenandoah Valley (June 1862), defenses of Washington, D.C. (September - December 1862), march to Fredericksburg, Va. (Dec. 10-15 1862), the "Mud March" (Jan. 20-24 1863), Gettysburg Campaign (June 11 - July 24 1863), and the operations against Fort Wagner, Morris Island and Charleston, S.C. The last three letters were written from army hospitals in Covington, Ky. and New Albany, Ind. The intensely personal and somewhat introvert letters are mostly devoted to Mann's love for his wife and family, longing for home, and religious reflections as well as trials and tribulations of camp life. Although he tended to avoid detailed descriptions of war operations and battle scenes, he did mention the "trying scenes" of the 2nd battle of Bull Run and the battle of Gettysburg. Also one letter written to John Deaver, 1862.

mssHM 21882-21909

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Isaac Owen letter book

Manuscripts

Typewritten copies of letters by and to Reverend Owen for the Methodist Church in various cities in northern California. With envelope of related used envelopes. Copies made in 1919 from letters in the Methodist Church in Berkeley, California by Mrs. Miller, Owen's sister.

mssHM 48972

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Isaac Brower letter to George W. Berrian

Manuscripts

In this letter addressed to "my dear Nephew", Isaac Brower writes of his stay in San Francisco, California for health reasons. He wishes everyone well at home, and reports on the doings of acquaintances who are in California. He visited Los Angeles, describing the city as follows: "...the weather was Angelic but the Inhabitants were Devils in human form."

mssHM 19764

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James Stratton letter to Isaac Goodnow

Manuscripts

Letter from San Francisco school principal James Stratton to the abolitionist and Kansas educator Isaac Goodnow, written during Fourth of July festivities in 1865. Stratton writes of the excitement of the holiday, and that the "colored people were out in force and were loudly cheered, and seemed to feel a new era had dawned upon their long oppressed race." Stratton also notes the strong support for Abraham Lincoln (whom he calls "Uncle Abe"), although the "Irish Copper-heads and poor miserable foreigners" refused to celebrate. He also writes of the inadequacies of the San Francisco post office, the illness of his wife, and his fondness for Washington School and positive outlooks for education in San Francisco. Includes envelope.

mssHM 74127

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Isaac Ingalls Stevens letter to Henry R. Crosbie

Manuscripts

In this letter to Henry R. Crosbie, Stevens outlines instructions for negotiating treaties with several Native American tribes dwelling in Washington Territory, with the assistance of "Sub Agent" Andrew Bolon. Stevens instructs Crosbie to establish a camp and depot near the Spokane River by early September, 1855. Once this task is completed, Stevens hopes Crosbie will remain to provide information about the gold mining in the area.

mssHM 17429

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Harrison, James D. Letter to [Isaac Newton Mathews, 1841-1923]

Manuscripts

This collection contains correspondence with Isaac Newton Mathews' parents, siblings, many cousins, aunts, uncles, and his future wife and her family, including friends and relatives who served in other Indiana regiments; correspondents include brother Ezekiel Mathews, sister Elizabeth Price and her husband James K. Price, John Harness Alkire, Elza W. Lister, Lucinda Chenoweth Boyles (1838-1918), and others. The letters discuss the life of an extended family of Indiana farmers; local news; schools; prayer meetings; festival; celebrations, and other diversions (which included visits to photographers); courtship; gossip, etc.; Civil War in Indiana, including local politics and the Copperhead movement; and war news (including an account of execution of Union prisoners of war, encounters with Unionists, Lincoln's assassination, etc.) This collection also includes Mathews' school compositions titled "Washington" and "Slavery," poems composed by him and a copy of the popular ballad "The Song of Creation" (William H. Bozarth, 1818), which was often attributed to Abraham Lincoln.

mssMathews

Isaac Swain letters to James Fowler Simmons

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You might also be interested in

Isaac Mann letters

Isaac Owen letter book

Isaac Brower letter to George W. Berrian

James Stratton letter to Isaac Goodnow

Isaac Ingalls Stevens letter to Henry R. Crosbie

Harrison, James D. Letter to [Isaac Newton Mathews, 1841-1923]