Manuscripts

Thomas Kilby Smith papers

Description: Personal correspondence of Thomas Kilby Smith, chiefly his letters to his mother Eliza Bicker Walter Smith, wife Elizabeth Budd McCullough Smith, and son George Walter Smith. The letters document Smith's life and career from the late 1840's to the 1890s, including his pre-war law practice, his work in Washington, D.C. Civil War service, tenure as the U.S. consul in Panama, and his travels, including the voyage from Panama by way of San Francisco in 1867, and a trip to London in 1881. Also included is a typescript copy of Smith's autobiographical notes dated November 30, 1864, and a draft of his letter to William Tecumseh Sherman, December 1887.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1848-1887
Call number: mssKS
Creator: Smith, Thomas Kilby (1820-1887)

1848-1862 August

Manuscripts

Personal correspondence of Thomas Kilby Smith, chiefly his letters to his mother Eliza Bicker Walter Smith, wife Elizabeth Budd McCullough Smith, and son George Walter Smith. The letters document Smith's life and career from the late 1840's to the 1890s, including his pre-war law practice, his work in Washington, D.C. Civil War service, tenure as the U.S. consul in Panama, and his travels, including the voyage from Panama by way of San Francisco in 1867, and a trip to London in 1881. Also included is a typescript copy of Smith's autobiographical notes dated November 1864, and a draft of his letter to William Tecumseh Sherman, December 1887.

mssKS

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1864 March-1867

Manuscripts

mssKS

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1868-1887

Manuscripts

mssKS

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1862 September-1864 February

Manuscripts

mssKS

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Eliza Bicker Walter Smith correspondence

Manuscripts

Volume one contains approximately 180 original letters primarily from Eliza Bicker Walter Smith to her son, General Thomas Kilby Smith, during the American Civil War. In the letters to her son, Smith expresses concern for his health and frustration with the slowness of news over troop movements. The letters also deal with family news; domestic life in Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania; politics and social life during the war; the Roman Catholic church; and friends and associates, including William T. Sherman, and Ulysses S. Grant. Also included are letters from Eliza's children and family. There is an envelope consisting of three loose items: Bella to "Dear Papa," June 1869 and R.W. Deming to Thomas Kilby Smith, August 1905, and an undated note. Volume two contains reproduced typescripts of selected letters compiled by Thomas Kilby Smith in 1905. Smith transcribes letters from his mother Eliza Bicker Walter Smith, along with her children and family, 1848 to 1870. Included are three envelopes with two loose letters: Anna Bigelow to "My dear Cousin," April 13th and M.J. Worthington to Lizzie, 1870 May 8; newspaper clippings; and a photograph of Eliza Bicker Walter Smith. Thomas Kilby Smith's introduction in both volumes indicates that not all the original letters have been transcribed, additionally not all the transcribed letters appear in the volume of original letters.

mssHM 83862-83863

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Copies of selected letters

Manuscripts

mssHM 83863

Thomas Kilby Smith papers

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1848-1862 August

1864 March-1867

1868-1887

1862 September-1864 February

Eliza Bicker Walter Smith correspondence

Copies of selected letters