Cheers,

Pete

Am not a regular watcher of this program, but my Mom is and she always mentions folks bringing in CW artifacts and papers to of all places the PBS show “Antiques Roadshow”. The sad thing to me about that is those who do bring in CW stuff like that are more concerned as to the value of it for them than the value historically they are.

That’s why I applaud folks like Pete, as he get’s it. Money isn’t everything.

Hope all is well.

Steve

Eric and I are excited and humbled to be able to work with the papers – and we look forward to being able to tell the FULL story of Huey and the 8th PA at Chancellorsville. I’m going to be sending you a large work I did on Alf Pleasonton’s career and history (had a busy weekend, including losing our electric for a full day, and it’s on my computer at home). The work goes into detail about Pleasonton’s BS regarding his role and Chancellorsville.

Quakers who took up arms were summarily excommunicated by the Society of Friends. Several dozen were booted out for fighting in the Revolutionary War, and of course hundreds (if not more) for taking part in the Civil War. Needless to say, the situation, in which many families and friendship were thus torn apart, is an interesting sidelight to the larger division caused by the war. That will be another interesting part of Huey’s story.

I look forward to the bio info, Eric. Like you, I’ve found previous little about Huey – now his story will be told fuller, which is exactly what a good soldier like Huey deserves after all these years.

J.D.

Most of my family in the Civil War was Quaker as well. I have always wondered how this was handled.

Your papers should put some good insight into this.

Chris

I urge you to do something sooner, rather than later.

Two years ago a lady contacted me. She had over 100 letters from a soldier in the 84th Illinois. While not spectacular (not like he fought at Gettysburg or anything) they were good content on army life, leaders, and battles. Lots of worries about his wife back home on the farm, and problems with an Irish tenant. Several pieces of good advice about how to deal with Irish tenants, which were at this remove, quite funny.

They were a perfect fit for a similar collection in the Newberry library in Chicago. The Newberry had a collection from a guy that knew this guy (same company) and both letters sets referred to each other.

The lady had typescripts, had the originals preserved, etc. She took care of them nicely. I discussed options with her and put her in touch with the aquisitions people at Newberry. She was going to donate them, I think, but she was reluctant to let them go. Still, there are now transcripts in the world, so another letters set saved…

There are two holy grails for Chickamauga. The first is the material solicited by George Dolton, a St. Louis businessman who after the war collected a huge amount of material on Horseshoe Ridge. Dolton wrote extensively in National Tribune, American Tribune, etc. about the war. He was a surveyor, and he surveyed all of Horseshoe Ridge. He marked battle positions by tree damage, etc.

Of course, his papers have disappeared. In 2002, a descendent surfaced with his letters and diary from the wartime period, which he annotated and published. The wartime stuff is excellent – Dolton was a very literate guy. However, the descendent had no clue about Dolton’s post-war papers. The fact that his wartime stuff survived in one branch of the family gives me hope that the rest is out there too.

The second grail are the Archibald Gracie papers. Not the CSA General, but his son. Gracie Jr visited the battlefield around the turn of the century, and disagreed with the park interpretation. So he wrote a book: “the Truth About Chickamuaga,” to blow the lid off this whole Yankee conspiracy thing.

He intended to write to books. The first, which got published, was told from the Union perspective (it is very hard to read, BTW, extremely disjointed.) The second was going to tell the story from the Confed side. Like Dolton, Gracie corresponded with 100s of veterans. His letters to the vets can be found in all sorts of other collections. Excerpts from these narratives were quoted extensively in his book.

But alas, Gracie went down on the Titanic. He went into the water, was rescued, and survived long enough to testify at the hearings and write a book on the experience. Then he died, his second Chickamauga book unwritten. No one has been able to find his papers. It is possible that they went down on the titanic too, but somewhat doubtful. Why would he bring all his working papers on vacation, after he had finished his first book?

Finding either of those two hoards would be like finding the Batchelder collection in miniature.

Dave Powell

I’m quite certain you’re right. The question is when and where the stuf will turn up.

Eric

LOL. If Andy Warhol was right, then is your fifteen minutes. 🙂

Eric

I truly believe there are papers out there that have yet to surface. Have tended to believe that those who have those papers and such in hand, really don’t have a clue as to their importance.

I do hope I am right, and stuff like what Pete has continues to find their way to the surface. I look forward to hearing more about this and reading about it when the trilogy eventually comes out.

Hope all is well.

Regards from the Garden State,

Steve