The Stuff That Turns Up Just Amazes Me….

I guess this, added to the banjo tunes and badly sung 19th century songs I`ve uploaded on “YouTube” might qualify me for a full half-hour of fame, fifteen minutes for each…..

“Pete” Huey

Pete,

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

Pete,

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.

Not that it`s of great consequence at this point but I gave you some incorrect biographical information.
Elizabeth Waln Wistar was Pennock`s first, not second, wife. After her death he married Louisa Gerhardt who also predeceased him, along with a child of that marriage.
Eric and J.D., I`m looking forward to seeing you Saturday at Westminster. I`ll have some copies of letters, documents, etc. as well as a couple of CDs of war diaries and so forth.

Cheers,

Pete

This is for Peter Huey. My great Uncle was an antique dealer in Marshallton, PA- near Kennett square. He gave me a Horstman sword that he got from a widow in kennett. He said her husband conscripted a unit of men and took them to the war. I only dimly remember that he said the man was a captain grey. I tried to find this man Grey, and could not. I did find Pennock Huey and wonder if this could be his sword. I’m trying to find if there are any horstman sales records.