Davis, Jefferson. Letters, 1846-1888 (MS 5)
Original handwritten letters between U.S. Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his government and military colleagues, and his wife, Varina.
TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Guide to the Jefferson Davis Letters,
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Descriptive Summary |
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| Repository: | Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX |
| Creator: | Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889 |
| Title: | Jefferson Davis Letters |
| Dates: | 1846-1888 |
| Quantity: | 11 folders |
| Abstract: | Original handwritten letters between U.S. Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his government and military colleagues, and his wife, Varina. Colleagues inlcude General William H. Emory, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, E.E. Bradbury, Sullivan W. Burbank, Secretary of War Jno. B. Floyd, General Joseph E. Johnston, Col. Abraham Myers, General James Chesnut, Martin W. Philips and W.H. Sanders. The bulk of the letters date from the 1850s and 1860s. |
| Identification: | MS 5 |
| Language: | Materials are in English. |
Biographical Note
Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate (1828), army officer on the western frontier (1828-35), Zachary Taylor's son-in-law and confidant, a Mississippi planter and slaveholder, presidential elector (1844), United States congressman and senator in the 1840s and 1850s, gubernatorial candidate (1851), Franklin Pierce's secretary of war and personal advisor (1853-1857), spokesman for the South in the Senate (1857-61), president of the Confederacy (1861-65), a federal prisoner indicted for treason (1865-67), Memphis businessman (1869-73), Confederate apologist, and a notable symbol of the Lost Cause.
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Scope and Contents
Original handwritten letters between Jefferson Davis and his government and military colleagues, and his wife, Varina. Colleagues inlcude General William H. Emory, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, E.E. Bradbury, Sullivan W. Burbank, Secretary of War Jno. B. Floyd, General Joseph E. Johnston, Col. Abraham Myers, General James Chesnut, Martin W. Philips, and W.H. Sanders. The bulk of the letters date from the 1850s and 1860s.
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Restrictions
Access Restrictions
This material is open for research but requires 24 hrs. for retrieval.
Please call ahead at 713-348-2586 or e-mail woodson@rice.edu.
Use Restictions
Permission to publish material from the Jefferson Davis Letters must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.
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Related Material
See also Kuntz U.S. Civil War Collection (MS 256) at the Woodson Research Center for additional original Jefferson Davis letters dating from 1862-1865 and 1880.
Contact the Jefferson Davis Association (713-348-4990) housed at Rice University for additional original Jefferson Davis materials. These materials form part of the Jefferson Davis Papers project - for more information on the project, see http://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/about.cfm.
Contact the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, Tulane University, and the Museum of the Cofederacy (Richmond, VA) for information on their holdings of Davis correspondence and records.
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Index Terms
Subjects (Persons)
Places
Formats
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Jefferson Davis Letters, MS #5, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.
Acquisition Information
These letters were purchased by the Fondren Library.
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Detailed Description of the Collection
| Series I: 1846-1859, n.d. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Dec. 10, 1846, Jefferson Davis to Varina "Winnie" (2 leaves) | |||||||||
| 2 | Feb. 18, 1851, Jefferson Davis and others to Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Teasury (1 leaf) | ||||||||||
| 3 | Aug. 14, 1854, William H. Emory to Jefferson Davis (1 leaf) with Jefferson Davis approving request (verso of leaf) | ||||||||||
| 4 | Feb. 7, 1855, Jefferson Davis to Senator Stephen A. Douglas (1 leaf) | ||||||||||
| 5 | Dec. 31, 1858, Jefferson Davis to E. E. Bradbury (1 leaf) | ||||||||||
| 6 | Sept. 24, 1859, and n.d., Sullivan W. Burbank to Jefferson Davis (2 leaves) with note from Jefferson Davis to Hon. Jno. B. Floyd (verso of leaf) | ||||||||||
| Series II: 1862-1888 | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 7 | March 3, 1862, Joseph E. Johnston to Jefferson Davis (1 leaf) with (on verso) Jefferson Davis to Col. Abraham Myers, and March 7, 1862, Col. Myers to Jefferson Davis (1 leaf) | |||||||||
| 8 | March 13, 1862, J.E. Johnston to Jefferson Davis (1 leaf) | ||||||||||
| 9 | Oct. 31, 1864, telegram Jefferson Davis to General James Chesnut(1 leaf) | ||||||||||
| 10 | Nov. 24, 1887, Jefferson Davis to "My very dear friend" [Martin W. Phillips] (2 leaves) | ||||||||||
| 11 | May 23, 1888, Jefferson Davis to Dr. W. H. Sanders | ||||||||||
