Scope and Content Note for Additions to the Collection
The five additions described below comprise materials acquired subsequent to the arranging, indexing, and microfilming of the Grant Papers in 1965. Each addition has been arranged in a separate series numbered sequentially and organized in accordance with the original collection. Series 8, Addition I, consists of items appraised as peripheral and thus omitted from the microfilm edition prepared as part of the presidential papers microfilming project. Also included are miscellaneous items acquired through 1973. A portion of Series 8 was subsequently microfilmed as a separate project. Series 9, Addition II, also includes items appraised as peripheral and thus omitted from the original collection as well as additions received between 1974 and 1978. Series 10, Addition III, consists of papers given to the Library by the Grant family in 1989. Series 11 contains papers acquired after Series 10 was arranged and material formerly found in other collections.
Series 8, Addition I, spans the years 1846-1893. It consists chiefly of correspondence, newspaper clippings, financial records, and souvenirs and includes letters from Grant to family members, military officers, public officials, and friends. A bound volume of autographs contains many of Grant's letters to his friend and business confidante, Charles W. Ford. Letters to Ford from Grant's wife, Julia Dent Grant, and her brother, Frederick T. Dent, as well as numerous engravings of Grant complete the volume.
Newspaper clippings, most of which were removed from the John Russell Young Papers, pertain to Grant's travels around the world in 1877-1879 and his dispute with Adam Badeau over the writing of Grant's memoirs. A bound volume of financial records and other miscellaneous material comprise the rest of the series. Of special note are souvenirs from an 1893 banquet commemorating Grant's birth. The souvenirs are reproductions of correspondence between Grant and Robert E. Lee concerning Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse and a printed narrative about Lee's surrender by Ely Samuel Parker.
Series 9, Addition II, spans the years 1848-1974 and primarily contains correspondence. Included are letters from Grant to George W. Childs, H. W. Halleck, George H. Thomas, and correspondence of Grant's grandson, Chapman Grant. Also contained in Series 9 is a headquarters record book, containing entries in Grant's handwriting, kept by the Fourth U.S. Infantry during the Mexican War.
Series 10, Addition III, spans the years 1840-1969, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1864-1885. The addition comprises family letters, personal and official correspondence, military records, writings, and miscellaneous material pertaining to Grant's military and political career supplementing the original corpus of Grant's papers in the Library of Congress.
The Family Correspondence file of Series 10, 1862-1965, consists of letters and notes from Grant to his wife and sons and letters between other family members and their correspondents. Notes written by Grant to his son, Frederick Dent Grant, while completing his memoirs at Mount McGregor and letters to Julia Dent Grant, including an affectionate note written days before his death, reflect Grant's devotion to his family.
Correspondence of Frederick Dent Grant pertains mostly to assisting his father with his memoirs. Letters from veterans and former military officers containing detailed accounts of Grant's actions during the Civil War were used to verify facts and provide source material. Correspondence belonging to Julia Dent Grant in the file includes letters of condolence on Grant's death, several personal letters from Varina Davis, and correspondence with Chinese and Japanese diplomats whom the Grants had met during their travels in 1877-1879. Also included is correspondence of Ulysses S. Grant III pertaining to his efforts in gathering documents and other material for his book, Ulysses S. Grant: Warrior and Statesman.
The greatest concentration of material in Series 10 is found in the Personal and Professional Correspondence file, 1840-1885, consisting chiefly of incoming letters, often with enclosures, addressed either to Grant or to members of his staff. Correspondence during the Civil War and Grant's presidential administration is primarily official in nature, though many letters from friends, colleagues, and private citizens are found interspersed throughout the file.
Correspondence during the Civil War period is quite extensive. Included are letters of both a personal and official nature between Grant and many of the officers under his command. Letters and telegraphs from William S. Rosecrans, Philip Henry Sheridan, and William T. Sherman provide glimpses into the progress of the war on its many different fronts. The file also includes letters to Grant from members of Congress containing comments and advice regarding his military decisions. Of note is a letter dated January 8, 1863, from Congressman Elihu B. Washburne in which he explains Lincoln's retraction of Grant's order ousting Jewish settlers from Union camps in the Mississippi Valley. Also included are letters from private citizens congratulating Grant on his victories at Vicksburg and the Battle of the Wilderness and his promotion to lieutenant general.
Grant's military service after the war as commanding general of the army and as interim secretary of war under President Andrew Johnson is also represented in the file. Letters exchanged between Grant and military and public officials concern such topics as the implementation of Reconstruction policies, the situation in Mexico involving nationalists and the French, and the formation of exconfederate militias in Maryland. Highlighting this period is correspondence relating to Johnson's removal of Philip H. Sheridan as district commander of Louisiana and Texas because of his forceful implementation of the Reconstruction Acts. Included are several letters from Sheridan in which he defends his actions to Grant and Grant's letter of protest to the president along with Johnson's response.
Also in the file are letters from members of the Union Republican National Committee regarding Grant's 1868 presidential campaign and numerous letters of congratulations from friends and private citizens for winning the election. A congratulatory letter dated December 8, 1868, from Mary Todd Lincoln includes her comment, "It requires no assurance, but that you will use your powerful influence and succeed in having Congress give me at least a pension of $3,000 a year so that I may be enabled to obey the command of my physicians."
The Personal and Professional Correspondence also contains correspondence documenting Grant's presidential administration. Grant and his staff received letters from a variety of correspondents, including commanders of military departments, members of Congress, governors and other state officials, college and university professors, businessmen, and private citizens. The letters relate to the annexation of Santo Domingo, Reconstruction policies, civil rights, and foreign affairs. Some commend Grant's political decisions and declarations, entreat him to run for a third term, or solicit personal and political favors. There are also a number of threats on Grant's life over such issues as the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and the use of federal troops in New Orleans to protect the lives of black Republicans.
Correspondence during this period also documents the scandals that occurred during Grant's administration. Included are letters relating to Grant's failure to get his nominees confirmed for the Supreme Court, letters of resignation from many of his cabinet members, and correspondence pertaining to the whiskey frauds involving the Treasury Department and his longtime friend and fellow Civil War veteran, Orville E. Babcock.
Completing the file is correspondence documenting Grant's life after he left the White House. Letters pertaining to his family's worldwide travels in 1877-1879 are included. Letters between Grant and Li Hung Chang, viceroy of Tientsin, and other Chinese and Japanese officials concern a dispute over Japan's annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. Grant served as an arbitrator in the dispute and eventually helped negotiate a peaceful solution. Grant, Li Hung Chang, and the Japanese officials maintained a friendly correspondence until his death.
The file also contains letters regarding Grant's unsuccessful bid for the presidential nomination on the Republican ticket in 1880, the collapse of Grant & Ward and his subsequent financial ruin, and messages of sympathy from friends and private citizens after the public disclosure of his fatal illness. Of special interest are letters from Civil War veterans containing personal accounts of battles, copies of contemporary letters and newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous facts and figures sent to assist Grant in the writing of his memoirs.
Frequent and notable correspondents include Adam Badeau, Orville E. Babcock, John A. Bingham, Benjamin Helm Bristow, Frederick Douglass, Hamilton Fish (1808-1893), Charles W. Ford, Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, John Singleton Mosby, Edwards Pierrepont, John A. Rawlins, Matias Romero, William S. Rosecrans, Philip Henry Sheridan, William T. Sherman, Edwin M. Stanton, Elihu B. Washburne, J. H. Wilson, and John Russell Young.
The Military File, 1846-1868, in Series 10 consists chiefly of copies of orders, reports, and official dispatches during the Civil War that mostly duplicate items found in the main body of the Grant Papers. The file also contains material pertaining to Grant's service as commanding general of the army after the war. Included are transcripts of congressional testimony given by Grant and memoranda pertaining to Reconstruction policies, copies of reports from the Mexican War, documents relating to a minor legal case during the Civil War, and other miscellaneous items, such as Grant's commission as lieutenant general in the United States Army signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1864.
The Writings file, 1847-1969, contains writings by Grant and his wife. Material pertaining to his autobiography, Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, includes drafts, galley proof fragments, and correspondence documenting the dispute between the Grant family and Adam Badeau over the authorship of the memoirs. The file also includes the galley and printer's proof of Grant's article, "The Siege of Vicksburg" (1884), some of his published letters to editors, a copy of a speech he gave in 1875 at the reunion of the Army of the Tennessee, and other miscellaneous writings.
The largest segment of the file includes the original manuscript of Julia Dent Grant's memoirs. Consisting of twelve volumes, the memoir is written in several different hands, including her own. Most of the writing was done by her eldest son, Frederick Dent Grant, and her longtime secretary, Mary Coffey. In 1975, the memoir was edited and published in its entirety by John Y. Simon.
The Writings file also contains writings by others. Included are an unpublished narrative and the galley proof of Ulysses S. Grant: Warrior and Statesman by Ulysses S. Grant III, notes made from Grant's papers by John Russell Young in 1875, memoranda written by Hamilton Fish and Felix Brunot during Grant's presidential administration, and other miscellaneous writings.
The final file of Series 10, Miscellany, 1819-1933, contains financial records, printed matter, souvenirs and other items from Grant's travels, maps of various properties, family passports, and drafts of Grant's will. His last signature before his death, as attested to by his son Frederick, a copy of the deposition he gave regarding the Grant & Ward scandal, and other miscellaneous items complete the series.
Series 11, Addition IV, 1845-1932, consists of correspondence, including a letter from Frederick T. Dent to his daughter Madgie commenting on the impeachment proceedings of Andrew Johnson and a visit he made to Ulysses S. and Julia Dent Grant in Washington, D.C., letters from Julia Dent Grant to Charles Furlong, and a letter from Ulysses S. Grant to Benjamin Helm Bristow. An item from 1865 consists of a letter from Grant to I. N. Morris giving J. M. A. Drake permission to pass through federal lines during the Civil War. Included is a Confederate twenty-dollar bill. Further material includes a letter of 1845 from Ulysses S. Grant to General R. Jones requesting a transfer from the United States Army 7th Infantry Regiment to the 4th Infantry Regiment and a photograph of Frederick Dent Grant dated 1908.
Series 12, Addition V, 1872, contains a letter from Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano to Grant regarding the appointment of Edward Ashton Rollins, the former commissioner of the Office of Internal Revenue, to be a commissioner from New Hampshire to the United States Centennial Commission.