Scope and Content Note
The papers of John Angel James Creswell (1828-1891) span the years 1819-1885, with the bulk of the material dated 1862-1885. A government official, supporter of Abraham Lincoln, and abolitionist, Creswell changed his name from John Andrew Jackson Creswell to John Angel James Creswell after being elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican in 1861 in order to disassociate himself from Democrat Andrew Jackson. His papers consist of general correspondence, letterbooks, account books, and scrapbooks.
The general correspondence, chiefly 1862-1865, consists mainly of bound volumes of letters to Creswell concerning his law practice, business, Maryland politics, patronage, his duties as adjutant general of Maryland, the military draft during the Civil War, and the Maryland Constitutional Convention of 1867. The letterbooks, 1882-1885, pertain to American interests presented to the United States Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims.
Correspondents include Thomas King Carroll, George William Childs, Henry Winter Davis, Levi Duncan, Ulysses S. Grant, Joseph R. Hawley, Thomas Holliday Hicks, Reverdy Johnson, Edwin D. Morgan, Whitelaw Reid, George Alfred Townsend, and E. B. Washburne.