Scope and Content Note
The papers of John M. Schofield (1831-1906) span the years 1837-1906, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1862-1895. The collection consists of a diary, journals, letters received (originals, transcripts, and record notes of other letters received), letters sent (fair copies, drafts, and letter press copies), military papers (largely special field orders, military telegrams, and endorsements), memoranda, reports, dispatches, financial records, court-martial records, manuscripts and notes of speeches, articles and memoir, maps, memorabilia, and printed matter. The papers are organized into nine series: Diary and Journals; Letters Received; Letters Sent; Military Papers; Subject File; Speech, Article, and Book File; Miscellany; Addition, and Oversize.
The Civil War papers in the collection touch upon field operations in Missouri where Schofield commanded the Army of the Frontier and later the Department of the Missouri, and the operations of the Department and Army of the Ohio under Schofields's command in General William T. Sherman's Atlanta campaign. Many papers document the Union victories at Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee. Journals and correspondence concern Schofield's services in 1865-1866 as confidential agent of the State Department to persuade French officials to recall forces from Maximilian's empire in Mexico. Papers concern reconstruction in Virginia, 1866-1868, under Schofield, and his efforts to settle the quarrel between the president and Congress as Andrew Johnson's secretary of war.
Nearly half the collection concerns Schofield's activities in the peace-time army as commander of the Department of the Missouri (1869-1870), Division of the Pacific (1870-1876, 1882-1883), Military Division of the Gulf (1881), Military Division of the Missouri (1883-1886), and the Division of the Atlantic (1886-1888); as superintendent of the United States Military Academy (1876-1881); and as commanding general of the Army (1888-1895).
Significant correspondents include Frank P. Blair (1821-1875), Jacob D. Cox, Ulysses S. Grant, Henry Wager Halleck, Fitz-John Porter, Philip Henry Sheridan, William T. Sherman, and Alfred Howe Terry.