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This collection contains correspondence, documents, financial records, reports, and other items pertaining to Gilbert L. Thompson. The material relates to Thompson's work as the United States Navy's chief engineer from 1842-1844, and his involvement in the coal and transportation industries in the mid- to late 19th century.

This collection (1 linear foot) contains correspondence, documents, financial records, reports, and other items pertaining to Gilbert L. Thompson. The material relates to Thompson's work as the United States Navy's chief engineer from 1842-1844, and his involvement in the coal and transportation industries.

The Correspondence series (155 items) is mostly made up of incoming business letters to Gilbert L. Thompson; outgoing drafts by Thompson and business letters between other persons are also present. The first group of items concern Thompson's service as the United States Navy's chief engineer from 1842-1844, addressing many topics related to naval engineering and United States Navy vessels. The remaining correspondence, dated 1850-1861 and 1865-1872, largely pertains to Thompson's business interests and his stake in various ventures. Thompson wrote and received letters about coal and oil industries, railroads, domestic commerce, and attempts to establish regular steamship trade between the United States and Europe after the Civil War. Many of the latter items pertain to the Norfolk and St. Nazaire Steam Navigation Company and to commerce in the South during the early years of Reconstruction. Thompson's prominent correspondents included Secretary of the Treasury Walter Forward, Secretary of the Navy Abel Parker Upshur, and Virginia governor Francis Harrison Pierpont.

The Documents series is divided into two subseries. The Legal Documents (34 items), which include copies of legislation, by-laws, indentures, and other items, pertain to naval engineering, transatlantic trade between the United States and Europe, and Gilbert L. Thompson's business affairs. Several items relate to the Norfolk and St. Nazaire Steam Navigation Company and to the American Iron Shipbuilding, Mining, and Manufacturing Company. One indenture relates to land that Thompson and his wife owned in Fairfax County, Virginia, and includes a manuscript map of the property (December 13, 1844). Financial Documents (14 items) are made up of accounts and other items pertaining to the Western Virginia Coal Company, the Coal Oil and Paraffin Company of Baltimore, steamship construction and operation, the USS Missouri, and other subjects.

Reports and Drafts (53 items) pertain to the Norfolk and St. Nazaire Steam Navigation Company, steam boiler explosions, coal lands in Pennsylvania and Virginia, the United States Navy, and transportation. Some memorials addressed to the United States Congress mention relevant legislation.

The Notes and Drawings series (90 items) contains technical drawings, manuscript maps, and notes about steam engines, mining and drilling equipment and practices, and other subjects.

Three Newspaper Clippings from the early 1870s concern the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, a property dispute involving General Bradley T. Johnson, steamships, and the sale of an iron furnace.

The Ira Foster papers contain a sampling of items relating to the official business of quartermaster general of Georgia during the Civil War, including incoming and outgoing correspond between Foster and various Confederate agents concerning the purchasing, storage, and delivery of clothes, and wholesale foodstuffs.

The Ira Foster papers contain a sampling of items relating to the official business of quartermaster general of Georgia during the Civil War, including 102 letters, 2 receipts, and 1 official report. The collection consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence between Foster and various confederate agents, concerning the purchasing, storage, and delivery of clothes, wholesale foodstuffs (rice, flour, coffee, sugar, syrup, etc.), and liquors. Several letters include other supply items, such as candles, wire, salt, and iron. A few items relate aspects of slavery, sawmill production, small farming in Georgia, and the exemption bill. The collection provides insights into the Georgia government’s decisions on provisioning troops and on the state of the southern trade economy during the Civil War.

Manuscript copy of a report by Manuel de Mier y Terán on Native Americans living in Texas, providing information on their numbers, characteristics, locations, and songs.

The volume contains a 54-page manuscript copy of Manuel de Mier y Terán's Spanish-language report on native people of Texas, entitled Noticia de las tribus de salvages conocidos que habitan en el departamento de Tejas, y del número de familias de que consta cada Tribu, puntos en que habitan y terrenos en que acampan , which he submitted to the Mexican government in 1828. Terán's assistant and draftsman, José María Sánchez y Tapia, produced the undated copy from Terán's manuscript. Terán's report provides quantitative and qualitative information on 29 tribes residing in Texas, including the Lipanes, Comanches, Huecos (Wacos), Tahuácanos, Cherokees, Kicapoos (Kickapoos), Iguanés, and Cadós (Caddos). He provided an approximate number of families in each tribe, detailed information on their locations, and sometimes commented on their habits and ways of life. On the Comanches, he noted that upon the death of a comrade, they killed the horse and broke the weapons which had served the deceased (pp. 6-7). For the Huecos (Wacos), he described the division of labor between men and women (p. 12). In addition to numbers and locations of various groups of Native Americans, Sánchez recorded several eight-measure songs, including lyrics, associated with the Táncahues, Tejas, Nadacos, and Iguanes tribes. In the back of the volume are an unfinished watercolor landscape and the lyrics to a song entitled "La Ausencia."

The Oliver Otis Howard reports consist of official reports of the 11th Corps, submitted by Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard to Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac.

The reports of XI Corps consist of the official reports submitted by Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard to Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac, between April and July, 1863. These manuscript copies document two of the seminal encounters of the war, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, with Howard's opinions on policy and his explanations of his Corps' harshly criticized performance. The final item in the collection includes sketchy records following the reassignment of XI Corps to the Army of the Cumberland and their role during the Chattanooga Campaign of 1863. Among engagements mentioned are Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, both in almost cryptic fashion.