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Collection

James Furnis letter book, 1755-1759 (majority within 1755-1758)

179 pages (1 volume) and 1 letter

The James Furnis letter book contains copies of letters from a British commissary of stores and paymaster to the Royal Artillery and army comptroller of ordnance in North America, primarily stationed in Albany and New York City. He communicated frequently with British officers, independent merchants, and the Board of Ordnance in London, revealing decision-making processes for supplying and managing the Royal Artillery in America. These letters also supply information on troop movements and estimates of dead and wounded after battles.

The James Furnis kept his letter book (179 pages) from July 23, 1755, to December 16, 1758, while serving as British commissary of stores and paymaster to the Royal Artillery and as army comptroller of ordnance in North America. The volume contains 114 letters, all official in nature. He communicated frequently with British officers, independent merchants, and the Board of Ordnance in London, revealing decision-making processes for supplying and managing the Royal Artillery in America. These letters also supply information on troop movements and estimates of dead and wounded.

Furnis wrote the bulk of the entries from Albany and New York City, but also wrote while on short trips to Philadelphia and Boston. Recipients are officers, engineers, and merchants at Albany, New York, Owsego, Fort Edward, Fort William Henry, Boston, and Philadelphia. His letters offer in-depth descriptions of fort upkeep and artillery management and activities. Of particular interest are 24 dispatches from Furnis to the Board of Ordnance in London, which detail the Braddock expedition, describe the poor state of order at Fort Edward, and provide a firsthand account of the siege and capture of Fort William Henry by the French army under Montcalm (August 3-26, 1757).

Furnis wrote the first entry from Fort Cumberland, Maryland, in August 1755, about a month after Braddock's defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela.

Other notable entries include:
  • 4 letters from Furnis to John Ewing, an independent merchant in Boston from whom the British Military purchased military stores.
  • 7 letters to Major General Abercrombie, including a letter that concerned supplies for Abercrombie's failed attack at Fort Carillon, and the positions of Colonel Williamson, who at that time was laying siege to the French Fort at Louisbourg in Halifax (June 22, 1758).
  • A letter to William Saltonstall, commissary of Royal Artillery at Halifax, written during the Siege of Louisbourg (May 79 1758).
  • A letter giving a full account of the siege on Fort William Henry, between July 31 and August 10, 1757, with discussions of General Webb, Lord Loudoun, Lieutenant Colonel John Young, and Montcalm, and with notes on the preparations of Fort Edward and Fort William Henry in June (August 27, 1757).

An additional loose letter from John Bradstreet to James Furnis (September 2, 1759, Albany, New York) is located in the front of the volume. In it, Bradstreet asks if artillery, ammunition, and stores sent west have been stopped for want of carts.

Collection

Jean Chalon, Histoire Abregée de la Conquête du Canada, 1753-1763

54 pages (1 volume, old half vellum)

This volume is a historical narrative, in French, of the French and Indian War and Britain's annexation of Canada to its territorial possessions in America. The volume also holds a copy of the Articles of the Capitulation of Montreal.

The Histoire Abregée de la Conquête du Canada is a contemporary account of the events between 1753 and 1760 describing Britain's annexation of Canada to its territorial possessions in America. The narrative moves chronologically and focuses on the year 1759, when French Quebec fell to the English. In 1753, the Canadian, English, and American governments were in conflict over trade along the Ohio River. In 1755 the French routed the army of General Braddock, who died in battle, and by 1757 had control over all vital marine passages to Canada from the Ohio Valley and Western New York. The British lost an attack on the French fort at Niagara but took Crown Point under the leadership of Colonel William Johnson. Chalon relates the movements of Generals Amherst, John Prideaux, Montcalm, and Wolfe and describes the ships, frigates, troops, and munitions for both sides, while giving a full account of the important engagements throughout the war. General James Wolfe, who successfully led British troops to victory over Quebec, receives a particularly heroic description from Chalon. The author next describes the harsh winter of 1760, the French attempt to re-take the city, and the British victory at Montreal under General Amherst, completing the conquest of Canada.

The volume ends with two transcriptions. The first is the thirty-four Articles of the Capitulation of Montreal, which concerns the transfer of military control from the French to the English. Of interest are Article 30, which provides for the protection of Indians, and Article 33, which declared that blacks having the status of slaves were to remain so, in the hands of their French masters. Second is The Fourth Article of the Peace Treaty of 1763, which guaranteed religious tolerance of French Canadian Catholics and the liberty of those subjects now under English rule.

Throughout the narrative, Chalon discusses the roles that the "Indian Nations" played in the conflict as both instigators of conflicts and, at times, as pawns of the two European powers.

Collection

Quaker collection, 1700-1888

113 items

The Quaker Collection consists of miscellaneous letters, diaries, and documents relating to the religious and social history of the Society of Friends in America during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Quaker collection consists of miscellaneous letters, diaries, and documents related to the religious and social history of the Society of Friends in America during the 18th and 19th centuries. These items offer insights into Quaker's daily activities and concerns, such as family life, education, and attending meetings, as well as their participation in various social reform movements, such as abolition, treatment of Native Americans, prison improvements, temperance, and pacifism. The collection also documents internal divergences of American Quakerism in the 19th century, particularly the social and doctrinal disputes that culminated in the Hicksite and Wilburite schisms.

Among the collection's notable items:
  • 1707: A manuscript copy of the death warrant of William Leddra, the last of four Quakers (including Mary Dyer) executed in Massachusetts Bay colony for their religious beliefs
  • July 26, 1755: A letter from Alexander Colden to Sir William Johnson voicing frustration with Quakers who refuse to support the war effort in Pennsylvania, and an announcement of General Braddock's defeat
  • August 4-12 and 17, 1761: Two accounts, one by an anonymous woman, of Quaker presence at Treaty negotiations held at Easton, Pennsylvania, between the government of Pennsylvania and the Six Nations tribes. Discussed are the negotiations, Quaker-Indian interactions, and the role of Quaker women in the Society
  • [After 1770]: An account by an anonymous author of a conference with Native Americans, mostly of the Minnisink Tribe
  • October 13, 1829: A letter from Phoebe Post Willis of Jericho, New York, to Isaac Post on the death of John Hicks and strife between Orthodox and Hicksite Quakers
  • March 10, 1843: A letter from Ethan Foster of Westerly, Rhode Island, to Thomas B. Gould on Wilburite-Gurneyite strife in his local meeting, and the disownment of Wilbur
  • [After 1863 July]: A letter describing a meeting between Abraham Lincoln and five Quaker prisoners of war, who had been forced into the Confederate army, captured by the Union, and held at Fort Delaware
  • Various dates: Reports, minutes, and epistles from yearly friends meetings in America and Great Britain