Search

This collection contains letters that United States Army lieutenant (and later general) Amos Beebe Eaton wrote while training at the United States Military Academy and traveling in New York, Connecticut, Ohio, and Michigan. His early letters reflect the daily life of cadets at West Point in the mid-1820s, and his later letters to his wife provide family news, as well as information about the Army and contemporary politics.

This collection (59 items) contains letters that United States Army lieutenant (and later general) Amos Beebe Eaton wrote to his grandmother, Tryphena Cady of Canaan, New York, and to his wife, Elizabeth Selden Eaton.

Eaton wrote 6 letters to his grandmother between September 14, 1822, and March 26, 1826, while attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He described cadets' daily lives at the academy, including their physical regimen, and discussed the possibility of remaining in the military after graduation. Though he considered applying for the marine corps or becoming a doctor, he stayed with the army, and wrote 3 letters to his grandmother between April 16, 1828, and October 21, 1830, while he served at the Hancock Barracks near Houlton, Maine. A group of 5 letters, written to his sister and grandmother from Fort Niagara, New York, between February 21, 1831, and November 8, 1833, concern his movements with the army and his family life, including news of his new wife and young daughters. He also described Fort Niagara and shared some of his opinions on enlisted men. He wrote to his grandmother from Fort Gratiot, Michigan Territory, on July 7, 1834, commenting on his distrust of the pursuit of recognition.

Between 1832 and 1836, Eaton wrote to his wife Elizabeth ("Betsy") while he traveled in New York, Connecticut, Ohio, and Michigan, on military and personal business. He often mentioned family members, religious sentiments, and general details of his daily life. Two letters were written from Detroit during the Black Hawk War, in which he briefly mentioned ill soldiers, his opinion about the mistreatment of Native Americans, and the military's pursuit of Black Hawk (July 24 and 30, 1832). In another he discussed foreign relations with France as well as abolitionism (February 12, 1836). The collection also contains 2 letters that Eaton wrote while serving as Commissary General of Subsistence in 1867.

Several letters are addressed to Amos Eaton. One, written by "Gordon" on August 10, 1832, comments on the public reaction to and possible consequences of a recently published letter of Amos's, wherein he attributes the cholera outbreak in the military during the Black Hawk War to the mistreatment of Native Americans. Also included is a letter that Amos Beebe Eaton's father wrote to his son with extracts of his communication with New York Senators about the motivations behind Eaton's statements, a partial copy of the offending letter, and the impact it had on his military career (September 21, 1838). Other material includes one letter addressed to Elizabeth Eaton from a sibling (July 3, 1836) and a copied document signed by several recruits, stating that they had recently received pay (June 9, 1835).

The Caraway family letters consist of 19 letters written by members of the Caraway family. The bulk of the collection is made up of letters from Senator Hattie Wyatt Caraway (wife of Senator Thaddeus Caraway) to her son Paul. Hattie Wyatt Caraway was the first woman elected to the United States Senate.

The Caraway papers (19 items) mainly consist of incoming letters to Paul Wyatt Caraway, son of Senators Thaddeus and Hattie Caraway. Hattie Caraway, the first woman elected to the United States Senate, wrote 13 letters to her son Paul from 1927-1930, in which she commented on her social activities, travel, and other subjects. Other items include letters written by her sons Robert ("Bobbie") (4 items) and Paul (1 item) and by an anonymous writer (1 item).

In her letters, which include 7 dated items (February 19, 1927-[1930]) and 6 undated items from around the same period, Hattie Caraway frequently commented on her social acquaintances and activities in Washington, D.C., and Maryland. She and her husband, Senator Thaddeus Caraway, often attended luncheons with other public officials and their wives, and she also played cards. On at least one occasion, she anticipated attending a function with First Lady Grace Coolidge. Several letters contain references to Paul's friend Maxie, a fellow academy cadet, and Maxie's difficulties with a woman named Martha. Caraway occasionally discussed aspects of home life, such as her attempt to clear land on a new estate and the family's Siamese cat, and one of her undated letters has a reference to election returns that disappointed the Democratic Party. Her lengthy letter dated June 17, 1930, concerns her time onboard the American Export Lines steamer Exarch, bound for Europe; she described the Azores, her fellow passengers, and shipboard social interactions.

Robert Caraway ("Bobbie") wrote 3 letters to his brother Paul, including one onboard the Exarch in June 1930, providing personal news. His letter to his father, dated June 25-26, 1928, concerns his voyage to Malta and contains descriptions of sights around the Strait of Gibraltar. Paul Caraway wrote an undated letter to his girlfriend Della about about his social life, reassuring her about his casual interactions with other women. The final item is an unsigned draft of a letter to Paul about a dance and about Paul's friend Maxie.

This collection contains unbound material from a scrapbook compiled by George Howland Cox, a banker in Cambridge, Massachusetts, around the turn of the 20th century. Materials include a series of letters written by cadet William A. Simpson during his time at the United States Military Academy as well as Cox family correspondence, newspaper clippings, and ephemera.

This 47-item scrapbook was compiled by George Howland Cox, a banker in Cambridge, Massachusetts, around the turn of the 20th century. The book contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and ephemera.

The first 38 pages contain 21 letters that Cox received from cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Elbert Wheeler wrote the first letter on July 26, 1872, and William A. Simpson wrote the remaining letters between 1872 and 1873 and on June 17, 1914. Wheeler and Simpson discussed life at the academy, as well as the pursuits of their classmates; Simpson also related news of officer appointments and class rankings. Other correspondence includes letters to Cox from his parents and his letters to his father. One item is a letter of introduction for James Valentine Cox from Charles W. Seabury, which mentions the elder Cox's service in the Civil War and his desire to visit his son in the army (January 19, 1865). One partially printed letter from the United States Treasury Department grants George H. Cox permission to receive money owed to his recently deceased mother (September 6, 1886).

Other material includes a financial account, a concert program, and a menu, as well as newspaper clippings and 2 printed copies of speeches: a talk delivered by William H. Seward to the United States Senate on February 29, 1860, regarding Kansas, slavery, and other issues in domestic politics; and an annotated copy of a speech that George Howland Cox delivered at a school reunion in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Newspaper clippings concern local interests, such as state of the schoolhouse in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, around 1902 (2 pictures), and a small facsimile of the Chicago Evening Journal from February 7, 1878. The collection also contains the front pages of 2 newspapers: the Republican Standard of New Bedford, Massachusetts, which reported on a reunion of the Nye family (August 13, 1908); and The Cambridge Tribune, about Cox's plan to continue composing a series of reminiscences for the newspaper (September 15, 1928).

This ledger contains around 60 pages of financial accounts between Cadet Jacob Fordney Kreps and the treasurers of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, dated June 1879 to June 1883.

This ledger contains around 60 pages of monthly financial accounts between Cadet Jacob Fordney Kreps and the treasurers of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, dated June 1879-June 1883. A printed list of items that an incoming cadet should own when entering the academy is located on the volume's front endpaper. Kreps recorded his accounts on pre-printed pages with areas for recording monthly income, his expenses, and items he received from the academy's commissary. He received $90 pay each month, and was charged for various living expenses, including board and laundry service; articles of clothing, such as shoes and coats; and other items, such as soap and tobacco. One receipt is laid into the volume.