Executive Departments, 1861-1865

Extent:

2 boxes; 470 items

Scope and content:

Papers relating to the Department of Justice, dated 1861-1865, deal primarily with legal proceedings, including the defense of Stephen W. Crawford of Georgia, 1861; an explanation offered the French consul in New York of why a French citizen may no longer do business at Camp Benjamin, 1862; several court-martial proceedings, 1863; a circular regarding punishment for the destruction of a church, 1864; charges against Major E. S. Burford, II Cavalry Corps; and charges against Union sympathizers turned over to the 45th Virginia Regiment. Papers relating to the Navy Department, dated 1861-1865, 16 items, include applications for leave; a promotion notification; a report, 1865, concerning plunder of stores; letters, 1862-1863, 3 items, concerning the captured schooner Willet S. Robbins; a report from the C.S.S. Gov. Moore; quartermaster's reports for the C.S.S. Virginia (No. 2), 1864, 2 items; report of the gunboat Sentinel, 1862, 1 item, at Roanoke Island; and vouchers, 1863-1864, 14 items, for travel, maintenance of steamers, and supplies at Shreveport, Louisiana. Papers relating to the Post Office Department, 1861-1865, 13 items, are largely reports from postmasters in Smith Bridge (Robeson County) and Harrington, North Carolina; Landon District, Abbeville, and Woodlawn (Edgefield County), South Carolina; and Austinville, Wythe County, Virginia; also a letter, 1863, regarding military exemption of postal contractors and administrative procedures regarding postage stamps. Papers of the State Department, 1861, 1 item, consist of a letter from C. J. N. Raynor providing a cipher for an agent in New York. Papers of the Treasury Department include accounts with the Confederate government in Camden County, North Carolina, 1864-1865, 1 vol., 15 pp.; auditors' office papers, 1861-1865, 8 items, containing claims of relatives of deceased soldiers, claims for an abandoned horse, and requisitions for money. Papers of the Office of the Secretary, 1861-1865, 23 items and 1 vol., contain checks, receipts, orders, and letters concerning treasury certificates and bonds, taxes and government indebtedness to railroads, and conscription orders. There are also receipts of tax in kind collected in the 7th Congressional District, Virginia, 1863-1864, 2 vols.; estimates and assessments of tax in kind, 1863-1865, 245 items and 10 vols., for Upson County, Georgia, and Mecklenburg, Albemarle, Amherst, Buckingham, Nelson, and Fluvanna counties, Virginia; and warrants, 1863-1865, 13 items, issued to Confederate agents abroad (Colin J. McRae, Ambrose Dudley Mann, and John Slidell), to Columbus Upson as governor of Arizona Territory, to Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of State, for payment to the "Secret Service," and for payment of large sums to deputies in preparation for the evacuation of Richmond. There are also records of several branches of the War Department, as follows. Papers of the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, 1861-1865, 82 items, are primarily orders signed by John Withers. Papers, 1864-1865, 4 items, of the Bureau of Conscription, largely concern furloughs and absent soldiers. Papers of the Bureau of Ordnance, 1862-1863, 5 items, are routine. Papers of the Engineer Bureau, 1862-1865, 7 items, contain checks, and letters concerning construction of a bridge at Demopolis and rails for the repair of railroads in Georgia. Papers of the Office of Inspector of Field Transportation, 1864-1865, 10 items, contain complaints about the impressment of horses and mules, reports on the inspection of roads, and the use of government wagons for private freight. Papers of the Office of Secretary, 1861-1863, 26 items, concern foreign trade and the effects of the blockade, transfer of U.S. property to the Confederate government, commissions in the Confederate Army, and passport forms. Papers of the Quartermaster General's Office, 1861-1865, 23 items, are orders, requisitions, letters, circulars, an indenture, and transportation passes for soldiers. Papers of the Subsistance Department, 1862-1865, 8 items, are mostly estimates of funds needed for various periods for [Charles C.] Crews' Brigade, the 12th Texas Cavalry, 17th Texas Cavalry, and the 7th North Carolina Regiment.

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