Texas (Hayward)

Gazetteer/Almanac
John Hayward, Gazetteer of the United States of America… (Philadelphia: James L. Gihon, 1854), 138-141.
TEXAS was formerly one of the Mexican possessions, though a distant province; being,as was generally admitted, one of the many conquests of Fernando Cortes, in the sixteenthcentury. At the period of its subjugation, it was inhabited by savages of the worst description.  Prior to the year 1690, a French colony occupied a small district; but they were subsequently driven out by the Spaniards, under whose jurisdiction the country remained, with few or no intervals of agitation, sunk in the obscurity and lethargy of despotism, until the abdication of Charles VI.
Gazetteer of the United States of America....

Francis Reddin Tillou Nicholls (American National Biography)

Scholarship
Judith K. Schafer, "Nicholls, Francis Redding Tillou,” American National Biography Online, February 2000, ttp://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00566.html.
Although reluctant to support secession, Nicholls had a distinguished career serving the Confederacy. He and his brother Lawrence raised an infantry company, the Phoenix Guards, in which he served as captain. He later served as the commander of the Eighth Louisiana Regiment, participating in the first battle of Manassas and in Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. He lost his left arm from a wound received at the battle of Winchester in May 1862 and his left foot at the battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. By this time he had risen to the rank of brigadier general.
American National Biography Online

Henry Morton Stanley, photograph, circa 1870, detail

Scanned by
Smithsonian Institution
Notes
Sized, cropped, and prepared for use here by John Osborne, Dickinson College, June 24, 2008.
Image type
photograph
Use in Day View?
No
Courtesy of
Smithsonian Photography Initiative, Smithsonian Institute
Permission to use?
Public
Original caption
Mr. H. M. Stanley
Source citation
Dibner Library, Smithsonian Institution
Source note
Photographer: London Stereoscopic Company, London.

Henry Morton Stanley, photograph, circa 1870

Scanned by
Smithsonian Institution
Notes
Sized, cropped, and prepared for use here by John Osborne, Dickinson College, June 24, 2008.
Image type
photograph
Use in Day View?
No
Courtesy of
Smithsonian Photography Initiative, Smithsonian Institute
Permission to use?
Public
Original caption
Mr. H.M. Stanley
Source citation
Dibner Library, Smithsonian Institution
Source note
Photograph taken in London.

William Hamilton Griffith (Dickinson Alumni Record)

Reference
George Leffingwell Reed, ed., Alumni Record: Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1905), 176.
Griffith, William Hamilton – Born August 19, 1836, in York, Pa.; A. B., 1858; banker, 1858-9, taught in Frederick county, Md.; 1859-60, teacher of languages, Cumberland Valley Institute; 1860-61, taught Hartford county, Md.; 1861-4, associate principal Cottage Hill college, York, Pa.; 1864-6, associate editor “True Democrat,” York, Pa.; teller York national bank; Sigma Chi; B. L. society. Address, York, Pa.
Alumni Record: Dickinson College

Steamship "California," 1849

Scanned by
Smithsonian Institution
Notes
Sized, cropped, and prepared for use here by John Osborne, Dickinson College, June 24, 2008.
Image type
print
Use in Day View?
No
Courtesy of
Smithsonian Photography Initiative, Smithsonian Institute
Permission to use?
Public
Original caption
U.S. Pacific Mail Ship California
Source citation
National Postal Museum

History of the First Kentucky Brigade

Benjamin Hardin Helm (First Kentucky Brigade)
Type: Description
Citation:
Ed. Porter Thompson, History of the First Kentucky Brigade (Cincinnati: Caxton Publishing House, 1868), 341.
Body Summary:
And when Mr. [William H.] Seward authoritatively announced that the garrison should be withdrawn from Fort Sumter, [Helm] had not yet been able to conceive that any body of public officers could harbor a thought of self-stultification and a secret design upon the institutions of his section; and he was so confirmed in the belief that there would be no war that he went to Washington to see Mr. Lincoln, with a view of again entering the regular army, which he sincerely wished to do, having never been satisfied with his profession as a lawyer.  The President gave him to understand that he should be commissioned in accordance with request, and he returned to Louisville, still under the impression that no hostile proceedings would be instituted against the Southern States.  But the very first subsequent developments aroused suspicions in his mind as to the real intentions of the administration. In a short time it was rumored that a fleet had sailed to relieve Sumter—then the fall of that place, precipitated by the approach of the naval armament, was announced, and he no longer hesitated.  He was no man to "halt between two opinions," and when the path of duty was clear, he entered it without hesitancy.  "He embraced the Southern cause," says a friend, "with all the enthusiasm of his extremely ardent and enthusiastic nature." He went at once to Montgomery, and tendered his services to the Confederate Government.

John Brown, Soldier of Fortune: A Critique

Mary Ann Day Brown, Letter From John Brown (Wilson, 1918)
Type: Description
Citation:
Hill Peebles Wilson, John Brown, Soldier of Fortune: A Critique (Boston: The Cornhill Company, 1918), 381.
Body Summary:
Immediately after Brown's incarceration, a movement was started by Mr. Higginson to have Mrs. Brown go to Harper's Ferry to visit her husband. But when the information reached Brown, he peremptorily forbade her coming; wiring Mr. Higginson: "For God's sake don't let Mrs. Brown come. Send her word by telegraph wherever she is."

This arbitrary action should not excite surprise. There was no atonement that Brown could make for the ruin which he had wrought: for the dead who would never return. There were no words that he could say which would carry consolation to this woman's stricken heart, nor was it possible for him to make any rift in the clouds of her unutterable woe. He shrank, instinctively, from a presence of the bleeding heart of the woman whom he had wronged. November 9th, he wrote to Mr. Higginson:

If my wife were to come here just now it would only tend to distract her mind TENFOLD; and would only add to my affliction; and can not possibly do me any good. It will also use up the scanty means she has to supply Bread & cheap but comfortable clothing, fuel, &c for herself & children through the winter. DO PERSUADE her to remain at home for a time (at least) till she can learn further from me. She will receive a thousand times the consolation AT HOME that she can possibly find elsewhere. I have just written her there & will write her CONSTANTLY. Her presence here would deepen my affliction a thousand fold. I beg of her to be calm and submissive; & not to go wild on my account. I lack for nothing & was feeling quite cheerful before I heard she talked of coming on — I ask her to compose her mind & to remain quiet till the last of this month; out of pity to me. I can certainly judge better in the matter than any one ELSE. My warmest thanks to yourself and all other kind friends.

God bless you all. Please send this line to my afflicted wife by first possible conveyance.
Mary Ann Day Brown, visting Harpers Ferry (Wilson, 1918)
Type: Description
Citation:
Hill Peebles Wilson, John Brown, Soldier of Fortune: A Critique (Boston: The Cornhill Company, 1918), 392.
Body Summary:
From the home of Mr. J. M. McKim, in Philadelphia, November 21st, Mrs. Brown addressed a letter to the Governor asking for the "mortal remains of my husband and his sons'' for burial, to which he replied as follows:

I am happy, Madam, that you seem to have the wisdom and virtue to appreciate my position of duty. Would to God that "public considerations could avert his doom," for The Omniscient knows that I take not the slightest pleasure in the execution of any whom the laws condemn. May He have mercy on the erring and the afflicted. Enclosed is an order to Major Genl. Wm. B. Taliaferro, in command at Charlestown, Va. to deliver to your order, the mortal remains of your husband "when all shall be over"; to be delivered to your agent at Harper's Ferry; and if you attend the reception in person, to guard you sacredly in your solemn mission.

With Tenderness and Truth,
I am Very respectfully, your humble servant,

HENRY A. WISE.

Under the authority of this letter, Mrs. Brown, in company with Mrs. McKim and Mr. Hector Tyndale arrived at Harper's Ferry, November 30th. There she received a telegram from the Governor giving her permission to visit her husband, alone, on the following day, stipulating that she return to Harper's Ferry the same evening.
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