Showing 5 results

Archival Descriptions
Texas A&M University, Libraries, Cushing Memorial Library & Archives Edward Everett Papers Series English
Print preview Hierarchy View:

Engravings, Maps, and Plans

This series contains nine lithographed engravings for illustrations of a U.S. Secretary of the Treasury report on Army operations in Texas and Mexico. All the illustrations are drawn by Edward Everett, and engraved by C. B Graham Lithographers of Washington, D.C. All nine engraving in the papers have been hand-tinted with watercolors, with two versions each of two of the illustrations, probably representing different times of day. The engravings are almost all annotated by hand in ink or pencil, or both, and are listed in order as they appear in the published report of 1850. Also included are three maps of the South Texas and San Antonio area as well as portions of Mexico, and three leaves of plans, two for the same illustration drawn by Everett for the report showing the Alamo mission buildings in 1846 before renovation, and one of the San Antonio de Bexar area drawn by Everett some time later from memory.

Journals and Memoir

This series consists of three groups of journal entries, and a memoir handwritten in ink. All are written on loose sheets of white notepaper or stationary which had been machine ruled in blue, except for one sheet of pale blue, unruled paper with a yellowed, rough left margin, which may have been torn from a notebook, but more likely was the remaining half of a larger sheet of paper.

Nearly all the pages bear some lightly penciled annotations, corrections and additions, undoubtedly in Everett's handwritting, and all but the memoir, with one page labeled a copy of 1899, had been folded to approximately 20 x 9 cm., then labeled as if for filing. Unclear in all cases which sets of entries are original or fair hand copies, though it appears that Everett may have been preparing all the entries for publication, probably in a personal memoir.

Journal entries are devoted to Everett's experiences in Texas during the Mexican War (1846-1848) and are dated from shortly after Edward Everett was wounded in the knee (11 Sept. 1846) and confined to the military hospital to 4 April 1847. The memoir extends the record to encompass the rest of 1848, and extend the chronology of Everett's life to well past the Civil War, though the latter events are only touched on briefly.

Everett's narrative of his experiences give a great deal of detail and insight concerning life on the Texas frontier near the Mexican border, as well as the hardships encountered by American soldiers and both American and Mexican civilians during the Mexican War (1846-1848).

Letters

This series contains three group of letters, with the first group containing sixteen letters written in the period June 12, 1846 - May 16, 1847, by Edward Everett in San Antonio de Bexar during his service in the Mexican War, to his brother, Samuel W. Everett in Quincy, Ill. A few letters, also from this period, sent to Everett by Captain J. H. Ralston, Colonel R. Jones, Captain James D. Morgan, and Colonel William Weatherford pertain to Everett's disability and eventual discharge from the Army.

The second group has three letters from the period after the Mexican War. The first letter, no more than a note, dated 1852, is from W. H. Bissell concerning a piece of legislation. The other two letters are from 1863, and both discuss the Civil War. One is addressed from Fort Jackson, probably in Louisiana, dated 13 April 1863, opening with "My Dear Father," and closing with "your son Taylar Clark." This writer mentions the Civil War in general terms, and the spelling and grammar are both very poor. The other letter, with much more educated spelling and grammatical style, is addressed "Camp near Warrenton, Va.," dated 6 Sept. 1863, opens with "Dear Parents," and closes "From your affect. son, Henry." This letter discusses army camp life in some detail, including the responsibilities of training U.S. Army Conscripts, various incidents occurring during patrol duty, and an attack that had just been mounted by "Mosebys Gang " at New Baltimore.

Miscellaneous Letters, Memos, and Clippings

This series includes newspaper clippings, including three items thought to be from circa 1906 concerning the Alamo, its survivors, and its history, and a copy of Edward Everett's obituary. Miscellaneous documents include a copy of a House Bill for financial relief due to Everett's disability incurred while serving in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War, and other miscellaneous printed pieces referring to him.

Transcripts

This series contains typed transcripts of the handwritten manuscripts held in Series 1, 2, and 4. The transcripts were probably made by repository staff, but the date of composition is unknown.