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Benjamin M. Linsley Letters

  • US TxAM-C 156
  • Collection
  • 1862-1863

These six letters, dated December 12, 1862 - August 6, 1863, are from Benjamin M. Linsley to his friend Mrs. Lucy G. Palmer in Suffield, Conn. Each letter is written in ink on both sides of a single folded sheet, except for the first one, which is on two folded sheets, sewn together in the center with cloth thread at some point after they were composed. All are addressed by Linsley from the camp near Falmouth, Va., where his regiment, the 14th Infantry of the Army of the Potomac was based, except the last one, which is addressed from McKinnis Hospital in Baltimore, Md., where Linsley was sent to recover from typhoid fever.

In the letters, Linsley comments on the failure of the Union army to obtain substantial victories ever since the Union defeat at Fredericksburg; inflated prices for postage stamps and sutler's goods; the despair he feels at the poor treatment in general of the sick in military hospitals, not only by medical personnel but by fellow soldiers; strategies for obtaining better food and bedding for his brother while nursing him through a severe fever, probably typhoid; the need for statesmen of moral standing more like George Washington than the much clamoured for "little man" George MacClellan; the trials of long marches in either rain and mud to cross the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers, only to retreat back over them after the battle of Chancellorsville, or the intense heat of marches toward Warrenton Junction, Va., from which Linsley was transported with the sick and wounded to recover from typhoid himself in McKinnis Hospital at Baltimore; the desperation of deserters being taken to their punishment; the immoral behaviour of men in camp; the need for more good chaplains like Clay Trumbull of Hartford, Conn., who served with his brother's regiment of Volunteers; and perhaps, more poignantly, the eerie sound of drums during funerals for the many soldiers who died in camp from sickness in their poor living conditions.

The letters are now each encased in a clear plastic sleeve. A one-page report from the National Archives and Records Administration is included with the first letter. This NARA report (2 July 2001) replies to a request made by Professor Dale Baum of Texas A & M University in April 2001 to locate and make a copy of Benjamin M. Linsley's pension documents packet, stating NARA staff could not locate the materials. Baum had listed Linsley as an enlistee of the U.S. Army in Company A, 1st Battalion, 14th U.S. Infantry.

Linsley, Benjamin M.

John Henry Bliler Diary

  • US TxAM-C 97
  • Collection
  • 1862-1875

This diary serves as John Henry Bliler's account of the Civil War. It was kept in the Bliler family, in some form since the Civil War, up until it was acquired by the repository.

It looks that Bliler copied over his original diary several times himself, and this last copy occupies all but a few leaves of the five exercise tablets. As noted in the description of Series 1, these first five exercise books could not possibly have contained a copy made any earlier than 1890. The only exception seems to be a portion of the last tablet, which is filled by entries copied over in pencil in 1944 by one of Bliler's descendants, Ardath Bliler Kelly, reportedly since the family copy had become quite damaged by then.

Thus, according to p. 56 of the typewritten transcript of the diary entries in the five exercise books, "[John Henry] Bliler copied his account of the Civil War three times during his lifetime. The last copy was made shortly before his death in 1924." On page number 116 in pencil in the fifth exercise book, an entry from March 31, 1944, made in different handwriting reads "The following copied from by [sic.] originally by Ardath Bliler Kelly, granddaughter of the narrator [sic.]. The original is ragged and yellowed and crumbling." Entries which are thus copied on p. 116-123 of this last exercise book are out of order, dated June 24, [1865] - June 29, 1865, followed by a note in Ardath Bliler Kelly's hand, "A portion of the original omitted in the copy," then the dates January 24 - January 31, 1865.

The typed transcript and index were probably made by Roy K. Bliler later than 1944, and not too long previous to when it was received by the repository. This transcript preserves the original order of John Henry Bliler's diary entries.

Bliler, John Henry, 1844-1924

Spanish-American War and Boxer Rebellion Scrapbooks

  • US TxAM-C 166
  • Collection
  • 1898-1900

This collection is comprised of 12 scrapbooks (compiler unknown) that contain magazine and newspaper clippings, maps, and other printed ephemera chronicling the Spanish-American War (April-August 1898) in Cuba, and the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) in China. No commentary or other original text has been provided by the compiler. The volumes differ slightly, but all are bound in either dark green or dark brown cloth, with maroon quarter calf. Most of the spine covers are damaged or missing. The scrapbooks measure from 20-25 cm. high and from 24-29 cm. wide.

  • Volume 1, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
    • A copy of the war-revenue law of 1898, with index [approved June 13, 1898] is pasted onto the inside back cover
  • Volume 2, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 3, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 4, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 5, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 6, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 7, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 8, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 9, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 10, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 11, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • Volume 12, Boxer Rebellion Scrapbook, circa June 29 - July 15, 1900 (A few loose clippings are included inside the front cover)

Colonel C. J. Crane Collection

  • US TxAM-C 1158
  • Collection
  • 1900-1905; Undated

This collection contains many photographs and other items pertaining to Crane's military service in the Spanish-American War. The collection also contains his personal items and a biography.

Crane, Charles Judson, 1852-1928

Illustrated European Periodicals of African Military Expeditions

  • US TxAM-C C000564
  • Collection
  • 1821-1906

This collection includes over 11 different groupings of approximately 1 to 10 issues in each grouping. The latter half of the collection includes illustrations of African and African Americans in European periodicals.

Edward Everett Papers

  • US TxAM-C C000024
  • Collection
  • 1846-1906

This collection dating from 1846 to 1906 (bulk: 1846-1847) consists chiefly of handwritten letters, journal entries, a memoir, a proof copy of a report from the U. S. Secretary of War on Army operations in Texas and on the Rio Grande during the Mexican War (1846-1848), as well as plans, maps and nine hand-colored copies of lithographic engravings drawn by Everett, which vividly chronicle southwest Texas cultural as well as military history during the late1840s.

Series 1, Letters (1847-1863), mainly handwritten in ink by Edward Everett to his brother, Samuel W. Everett, from 1846-1847, while Everett was serving in San Antonio de Bexar with the U. S. Army during the Mexican War. A few letters from other correspondents pertain to Everett's disability and eventual official discharge from the Army. Three letters written in the period 1852-1863 are about business or from family members.

Series 2, Journal and Memoir (1846-1899) contains three sets of journal entries for Sept. 1846-Jan. 1847. All are handwritten in ink on loose sheets of paper. The memoir, also handwritten in ink, on machine-ruled paper measuring about 8 x 5 inches, covers the years 1846-1848, with additional material added and dated, on at least one page, with 1899. This memoir is edited in pencil by Everett, evidently for publication, since one note suggests that the memoir was donated in 1899 to the Quincy Historical Society, later known as The Illinois Historical Society. The memoir was actually published, at least part, or possibly all of it, under the title "Military Experience," in Transactions of the Illinois Historical Society for 1905.

Series 3, Engravings, Maps, and Plans (ca. 1846-1849) includes nine copies of lithographed illustrations drawn by Edward Everett and engraved by C. B Graham Lithographers in Washington, D.C. The engravings were to be published in a report on U.S. Army operations in Texas during the Mexican War. A proof copy of this 67-page report, titled Report of the Secretary of War, communicating ... the Operations of the Army of the United States in Texas and the Adjacent Mexican states on the Rio Grande (31st Congress, 1st Session, Senate. Executive Document 32), published in 1850, is annotated throughout by Everett in pencil. For this publication Everett was at least responsible for eight illustrations: seven engravings of the San Antonio de Bexar area, including the Alamo church, as well as locations in Mexico; a plan of the ruined Alamo as it was in 1846, before being renovated according to Everett's direction, as a U. S. Army supply depot and workshops.

Engravings include nine copies of the lithographed prints. Notations made in ink on the separate prints, and on p. [4] of the proof copy of the published government report, indicate that: illustrations numbered for publication 2, 3-6 were engraved from original drawings made by Everett; those numbered 1, 7-8 were engraved from drawings made by Everett based on pencil sketches by other individuals, particularly no. 1 titled "Watch Tower Near Monclova," which was drawn by Everett from a sketch by Lieutenant McDowell of the U.S. Army.

Everett's proofs of the lithographic prints have all been exquisitely hand-tinted, in contrast to the severe black-and-white reproductions in the printed report. Of the nine hand-colored prints, two are duplicates of two illustrations, one titled "Church Near Monclova," and the other "Watch Tower Near Monclova." These identical prints are each hand-colored in two versions, apparently to represent the depicted buildings' appearances during the daytime, as well as at dusk or sunset.

Maps include one copy of a published map, possibly also by Everett, though it has been attributed to Josiah Gregg, which also appeared in the 1850 Army Operations report, titled "Map Showing the Route of the Arkansas Regiment from Shreveport La. to San Antonio de Bexar Texas," which is annotated with a penciled in route drawn from San Antonio to Austin, and a town location labeled "New Braunsfels." Also included are two manuscript versions of a map by Edward Everett, one copy titled "Plan of the Vicinity of Austin and San Antonio, Texas."

Plans are represented by two copies of an illustration drawn by Everett for the 1849 Army operations report showing plans of the Alamo before the renovation, titled "Plans of the Ruins of the Alamo near San Antonio De Bexar, 1846." Also present is one manuscript plan, titled "Plan of San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, 1848," which is labeled as "Drawn from recollection by E. E." The legend states that locations number 1-5 on the plan show, for instance, the spot near the Plaza in town where Everett received his disabling gunshot wound in the leg, the Hospital where he convalesced, and the Quartermaster's Office, to which he was assigned to work after being declared disabled from active service in the field.

A handwritten loose-leaf page kept with the proof copy of the report is titled "Index to Col. Hughes Report," and lists subject divisions and page numbers, though these divisions are not present in the published report by Hughes.

Thus Everett's accounts of frontline actions in the Mexican War mainly rely on reports from occasional volunteer soldiers or scouts, or Mexican nationals, returning back to Texas from the front lines of battle in Mexico. As much as he is able, however, Everett produces very detailed accounts of the various battles and skirmishes in and around the Texas-Mexico border, including battles at Monterrey, Saltillo, San Luis, Camargo, Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, and Tampico, recording a large number of casualties on both sides.

Of particular interest is Everett's extensive first-hand description of the ruins of the Alamo, and how it was converted for U.S. Army use as a military headquarters, according to plans drawn up by Everett. He deplores the vandalism already wreaked by relic seekers and stressed the respect shown to the mission church by the U. S. Army restorers, who refused to plunder it for building stone but instead merely cleaned away the debris. In the process, skeletons were uncovered, which Everett assumes to be from the time of the siege and Battle of the Alamo in 1836. Everett's accounts of frontier life in the rather rambunctious confines of San Antonio, complete with ambushes, shootouts, rough and ready court trials, and various local characters are often riveting.

Everett also pictures the moods and attitudes of the soldiers toward a variety of issues. Everett describes their arduous marches, unsavory living conditions, often dire medical care, and the cruel climate tormenting them. Having been left behind in San Antonio with all the stores rejected by the army, which had proceeded on into Mexico, Everett's men were faced with nursing broken down mules and horses back to usefulness, salvaging wagon parts from several damaged ones to make a serviceable one, and generally, trying to make do with what could be had in the vicinity, or easily transported from the Quartermaster at New Orleans.

According to Everett, communications on the Texas frontier often proceeded through "solitary express riders." He describes Mexican culture co-existing with "the Indians" and their horse-stealing. He also gives an excellent but pejorative account of the Texas Rangers and their activities, calling them desperados. Everett describes Mexican Generals Santa Anna, Torrejón, and Woll, the exceedingly unpopular U. S. Army Colonel Churchill, officers George W. Hughes, 1st Lieutenant W. B. Franklin, 2nd Lieutenant F. T. Bryan, General Zachary Taylor ("Old Rough and Ready"), General Winfield Scott, and General James Morgan, Captain J. H. Prentiss, Brigadier General John E. Wool, Major General Worth, Captain James Harvey Ralston, Captain L. Sitgreaves, as well as Edward Everett's own two brothers Charles Everett and Samuel W. Everett (Sam).

Full of absorbing narrative and elusive details often lost in larger historical works, the content of Everett's narratives and letters may be summed up in his own words from the handwritten memoir: "Mine is not a tale of battles, or of the movements of great armies, but the details will show some of the hardships and vicissitudes of a soldier's life, the exposure to which causes a greater sacrifice of life than that ensuing from wounds of death received from the enemy."

Everett, Edward

William Wallace Burns Papers

  • US TxAM-C C000023
  • Collection
  • 1848-1910

This collection consists mainly of correspondence (1858-1888) in which Brigadier General William Wallace Burns, of the United States Army, gives detailed accounts of Civil War battles fought during the Peninsular Campaign (March-August 1862), particularly the Seven Days Battles (June 25 - July 1, 1862 ), including Peach Orchard, Allen's Farm, Savage Station, Glendale, Nelson's Farm, and Malvern Hill. Burns discusses topics such as military strategy, troop movements, military surgeons, weather conditions during battles, building pontoon bridges, building defense works and, and capturing Confederate works. One letter is present from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).

Also included is personal correspondence with high-ranking officials such as President Abraham Lincoln, U. S. Secretary of War Charles Stanton, General Henry W. Halleck, General Winfield Scott Hancock, General George McClellan, General William Starke Rosecrans, and Major General Edwin Vose Sumner, as well as Emil Schalk who was a war journalist. The latter correspondence concerns political viewpoints on the causes of the war, primarily slavery, as well as the conduct and outcome of the war.

Some correspondence (1888-1904) was written just before and after Burns' death among family members, notably his grandchildren Lloyd Burns Magruder, who was a cadet at the United States Military Academy, and Pauline Magruder, as well as William Wallace Burns' sister Mabelle Burns, usually called "Mab." A substantial group of letters to Mabelle Burns is from her suitor for marriage, B. L. Prince. A few of the family letters from Pauline Magruder to her Aunt Mabelle Burns are written in French from Paris, France.

Also present is a substantial group of copies of military orders and official reports focused on Burns' thwarted ambitions to become Major General, and lead a Division in the Army of the Cumberland under the command of General Rosecrans. Apparently Burns believed political maneuverings of high governmental officials obstructed his promotion to Major General and precipitated his resignation as Brigadier General in 1863.

A few financial records and documents from legal proceedings are included concerning disputed rights to the "Sibley Tent," an invention whose patent royalties were eventually shared by Burns with Henry Hastings Sibley. Also present are a few documents concerning Texas real estate transactions.

Burns, William Wallace, 1825-1892

Quincy Adams Papers

  • US TxAM-C 165
  • Collection
  • 1914-05-1914-06

This collection contains letters written by Quincy Adams to Vivian during the Mexican Revolution.

Adams, Quincy

American Field Service Ambulance Driver Diary

  • US TxAM-C 189
  • Collection
  • 1915

The diary begins at an entry for 19 May 1915 with the driver's departure from Paris, to report to the Bureau, or main Section office of the service, at Pont-á-Mousson, which he often abbreviates to Pont. in diary entries. The diary's driver is often under fire, either while driving the roads among convoys, or in the towns being shelled, and, on a least one occasion, even at his billet, called a caserne. He is also clearly interested in becoming an aviator and visits a French aviation field with a friend from the American Field Service during his time off.

There are descriptions of German prisoners in the town square, serious casualties called couchés, episodes of shelling, the hazards of evacuating casualties under fire, as well as the daily life of an American soldier serving in World War I before the official entrance of the United States, is terse and vivid. The narrative presents an interesting contrast of intense activity and intermittent loafing in the French towns and countryside, including a tour of such battle areas as Bois-le-Prêtre, the site of the First Battle of the Marne.

The diary may have come into Stratemeyer's possession at Kelly Field from an aviator being trained or otherwise based there. Ambulance drivers who served first as volunteers in France seem to have transferred to other branches of the service, in several cases the Air Service, after serving in the American Field Service for possibly only a few months.

The entries end abruptly on June 9, 1915.

The shiny dark brown paper-covered diary measures 17 x 10 cm., with 26 of its 40 blue-ruled pages filled with entries handwritten in ink. Although found inserted into an issue of the Kelly Field eagle published between April 1918 and January 1919 and donated to the repository by General George Stratemeyer, the diary is neither labeled, nor signed, and the entries are dated [May] 19 - June 9, 1915.

A newspaper clipping is slipped into the diary, dated 1873 by hand in ink, probably from a British newspaper, which contains a poem, "To Loch Skene", on which corrections to the text have been made in ink.

It may be noted that George Stratemeyer, probably did not write the diary since he served with the 7th and 34th Infantry divisions in Texas and Arizona until September 1916, immediately after his graduation from the U.S. Military Academy in June 1915. He subsequently became commanding officer of the Air Service Flying and Technical Schools at Kelly Field, Texas in May 1917. The diary may have come into Stratemeyer's possession at Kelly Field from an aviator being trained or otherwise based there.

The 25-page paper transcript was made in February 2002 by Aletha Andrew, who processed the collection in the repository.

Ambulance Driver

Don Bosworth Letters

  • US TxAM-C 98
  • Collection
  • 1919

This collection consists of twelve letters handwritten in black ink on both sides of thirteen pages of blue-lined paper with an envelope. The letters are arranged into two series. At the center of the top of the paper are printed the words "Nation War Work Council of the Young Men's Christian Association," each side of which is decorated with an American Flag and the symbol of the YMCA printed in red and dark blue ink. Each page, measuring 27 cm. x 15 cm., is now housed in a transparent plastic folder. On the upper-right side of the envelope are handwritten words "Sailor's Mail". The addressee written on the envelope is Mrs. J.E. Bosworth, who lived on 141 Midland Ave. in Syracuse, New York. However, the letters are addressed to "Dear Folks." Bosworth seems to have bought the envelope before he wrote the letters because his letters begin on June 16, 1919, but the date stamped in blue ink on the envelope is June 14, 1919. In his letters, Bosworth very often does not write the first singular pronoun "I" and uses "&" in preference to the word "and." He crosses out with one or two lines on the words he writes incorrectly. He provides some hand-drawn maps and pictures. He frequently mentions numbers to detail his stories. Of interest is that he comments on the characteristics of the Bolsheviks. He also mentions that he hopes to fight them because he has had no chance to hear gunshots, except in practice.

Bosworth, Don

Felix J. Stalls World War I Papers

  • TxAM-CRS 396
  • Collection
  • 1917-1919

This collection contains the paper of Stalls regarding his military service in the 359th Infantry during World War I. Included are 71 letters and cards mostly to his parents, 17 photographs, a copy of the speech given by Major Tom G. Woolen to the 2nd battalion 359th Infantry on November 11, 1918, a chronology of the activities of the 359th Infantry, and a copy of A Short History and Photographic Record of the 359th Infantry Texas Brigade by Lieutenant Colonel W. A. Cavenaugh (1918(.

George and Nell Armstrong Papers

  • US TxAM-C 93
  • Collection
  • 1913-1920

The Papers consist chiefly of personal correspondence (1913-1920) between George Armstrong and Nell Floss Steel, later Nell Steel Armstrong, over the course of their courtship and marriage, both before and during World War I (1914-1918).

The correspondence is unusual in that both George Armstrong and his sweetheart, later wife, Nell Floss Steel, both served on the front during World War I, either in Europe, or at home in hospitals or camps in the United States. Life as a U. S. Armyinfantry officer in charge of recruits, or a Red Cross nurse is therefore vividly depicted in their letters to each other.

The Armstrong correspondence is also unusual for war-time, since Nell Floss Steel was the first of the two sent overseas in September 1914 to serve in a military hospital in Serbia, while her future husband was serving in army military camps in Texas City, Texas, at El Paso, Texas and Columbus, Ohio. In turnabout, George was later sent to France (September?-November 1918), while, as a result of her recent marriage to George, Nell had to remain in the United States, despite her eagerness to return to active war duty.

During this time George Armstrong served primarily with a U. S. Army General Services Infantry Recruit Depot, training recruits, and was stationed periodically at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana and at Camp Sherman, Ohio, eventually serving with the 83rd Infantry Division in France (September?-November 1918).

Nell Floss Steel served six months as a Red Cross nurse in a military hospital in Serbia (1914-1915) and as part of "The Texas Ten" group of nurses in a military camp at Eagle Pass, Texas (August 1916-March 1917), before marrying George Armstrong 21 August 1917. She spent the rest of the war mainly working in hospitals and sanitariums in the Columbus, Ohio area.

Details of daily life in the military camps, or in Red Cross service are many, and recorded by both the Armstrongs in delightfully intimate and detailed letters. Subjects mentioned in the correspondence include domestic and international politics, housing issues, income, social customs in different cultures, such as Greek nationals encountered both in the United States as well as in their homeland, or Austrian soldiers, both as officers and an hospital orderlies, politics, sports, and the lives of both a professional soldier and a professional nurse.

As a career nurse during wartime, Nell Floss Steel faced typoid and typhus epidemics, patients with unimaginable wounds, along with the difficulty and challenge of learning to understand Greek and German. Mail is forever delayed, obstructed or censored, the nurses never venture outside the hospital area after dark, and the availability of serum to innoculate the nurses before they face sufferers of contagious diseases is not certain. Over the course of the correspondence a very plucky and independent Nell Floss Steel records such moving scenes as a child dying of typhus, a young soldier dying of lockjaw, and a young military wife whom Nell Steel Armstrong aids when she miscarries.

Nell Floss Steel is invigorated by these challenges, however, and keeps a keen eye on the socio-political interactions manifested by relations between, for example, Austrian orderlies who are prisoners-of-war and an Austrian officer, who though a countryman and dying patient, is abused as a result of his former tyranny to underlings. Her letters present a finely detailed and atmospheric portrait of life as a World War IRed Cross nurse in occupied territory far from home. The contrasts inherent in World War I are shown by the delightful sightseeing Nell enjoys in Athens, just a short journey from the horrors of a Serbian hospital.

Nell Steel Armstrong is also approvingly aware of the political struggles of the "suffrage ladies," and extremely disappointed after 1917 that her married status prevents her from returning to war work in Europe, although she rejects the option of "divorcing for the war."

Patriotic and convivial, George Armstrong is both an avid football player and horseback rider, a passion he shares with Nell Steel Armstrong. He recounts incidents of heat-exhuastion after a 16-mile march in Texas heat, resulting in the death of two soldiers, as well as other accidents and wounds. He voices doubts, however, about the advisability of the United States becoming involved in the political upheavals of Europe or Mexico. Much comment about political developments of the day are included. President Woodrow Wilson and former President Teddy Roosevelt are mentioned. George Armstrong also describes the early military training of Pancho Villa, and comments on Texas/Mexico border activities of the Texas Rangers with great admiration. Nell Steel Armstrong describes former President Taft speaking to a group of nurses including herself.

Military camaraderie is evident in George Armstrong's high spirited description of pistol matches, parades, training exercise, mule and horse training, as well as life among soldiers living in often makeshift army training camps. For example, life in tents on the dusty fields at Texas City, Texas is enlivened by socializing with the population of Irish soldiers, most of them "fresh from the old sod."

Also present are letters from Nell Steel Armstrong to her mother, Mrs. James G. Steel, or sisters, Jane Steel, Margaret Steel, and Ethel Withgott; official correspondence regarding Nell Steel Armstrong's nursing service and George Armstrong'smilitary service; family correspondence to the married couple; George Armstrong's diary for 1914; an American Civil War letter (1862) by William Steel to his brother James G. Steel (Nell's father), with two poems (1863) collected by William Steel, newspaper clippings, a few programs and Christmas cards; one box of photographs [some negatives lacking photographic prints] of George Armstrong and Nell Steel Armstrong, either separately, together, or in groups; one flat storage box of oversize diplomas and photographs.

Items separated include five drawings of Platoon Plans of Attack[missing as of 10/2002], and one map of the northeast of France for bicycle and automobile touring.

  • “Partially processed. Might not be available to patrons. Please contact the Cushing Library’s Reading Room for more information.”

Armstrong, George, 1884-1964

Willmund Reaux Glaeser Diary

  • US TxAM-C 114
  • Collection
  • 1919-1920

This collection contains a diary (December 9, 1919 - November 25, 1920), signed by hand in ink on recto of the first leaf "Willmund Reaux Glaeser", held on top and bound with three-hole-punched loose-leaf ring binder memo book, with imitation brown leather covers, measuring about 14 x 9 cm. Filler paper (120 leaves) is narrow-ruled in blue, with most entries closely handwritten in ink, a very few in pencil, on both sides of the leaves, with only 21 leaves left completely blank. Some leaves preceding the diary entries are filled with names and addresses of friends and family, lists of traveler's cheques and numbers, as well as other miscellaneous lists. Unused index divider sheets labeled A-Z are included in a group at the back of the main body of diary entries. Diary entries begin on leaves just after the group of index dividers, continue for only two leaves, then begin again starting from the other end of the diary. Typed transcript on 39 pages of 8.5 x 11-inch white bond paper is undated, untitled and the author is unknown.

Entries in the diary are fairly evenly divided between Glaeser's service on the tramp steamer Sag Harbor, and on the New York-based excursion ships, the S.S. Chester W. Chapin and S.S. Richard Peck.

As a wireless operator aboard the "tramp freighter" S.S. Sag Harbor, Glaeser sailed the coast of South America to the port of Antofagasta, Chile, to take on a cargo of "nitrates and saltpetes." Glaeser describes hordes of migrating birds, ducks, whales, sea lion, sharks, and pelicans. With great gusto Glaeser includes much detail on life aboard ship, including a crew of mixed nationalities, contending with furious storms at sea and drunken brawls ashore, often ending in arrests and wounds. One steward, in particular, addicted to both "booze and cocaine," proves especially disturbing, since ships stores of food are being sold off to fund the man's habit. The S.S. Sag Harbor puts into port at Malon, Panama, then Balboa and Panama City, passing through the canal on January 22, 1920, with orders to proceed to Baltimore. Storms are reported disabling and sinking several ships off the coast of Georgia (January 30, 1920 - February 3, 1920), but the S.S. Sag Harbor reaches Baltimore safely on February 9, 1920, proceeding on to Washington, DC. With a new captain and much better steward, hence better meals, the S.S. Sag Harbor takes on a cargo of coal bound for Havana, Cuba, where a long longshoreman's strike holds up both delivery of cargo and taking on new cargo, from early February to mid-March 1920. Finally free to take their new cargo of phosphates to Wilmington, NC the S.S. Sag Harbor continues on its journey, finally arriving on May 8, 1920, in New York City.

In New York City, Glaeser stays at the YMCA intermittently as he is transferred May 28, 1920, to the S.S. Chester W. Chapin, an excursion steamer based in New London, Conn., and later (June 5, 1920) to another excursion boat, the S.S. Richard Peck. While in New York, Glaeser has quite a social life, visiting restaurants, theatres, and the shore on dates, but also looking for an office job. He buys stock in the Century Adding Machine Co. and is offered a job starting a sales agency for the company in Texas, but Glaeser declines that offer, later taking a position as an accountant with the A. H. Bull Steamship Co. in New York.

Glaeser includes vivid descriptions of life in the ports of Havana, Cuba, Miami, and Tampa Bay, FL, Charleston, SC, Wilmington, NC, as well as the cities of Baltimore and New York in 1920. He is attuned to the unrest of longshoremen in Cuba, observes the unsteady nature of trading on the stock exchange, and aware that, although life on a tramp steamer is romantic to a young man fresh out of the Army in World War I, it is eventually not that attractive a life considering the storms, brawls, and other natural vicissitudes of peacetime seafaring life. Glaeser's sense of adventure and humor are both keen, so he manages to infuse the diary with both in equal measure.

Glaeser, Willmund, 1897-1966

Yates Stirling Jr. Diary of the Commander of the U.S.S. Von Steuben Manuscript

  • US TxAM-C 318
  • Collection
  • 1918-1928

This collection includes the manuscript diaries of the commander of the U.S.S. Von Steuben, 317 pages.12 mo (6X4 inches), original calf, worn; a few minor creases and tears, lacking the last 7 leaves (not part of diary proper).  Vp, January 1 to September 7, 1918; April 8 to June 21, 1919; and circa 1928. There are two bound diary volumes and one typescript entitled "Battle Between the U.S.S. Von Steuben and German Submarine", June 18, 1818.

Sterling, Yates Jr., 1872-1948

World War II Map of Italy

  • US TxAM-C 115
  • Collection
  • 1943

This collection contains two topographical maps marked with military grid lines, originally published in 1941 by the British War Office, but apparently used by American forces in this instance. One for Cassino, Italy (sheet 160), the other for Isernia, Italy (Sheet 161), in Transverse Mercator Projection with military grid lines and joined with linen tape along the south grid number 96 to form one sheet measuring 50 cm x 72 cm. The map legend is missing on both sections however cities, towns, rivers, streams, roads (major roads in red stamped with numbers), railroads, relief is shown by contour lines, and spot heights can be seen.

The Isernia map is inscribed on the lower half of the back of it mostly in pencil, but with a few notes in ink. The inscriptions, possibly in several different hands, record times of day by the military clock, and locations numerically oriented on the military grid map for various military actions. These actions include remarks on place and type of artillery or small arms fire, observations on the taking of prisoners of war, and other actions in the area southwest of the Rapido River and the town of Cassino. According to the orientation of the action, these notes apparently record fighting by Allied forces against the German army in the Mignano Gap region preceding the Battle of Monte Cassino (January 12, 1944 - May 19, 1944).

The linen tape joining the two maps appears to have been added after inscriptions made on the Isernia map, but most likely during the campaign itself, to be useful for the entire area involved in the Battle of Monte Cassino. Polish troops, the 7th Infantry, and the name Custer are mentioned. The Isernia map is also inscribed in ink in the margin at the top with "Knapp - 31309661, K Co." (possible serial number and company designation K for a soldier named Knapp).

Published by the War Office of Great Britain, originally in 1941, though both sections have a date of 1943 for the second edition. Both maps are designated part of the series "Geographical Section, General Staff, No. 4164." Maps may have been reproduced by the U.S. Army Map Service.

British War Office

Army Specialized Training Program Collection

  • TxAM-CRS 400
  • Collection
  • 1943

This collection contains documents, class schedule, and requirement list for the completion of the Army Specialized Training Program for the ROTC at Texas A&M College during 1943. Included are course descriptions for the various classes in the program, along with schedules and requirements.

Colonel Dorris A. Hanes Papers

  • TxAM-CRS 112
  • Collection
  • 1942-1943

These papers also contain an audit of the Stanley Warehouse. Photographs also include interior and exterior shots of Stanley Warehouse and additional photos of military personnel.

Of special note are photographs of a visit to inspect the facilities and visit troops by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. There are two photographs of Mrs. Roosevelt, accompanied by Colonel Dorris A. Hanes, speaking with African American soldiers.

A photographer identified as Ingledew in Liverpool, England, in 1942, took a majority of the photographs and many have a series of numbers written on the back. Many of the photographs identify individual soldiers by name and their hometowns. Hometowns include Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, Winthrop, Massachusetts, Passaic, New Jersey, New York City, Cuero and San Antonio, Texas, and West Virginia.

Note that although photographs of Eleanor Roosevelt have her name spelled incorrectly, the finding aid uses the correct spelling. Other names are spelled one way on the back of the photograph and differently in the front captions. Information about photos is typed on the back and handwritten on the front. Finding aid attempts to duplicate information as written including grammatical and punctuation errors. The exception is in the inconsistent and confusing use of primarily upper case letters. An attempt was made to make this more uniform in the finding aid by using both upper and lower case letters.

Hanes, Dorris

General Walter Krueger Papers

  • TxAM-CRS 160
  • Collection
  • 1943-1945

This collection includes copies of administrative orders, field orders, and weekly reports compiled by the staff of the Sixth Army and sent to General Krueger, as well as copies of operation reports sent from General Krueger to the Adjutant General in Washington, D. C. Also included are after-action operation reports concerning the 6th Army.

The administrative orders primarily contain data or amendments to accompany Field Orders and are concerned with supply, evacuation, traffic, service troops, personnel, prisoners of war, and miscellaneous items. Also included are instructions and annexes dealing with captured enemy equipment, individual clothing and equipment, supply, burials and cemeteries, native labor, sanitation, prisoners of war and enemy dead, captured material trophies, air supply circulars, and plans of operation. Maps and sketches are also found among the administrative orders.

The field orders contain data and instructions relating to hostile dispositions and support of operations, task forces, command posts, supplies, and communications. Also included are annexes concerned with staging, loading and embarkation plans, intelligence, artillery and antiaircraft artillery, communications, and engineering. Maps, sketches, and code names are also included in the field orders.

The weekly reports contain intelligence information on enemy activities, terrain, counterintelligence, material and equipment, captured documents and POW interrogations, reclassification of documents, enemy tactics, psychological warfare, and code names and numbers. Also included are photographic coverage reports, sketches, and maps.

The operation reports provide the history of the operation, including organization and operating instructions, plans and preparations, background and terrain, reconnaissance, communication, operations, enemy reaction, engineer activities, captured materials, relations with natives, the recapitulation of casualties, commendations, awards, and decorations, conclusions, credit for success, and lessons learned.

Krueger, Walter, 1881-1967

Philippine Military Operations Around World War II Scrapbook

  • US TxAM-C 682
  • Collection
  • circa 1942-1957

This scrapbook contains black and white photographs of Philippine military operations, assumed to be during or after World War II. Also included is a copy of the pamphlet "Code of the U. S. Fighting Man" (1957).

Texas A&M University, World War I Tree Markers

  • TxAM-CRS 914
  • Collection
  • 1930; 1971

This collection contains metal markers with the names, class year, date, and location of the death of A&M men who died during their service in World War I. The markers were used to identify trees that were planted for these men around the Drill Field. These are the first two versions of the markers, the originals were made of brass and the second version was made of aluminum.

During the November 24, 1919 Board of Directors meeting in Fort Worth, Board of Directors' President L. J. Hart suggested that the college plant a tree commemorating the death of each student of the college who gave up his life in the great war. The board agreed and authorized the planting of oak trees. President William B. Bizzell formed a committee to make arrangements for the Tree Planting Day. The committee consisted of R. F. Smith, chairman and Associate Professor of Mathematics; E. O. Siecke, Professor of Forestry; A. T. Potts, Professor of Vegetable Gardening; S. W. Bilings, Professor of Entomology; and A. B. LaRoache, Professor of Architecture and Architectural Engineering. The Memorial Tree Planting Committee was charged with the selection of the variety of trees, location for planting the trees, and the selection of a date and preparation of a program for the occasion. The Committee chose live oaks and set a date of February 23, 1920, for the memorial exercises.

At 2:00 PM on February 23, 1920, President Bizzell, five members of the Board of Directors, President L. J. Hart, W. A. Miller, Jr., John T. Dickison, J. R. Kubena, and H. A. Breihan together with several hundred cadets, a number of faculty members, and family members of those being honored gathered in front of Guion Hall. The ceremony started with Dr. John. A Held, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Bryan giving a blessing, followed by the College Band playing "God Save the Queen", and President Bizzell introducing the day's speaker, L. J. Hart, President of the Board of Directors. Mr. Hart went on to give a speech extolling the sacrifice that these 52 men gave to preserve freedom and by commemorating them with the planting of the trees.

Upon the completion of Mr. Hart's speech, Professor Smith read the names of the 52 men, and members of the Federal and College students, alumni, and faculty were placed in charge of a squad of four cadets to plant a tree for each one of the heroes. The College Band started playing the French National Anthem "Marseillaise", and the squads marched to their sites around the south side of the drill field, around the corner of Houston and Lamar Streets (near present-day Bizzell Hall), and to the south of Hart Hall. As the tree planting began the College Band played "America" and on completion of the planting the "Star-Spangled Banner" closed out the ceremony.

In 1930 the trees were identified with a bronze plaque inscribed with the name, class year, location, and date of their death was mounted on a small limestone obelisk at the foot of each tree. These markers stood until 1971 when national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega came to their aid. The markers had generally fallen into disrepair, with some missing altogether while others were missing the memorial plaques. After receiving approval from the Board of Directors in February, APO's General James Earl Rudder Pledge Class relocated 15 of the markers that were to the South of Bizzell and Hart Halls on March 25, 1971. These 15 markers were moved to the drill field with the additional 37 that had lined it. On April 18, 1971, during Parent's Weekend, APO held a rededication ceremony. At this ceremony the names of the heroes were read, a small American flag was placed at each tree, and new aluminum plaques were unveiled and mounted on spring-loaded bolts embedded in the trees with the idea to allow for normal growth. During the process of renovating the memorials with Physical Plant personnel and Robert H. Rucker, the university's landscape architect, APO members found that three additional markers were needed, bringing the total to 55.

Olin E. Teague Congressional Collection

  • TxAM-CRS C000048
  • Collection
  • 1949-1978

The Olin E. Teague Congressional Collection contains various documents produced or collected by the office of Olin E. Teague during his tenure as a U.S. Representative from Texas. The majority of the collection is made up of correspondence and subject files. These subject files provide unique insight into Teague’s political focuses and projects, while in congress. Special interest is paid to Texas A&M University in both series and subject files. Additional material includes film and audio cassettes. Personal content from Teague includes documents, correspondence, and photographs.

(C000048)

Teague, Olin Earl

E. B. Long Papers

  • TxAM-CRS 157
  • Collection
  • 1949-1981

This collection consists of personal correspondence, manuscripts by Long and others, articles, booklets, essays, clippings, photocopies, research notes, maps, brochures, and photographs. The papers reflect Long's successful career as a Civil War historian and are in very good condition for the most part.

While most of the materials in this collection are dated in the twentieth century, there are several original Civil War documents of the nineteenth century. Of further interest are the drafts of Allan Nevins's Ordeal of the Union, which were edited by E. B. Long, and the nine long index boxes of Long's research notes on the Civil War.

The papers have been divided into the following categories: personal correspondence, manuscripts by Long, manuscripts by others, general files covering a wide range of subjects, drafts of Allan Nevins' Ordeal of the Union, research notes on the Civil War, index card files of articles, and miscellaneous volumes of clippings. The correspondence is arranged both chronologically for general correspondence and alphabetically for correspondence with specific individuals, resulting in some overlapping of dates. Correspondents include Bruce Catton, the Civil War Round Table, Doubleday and Company, Allan Nevins, Lowell Reedinbaugh, and John Y. Simon. Other materials in the collection are arranged either chronologically or alphabetically depending on the nature of the information.

Long, E.B., 1919-1981

Lt. Haynes W. Dugan Collection

  • US TxAM-C 1215
  • Collection
  • 1941-1998; Undated

This collection includes two manuscripts written by Dugan entitled The Great Class of 1934 and On My Way to the Cemetery. The first work chronicles Dugan's life at A&M College and the latter discusses his experiences in World War II (WWII).

Other items in the collection include newspaper clippings related to WWII and the Texas A&M Aggies who fought in the war, war correspondence from the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions, and reunion information on the 3rd Armored Division.

Dugan, Haynes W.

John A. Adams NAFTA Collection

  • TxAM-CRS 87
  • Collection
  • 1982-1999

This collection contains materials collected and assembled by John A. Adams, Jr. as an active United States participant in the negotiations and agreement to permit free trade among the United States, Canada, and Mexico in what became the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1987. As a trained historian, Adams recognized the importance of documenting as much of the process as a single active participant could. In that process, he accumulated a wide variety of materials that include clippings, magazine articles, books, reports, correspondence, notes, newswire reports, pamphlets, leaflets, conference papers and programs, and other types of documents that shed light on the process of negotiating an international treaty.

After the treaty was formally approved by all parties involved, Adams boxed all of the documents he had collected, produced a report in which he briefly described the contents of each of the twenty-one boxes, and then gave them to the Political Sciences and Economics Library (PSEL) of the Texas A&M University Libraries where they were then house in three filing cabinets. A copy of Adams' report has been cataloged with a call number of HF 17456. A33.

During the 2005-2006 academic year, the materials were removed from the filing cabinets in PSEL and placed into 19 cubic foot archival boxes by Archivist Charles R. Schultz, who at the time also created a report of his own which included an inventory description of the contents used in the creation of this collection record. After the materials were rehoused and inventoried, they were deposited into the Cushing Memorial Library & Archives where all of the archives and special collections materials are housed.

The materials have been kept in the original folders in which Mr. Adams had them when he presented them to Texas A&M University. Some of the materials were not in folders when they were rehoused from the filing cabinets into boxes at PSEL and are still not in folders. In those cases where materials were not in boxes, that information is included in the descriptions of the folders in each of the nineteen boxes.

Adams, John A., Jr., 1951-

James Earl Rudder '32 Collection

  • TxAM-CRS 384
  • Collection
  • 1918-2001

The collection spans the life of James Earl Rudder. The bulk (1944-1970) of the materials roughly correspond to the chronology of James Earl Rudder's life, with additional materials collected mainly by his wife, Margaret Rudder. The collection includes materials from Rudder’s time in the service during WWII, clippings from newspapers, as well as posters, magazine issues, memorabilia, and Rudder’s awards.

Rudder, James Earl, 1910-1970

Thomas W. Davis III, A Former POW Looks Back Manuscript

  • TxAM-CRS 105
  • Collection
  • Undated

The Thomas W. Davis III manuscript of A Former POW Looks Back chronicles Davis' World War II experience as an American battery commander on Corregidor Island and as a prisoner of war held by the Japanese. The manuscript includes his observations of life as an Army junior officer, and American military preparedness before the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor and the military's initial war mobilization in the Philippines. It also contains a vivid account of the fighting on Corregidor before American forces stationed there surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 and the dismal conditions prisoners of war faced. Davis provides several anecdotes about how soldiers dealt with the war and being held as prisoners. He describes in detail the conditions of Japanese POW camps including the lack of food and water, the bad sanitary conditions, the many diseases afflicting prisoners, camp routines, and the Japanese treatment of their prisoners.

The manuscript is typed with handwritten corrections and contains several original black and white, and color photographs and illustrations in excellent condition.

Davis, Thomas

Guthrie F. Layne, Jr. World War II Scrapbook

  • US TxAM-C 1051
  • Collection

This collection contains the scrapbook from Seaman First Class Guthrie Fitzhugh Layne, Jr during World War II, including a detailed finding guide.

William E. Whitsett, Jr. Letters

  • US TxAM-C 1186
  • Collection

This collection includes personal correspondence between William E. Whitsett and his brother. The letters include descriptions of life in the Confederate Army, along with that of life as a Texas Ranger. The collection contains three letters from W.E. Whitsett, Jr. to his brother J.H. Whitsett in 1900 [each letter between 1 and 14 pages].

Whitsett, William E., Jr.

World War I Aggies in Service Collection

  • US TxAM-C 1166
  • Collection

This collection consists of a letter from College Alumni Secretary L. L. McInnis, to current and former students of A&M College and their families requesting information about Aggies in the service. Included is a handwritten note of times and names of Aggies who served during World War I (WWI).

World War II Red Cross Knitting Collection

  • TxAM-CRS 801
  • Collection

Collection of materials, including patterns and knitting tools, used in the "Knit for Victory" home front campaign during World War II.

Barbara N. Stone World War II Scrapbook

  • US TxAM-C 1412
  • Collection

This scrapbook was assembled by Dr. Barbara N. Stone during World War II (WWII). It primarily focuses on President Roosevelt but also contains homefront articles.

Texas A&M Medal of Honor Research Collection

  • US TxAM-C 239
  • Collection
  • 1932-2009

Correspondence, copies of transcripts, copies of official military records, newspaper clippings, photographs, award/recognition ceremony programs, and copies of a scrapbook about Dennis Keathley compiled by Jim Woodall while doing research on TAMU Medal of Honor Winners. Included in the collection are Horace Carswell, Thomas W. Fowler, William Harrell, Lloyd Hughes, Turney Leonard, Eli Whiteley, and George D. Keathley.