Mainly Draper correspondence, 1842-1883, with surviving Tennessee pioneers and their families and with historian J. G. M. Ramsey, interspersed with some older manuscripts. Among the latter is a small group of additional papers of Daniel Smith, most notably one of his manuscript maps and his “Soldier's Book” containing muster rolls, names of scouts, and records of horses, provisions, and other purchases for his company during Dunmore's War. Several documents pertain to Andrew Jackson: a satire (1792) directed to George Winchester and signed by Robert Hays and Jackson; receipts (1808) covering private and military accounts of John Hutchings and Jackson, alleged to be in Jackson's handwriting; and muster rolls (1813) prepared by Colonel John Coffee for Tennessee field and staff officers under Jackson's command in the Creek War. Among other early pieces are a fragment of a letter by Anthony Bledsoe, a mutilated document [1775] on land purchases and sales of Negroes in which the firm of Richard Henderson and Company was involved, and a manuscript article (1811) by William Cocke protesting the powers assumed by the federal district court of East Tennessee.
In letters, reminiscences, and biographical sketches Draper's correspondents referred to many events in early Tennessee history, but emphasis was on the Nickajack campaign (1794) and the Creek War (1813). Noteworthy recollections include those of Joseph Brown giving a vivid account of his scalping of an Indian combatant in the Nickajack battle, and those of naval officer David Farragut recording his childhood impressions of his father George Farragut and of the family's life in Tennessee and New Orleans. Among the many other persons and events mentioned in the correspondence are: Samuel Barton; the discovery of Bledsoe's and Mansco's licks; William Bowen; John Buchanan; William Edmiston (Edmondson); Augustus C. G. Elholm; James Ford; William Hall, David and Robert Hays; and attacks on Hays's and Ziegler's stations. Also mentioned are Indian chiefs, including the Breath, Doublehead, Dragging Canoe, Hanging Maw, Little Carpenter, Oconastota, and John Watts; Benjamin Joslin; the route of the Long Hunters; Robert Love; John McIntosh of Georgia; Casper Mansco; Timothy de Montbrun; Thomas Murray and the Elk River campaign; Ephraim and John Peyton; John Rains; George Ridley; Isaac Roberts; James Robertson; Jonathan Robertson and the Creek Indians; Robertson family history; Hugh Rogan; Thomas S. Spencer; James Todd; Elisha Walden; John Williams; and John Winter. Ramsey's letters are primarily historical in content, but in election years contain some contemporary political comments, such as an assessment of possible presidential candidates in 1852 and opinions on Horace Greeley and on the power and influence of the press in American thought and education in 1872. Worthy of mention are three printed items: a circular of the Tennessee Historical and Antiquarian Society written by Ramsey and a circular of the East Tennessee Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge, both undated and both soliciting manuscripts and publications on early Tennessee history; and a sheet bearing a lengthy poem entitled “The Tennessee State Capitol” headed by an engraved picture of the building.
