These Caleb Cushing Papers deal primarily with Caleb Cushing's land investments in Wisconsin, his efforts to develop the great natural resources--minerals, water power, and timber--at the Falls of the St. Croix, and his legal battles over titles to land. The papers also throw a good deal of light on the Democratic party in Wisconsin in the period 1850-1855. The microfilm covers only a portion of the larger Cushing collection at the Library of Congress.
The legal section of the papers concerns the case of Hungerford vs. Cushing and other court battles to secure legal title to the land. William A. Hungerford had become a majority stockholder with Cushing in the development company. When the land was thrown open to purchase in 1848, Hungerford laid claim to the land under preemptor rights. The dispute opened the way to a series of legal suits.
F. K. Bartlett, E. G. Ryan, and Arthur MacArthur were the attorneys for Cushing. The letters of Bartlett and MacArthur, and especially of the former, reveal much about the Democratic party and Wisconsin politics in the period from 1850-1855 Of particular interest is the material concerning the impeachment case of Judge Levi Hubbell.
Letters of men prominent in Wisconsin politics in the collection include those of Arthur MacArthur and James K. Knowlton. There is reference to other prominent men, including: Josiah Noonan, Col. Lucius Fairchild, Judge J. R. Doolittle, A. D. Smith, H. H. Perkins, C. W. Brownell, Joseph R. Brown, and Matt Carpenter.
The user of the manuscripts cannot place too much confidence in the chronology of the papers--it is not consistent.
