The Alexander Mitchell section of the collection amounts to about 200 letters and a few business documents, dating from 1859 to 1887. Some fifty of the letters were written to Mr. and Mrs. A. Mitchell from their son, John, and their nephew, Robert Chivas, both of whom served with the 24th Wisconsin Infantry in the Southwest phase of the Civil War. These Civil War letters contain many interesting comments on superior officers, camp life, and maneuvers and skirmishes in the Southwest. Another group of 60 or so letters, addressed to Mr. and Mrs. A. Mitchell by total strangers reveal at least one of the effects of poverty upon human dignity and pride. These letters were written during the depression of 1873-1878 by people who, hearing of Alexander Mitchell's great wealth, begged for help often in most pitiable terms. There is some comic relief in this section of the correspondence, however, for the perpetual inventor of the perpetual motion machine reappears and offers Mr. Mitchell a share in his invention.
Aside from some exchanges with high army officers, government officials, and Congressmen concerning army politics and a transfer for Alexander Mitchell's son, Lt. John L. Mitchell, the main body of the Alexander Mitchell correspondence (which is calendared below) concerns his business and political affairs. Some of the more prominent correspondents were Sherbourne S. Merrill, manager of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway; Angus Smith, foremost railroad warehouse and elevator builder of the day; Governor and Mrs. Horatio Seymour of New York; Senator James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin; Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; Rufus King, Charles A. Hamilton, and Charles S. Hamilton--Wisconsin officers in the Civil War; and David Ames Wells, leading social scientist of the day and former president of the American Social Science Association. A few of the notables mentioned in the correspondence are Philetus Sawyer, Timothy Howe, and Matthew H. Carpenter--Wisconsin senators, and General Grant and President Garfield. There are also several letters from contemporary businessmen and bankers praising highly Mitchell's speech against currency reform plans, “Currency and Free Banking,” delivered in the House of Representatives on March 27, 1874. In Congress or out, Mitchell took care of his financial affairs, so his brief stay in Washington (1871-1875) can hardly be counted as an interruption in his business career--rather the reverse.
The John L. Mitchell correspondence (1888-1906) (also calendared below) totals about 50 letters. Unfortunately his political career and his scholarly pursuits are scarcely touched upon. The correspondence is chiefly concerned with the low point in the Mitchell fortunes--the 1893 panic which resulted in the failure of the family-controlled Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company Bank. However, this chronicle of the family misfortunes has its bright side for it shows clearly John L. Mitchell's regard for the little people--the small depositors--since he successfully managed the situation so that few were affected, except himself and his family.
Some of the letter writers are: Washington Becker, a brother-in-law and receiver of the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company Bank; Harrison Rood, an uncle, first editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel, and at the time, a Florida businessman; and John Johnston and Alfred L. Cary, bank officials. The correspondence also contains a few brief letters from the following notables: James Davie Butler, General Arthur MacArthur, and General Adolphus Greely.
