Summary Information
Draper Manuscripts: King's Mountain Papers
1756-1887
Draper Mss DD
3.0 cubic feet (19 volumes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers about the Battle of King's Mountain, South Carolina, on October 7, 1780, in which some 1,400 frontier troops from Virginia and North Carolina trapped and routed 1,000 Loyalist soldiers and killed their commander, Patrick Ferguson. Besides his own notes and interviews, Draper gathered materials for over 40 years, and acquired the papers of several of the prominent officers, such as William Campbell, John Sevier, and Isaac Shelby.
Descriptions of the volumes are copied from the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts / by Josephine Harper. Out of date and offensive language may be present. This collection is also available as a microfilm publication. Forms part of the Lyman Copeland Draper Manuscripts. The fifty series included in the Draper Manuscripts have been cataloged individually. See the Draper Manuscripts Overview, and the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts / by Josephine Harper (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1983) for further information. There is a restriction on use to this material; see the Administrative/Restriction
Information portion of this finding aid for details.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-draper0dd ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Scope and Content Note
Draper organized the bulk of the collection prior to commencing the actual writing of his book, King's Mountain and Its Heroes, which was published in 1881, one year after the centennial of the event. Correspondence with descendants discusses the Battle of King's Mountain and also comments on the War of 1812; Indian relations, especially with the Cherokee and the Chickasaw; the Civil War; and Reconstruction. In addition to the officers' papers he acquired, there are pension statements; letters; and other biographical documentation about many of the officers and soldiers; diaries, reports, and reminiscences by representatives from both sides; and topographical studies of the battle area. Also included are notes, draft chapters, correspondence, memos, and newspaper and periodical reviews for Draper's publication.
Administrative/Restriction Information
PHOTOCOPY RESTRICTION: Photocopying originals is not permitted; researchers may copy from the microfilm available in the Library.
Contents List
|
Draper Mss DD
|
Series: 1 DD (Volume 1)Papers about Samuel Hammond (1757-1842), who gathered the militia of Rowan County, North Carolina, for the King's Mountain battle, and who was an active officer throughout the Revolution. As a youth he had run away from school to serve in Dunmore's War. During the early years of the Revolution he took part in numerous southern campaigns and engagements: the Cherokee expedition, the battle of Long Bridge near Norfolk, Virginia, and the siege of Savannah, Georgia. After the fall of Charleston he raised a band of Carolina patriots for service in the West and saw action at Musgrove's Mills, Blackstocks, Cowpens, Cedar Spring, and Eutaw Springs as well as King's Mountain. Composing the bulk of this volume are Draper's copies of a long series of articles which Hammond's son, Abner Lewis Hammond, prepared from his father's military papers and recollections for publication in the Courier (Charleston, South Carolina) in 1858-1860. There are also copies of Samuel Hammond's pension papers; an extensive genealogy (1856) of the Hammond family by James H.R. Washington, husband of Hammond's daughter Mary Ann Magdalen Hammond; and Draper's interview notes and correspondence, 1854, 1870-1881, with Hammond's descendants. Although Samuel Hammond had a distinguished postwar career in business and public life in Georgia, Missouri, and South Carolina, Draper was concerned only with his Revolutionary service.
|
|
|
Series: 2 DD (Volume 2)
: Pension applications of men who served at King's Mountain and in other southern campaigns and battles. These copies and summaries were made for Draper from the federal pension records in Washington, D.C.
|
|
|
Series: 3 DD (Volume 3)
: Mainly pension papers for additional participants in the King's Mountain battle and other southern actions. In a controversy beginning about 1813 between Isaac Shelby and heirs of William Campbell over Campbell's conduct at King's Mountain, statements were gathered from Thomas Jefferson and from soldiers who had served with Campbell. Copies of these early certificates and related papers are grouped in the central portion (pages 195-244) of this volume; many are also duplicated or summarized in other volumes but particularly in 8 DD.
|
|
|
Series: 4 DD (Volume 4)A varied assortment of papers including additional pension statements, copies of early documents, Draper correspondence, and a few notes and clipped articles. Major topics discussed in the correspondence include the route taken over the Allegheny Mountains by patriot troops approaching King's Mountain, the topography of the battleground, movements of the men after the battle, and the engagements of Cane Creek and Ramsour's Mill (1780). There are also copies of British and American accounts of King's Mountain from contemporary newspapers and a transcript of a manuscript narrative about the event by historian George Bancroft. A few letters concerning treatment and escape of prisoners were copied from the Horatio Gates Papers in the New-York Historical Society. Among Draper's most interesting sources was the diary of a Loyalist lieutenant under Patrick Ferguson, Anthony Allaire, who chronicled his experiences during the British campaign from March to November 1780, including the King's Mountain engagement, his capture and treatment, and his successful escape to Charleston. From Allaire's grandson, J. DeLancey Robinson, Draper obtained this copy of the diary and with Robinson's approval (12 DD 79) published it as an appendix in King's Mountain and Its Heroes. Other correspondence contains genealogical or biographical information on numerous persons and families, both patriot and Loyalist: Charles Campbell; John Carson; David and Henry Gillespie; Samuel Handley; Christopher, James, and Samuel Houston; Thomas Lytle; Joseph McDowell of Quaker Meadows, Joseph McDowell of Pleasant Gardens, and their families; Arthur McFall; John and Patrick Moore; Nathan Reid (Read); David Robinson; David Vance; John Weir and the Weir family; William Wofford; and Samuel Wood. Added after Draper's lifetime were letters (1896-1897) by Flournoy Rivers commenting on King's Mountain and Its Heroes and discussing in particular Larkin Cleveland, William Gilbert, and James Holland and his Negro named “Aunt Vicey.”
|
|
|
Series: 5 DD (Volume 5)Draper correspondence, 1842-1885, with annotations and a few newspaper clippings, all of which centered about Benjamin Cleveland (1736-1806), one of the Whig regimental colonels at King's Mountain. Letters from a few surviving persons who had known him, from members of the Cleveland family, and from descendants of some of his associates discuss not only his military exploits but also his early hunting adventures, his administration of his South Carolina plantation and his Negroes, and his personal life, appearance, and personality. Although he was a popular hero among many patriots, many anecdotes illustrate the harsh, sometimes brutal, autocracy for which he was noted in his encounters with Tory soldiers and civilians. Some correspondence pertains to Cleveland family genealogy and to Benjamin's brothers Robert, John, Larkin, and Jeremiah. Among Benjamin's associates and friends most prominently mentioned in the letters are John Barton, John Blassingame, Daniel Boone and others in the Boone and Bryan families, Richard Callaway, Benjamin Cutbirth, Martin Davenport and his son William, Joseph Dickson, Jesse Franklin, Charles Gordon, Elijah Isaacs, Samuel Johnson, Andrew Kincannon, Hugh McGary, Salathiel Martin, William Meredith, Andrew Pickens, Elisha Reynolds, John Verner, and Jesse Walton. Some correspondents provided substantial genealogical data for some of these surnames. A brief mention of an earthquake (January 1843) in Mississippi occurs in a note from Charles H. Larrabee.
|
|
|
Series: 6 DD (Volume 6)Draper correspondence, 1880-1881, about King's Mountain participants, accompanied by a few notes and clippings. Numerous letters and notes relate to Joseph Winston (1746-1815), another of the regimental colonels; included are Winston family genealogy and Draper's copy of a letter (1776) in private possession written by Martin Armstrong to Winston on supplies for the Cherokee expedition. Scattered through the volume are letters pertaining to routes to and from King's Mountain used by the Whig soldiers, to arrangements for the 1880 centennial, and to the publication of Draper's book. In one letter (November, 1880), C.L. Hunter commented disapprovingly of the results of the recent presidential election. Other persons, both Whig and Loyalist, about whom there are biographical or genealogical references include: Samuel Blackburn; Joseph Cloud; Abraham Collins; Joshua Cox; Joseph Dickson; Samuel Espey; Patrick Ferguson and his mistress Virginia Paul (Poll); William Graham; William Green; Andrew Hampton; the Logan brothers-John, Joseph, Thomas, and William; John Long; Joseph McDowell of Quaker Meadows; Jack Martin; Ambrose Mills; John and Patrick Moore; Arthur Patterson and his sons Arthur, Thomas, and William; Elias Powell; Peter Quinn; Martin Roberts; Benjamin Roebuck; Jesse Walton; John Weir; Isaac White; and Joseph Williams.
|
|
|
Series: 7 DD (Volume 7)Draper correspondence, mainly 1880-1881, with a few pieces of earlier date. Many letters pertain to Joseph McDowell of Quaker Meadows and his brothers, Charles and William, to Joseph McDowell of Pleasant Gardens, and to genealogy of the McDowell family-material similar but in addition to what was gathered on the McDowells in 4 DD. Also in 7 DD are notes on Patrick Ferguson's route to King's Mountain and to his headquarters at Gilbert Town, South Carolina. Draper had little success in his continued attempt to obtain information about Ferguson's mistress, yet an unusually large number of anecdotes about women appear in this volume: Margaret O'Neal McDowell defying the Tories verbally; Mrs. John McDowell (formerly Mrs. Annie Edmundson) molding bullets and carrying them in her apron to her husband on the battlefield; and young Susan Twitty daring gunfire to snatch a gun from a dead Tory. References to many other persons on both sides of the conflict are scattered through the correspondence. Among those about whom there is significant material are John Baldridge; Aaron and Benjamin Biggerstaff; James Chitwood; David Dickey; Robert Gilkey; William Graham; James Gray; William Green; Frederick Hambright; Andrew Hampton; Joseph Hardin; William Long; Charles Miles; David, James, and John Miller; William Porter; John Smart; William Twitty, brother of Susan; and Patrick and William Watson. An engraving of Gilbert Town given Draper by J.A. Forney was reproduced in King's Mountain and Its Heroes.
|
|
|
Series: 8 DD - 10 DD (Volumes 8-10)
: Three volumes of Arthur and William Campbell papers. Cousins by blood and brothers-in-law by Arthur's marriage to William's sister Margaret, both Arthur (1743-1811) and William (1745-1781) Campbell were prominent political and military leaders in the area of southwestern Virginia which became Washington County. Both participated actively in frontier defense during the Revolutionary years beginning in 1774. William was chosen commander-in-chief of the army which fought victoriously at King's Mountain. Arthur did not participate in that battle, but approved the campaign and kept a defensive watch in his home region. In the early 1840s Draper began to acquire many of these papers, either as originals or copies, from Campbell descendants, most notably Congressman William B. Campbell of Tennessee and former Governor David Campbell of Virginia.
|
|
|
Subseries: 8 DD (Volume 8)Manuscript copies of Campbell family papers, mainly 1774-1823. Two letters in 1774 concern defense plans for the family in Dunmore's War. Several letters in the summer of 1780 relate to the New River expedition. Papers pertaining to the King's Mountain campaign include general orders issued by William Campbell, muster rolls and lists of officers in the Washington County militia, and a few letters (1780-1781) written in the months following the battle. In a series of five letters in 1810 to David Campbell, Arthur Campbell discussed his writing of a memoir of the anniversary of the battle. Copies of newspaper articles (1813, 1822-1823) by William C. Preston and statements gathered from King's Mountain survivors to refute portions of Shelby's recollections fill half of this volume. Besides Arthur and William Campbell, writers of other letters included Martin Armstrong, Archibald Blair, William Christian, Horatio Gates, Nathanael Greene, the Marquis de Lafayette, Henry Lee, Samuel Newell, William Preston, William C. Preston, and George Rutledge. Recipients were Arthur, David, and William Campbell and William Preston. Scattered in the volume are several articles in manuscript: one on King's Mountain by David Campbell (a copy; the original is in 16 DD); one on William Campbell and one on the battle of Guilford Court House (1781), both by John Campbell; one on William Campbell and one on the battles of Cowpens and King's Mountain, both by Arthur Campbell. Also found are a few letters dated after 1823, a list of Sir William Johnson papers owned in 1877 by J. Bailey Myers, a list of Campbell manuscripts which Draper borrowed for copying and returned to John S. Preston in 1880, and Draper's drafts of his articles on William Campbell and Benjamin Cleveland for Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography in 1886.
|
|
|
Subseries: 9 DD (Volume 9)Original manuscripts, 1774-1841, primarily papers of Arthur Campbell. Major topics include military campaigns and Indian problems, 1774-1782, politics in Kentucky; the rise and fall of the State of Franklin; and reactions to federal power and policies affecting the western states from the 1780s to early 1800s. A letter (1785) by Virginia legislator Andrew Stuart mentioned George Washington's connection with companies to improve navigation of the Potomac and James rivers. Several letters, 1788-1789, by Campbell and others discussed the new federal constitution. In 1791 Samuel McDowell in recognition of “the unhappy People we have as Property” outlined his plan for ending the institution of slavery. A letter (1792) by John D. Campbell concerned religious conditions in Virginia and Kentucky. William Christian, writer of eight letters (1776-1786), and William Edmiston (Edmondson), recipient of six (1780-1782) from Arthur Campbell and of one (1780) from William Campbell, are the correspondents noted most frequently. Other writers represented by one or two letters are John Adair, Maccartan Campbell, John Crittenden, John Donelson, Benjamin Harrison, Henry Knox, James Martin, George Maxwell, Samuel Newell, Edmund Randolph, Evan Shelby, John Steele, John Strother, John Tipton, and James White. Others addressed, usually by Arthur Campbell, include William Blount, David Campbell, Charles Cummings, Thomas Jefferson, Edmund Randolph, Jacob Read, Isaac Shelby, Daniel Smith, Oliver Spencer, John Cleves Symmes, and Daniel Trigg. Other documents found in the volume are a call (1773) to Charles Cummings to be minister to Ebbing and Sinking Spring Presbyterian congregations in Fincastle County, Virginia, bearing the names of 139 members; Arthur Campbell's report on the 1781 expedition against the Cherokee; a speech [1786] by Governor Randolph to the Cherokee to express regret for Indian murders by whites and to promise retribution; a few Campbell family obituaries; a newspaper clipping involving the Shelby-Campbell controversy. One letter of later date (1841) and variant topic was written by artist Thomas Buchanan Read to Edwin R. Campbell concerning an exhibition of Read's painting. In addition to original papers, Draper included a few selected copies of letters (1777-1778) to Edward Hand.
|
|
|
Subseries: 10 DD (Volume 10)Papers acquired from the Campbell family, but mainly letters written to Draper, 1840-1849, by David Campbell (1779-1859), William B. Campbell (1807-1867), and historian Charles Campbell (1807-1876). The correspondence contains references to many men and events in the lives of William and Arthur Campbell, comments on the work of contemporary nineteenth-century historians, opinions on domestic politics and international affairs, and news of Draper himself-his travels, his move to Madison, his health, and his marriage to Mrs. Lydia Remsen (Mrs. Peter A. Remsen). In addition to the Campbell family, persons discussed significantly in the letters include Reece Bowen, Gilbert Christian, Henry Cresswell, Charles Cummings, James Dysart, William Edmondson (Edmiston), Stephen Holston, Samuel Newell, Ambrose Powell, William Russell, and James Wood. David Campbell wrote for Draper narratives on the Tory bandits Francis and William Hopkins, on Arthur Campbell's capture by the Indians in 1756 and his subsequent escape and service with the British troops, and on the battle of King's Mountain. David also furnished a copy of the biographical sketch of William Campbell by Arthur Campbell (of which the original is in 16 DD), wrote biographical sketches of John and Robert Campbell, and composed a short autobiography (1852) followed by later comments on Stephen Van Renssalaer and James Wilkinson under whom he had served in the War of 1812. Seven spritely letters, 1840-1841, sent to Edwin R. Campbell by Thomas Buchanan Read contain a few of Read's original poems; remarks on his artistic and literary pursuits, on Horace Greeley and other New York editors, and on several of his fellow artists; and descriptions of his participation in a Democratic barbecue in Kentucky during the 1840 presidential campaign and of his visit to Philadelphia and Independence Hall. Miscellaneous papers found in the volume include a narrative of Indian captivity and escape by a Mrs. Scott, sister of Harry Dickinson, and Draper's draft of his obituary of William Martin (1846).
|
|
|
Series: 11 DD (Volume 11)A volume containing primarily original manuscripts in two subdivisions: 1) Evan Shelby and Isaac Shelby papers, 1756-1822. Evan Shelby (1720-1794) emigrated to America from Wales, then had military service in the French and Indian War, in Dunmore's War, and in the Cherokee expedition of 1776; in 1771 he settled on the Holston River in the Tennessee-Virginia border area. His son Isaac (1750-1826) was also an officer in Dunmore's War and later commanded a battalion at King's Mountain. Settling in Kentucky in 1782, he became the first governor of that state (1792-1796) and many years later again saw military service in the War of 1812. Evan Shelby's papers include a muster roll (1758) of his militia company in Frederick County, Maryland; mercantile accounts for groceries and drygoods sold in 1773 to Daniel Boone, James Robertson, Valentine Sevier, and others; one letter each from John Donelson and Anthony Bledsoe in 1779; and a few miscellaneous pieces. Isaac Shelby's records are more numerous and relate to diverse topics: the settlement of Anthony Bledsoe's estate; land business; sale and employment of Negroes; Indian and military affairs; and politics. Of particular note are a draft of a letter [1790] to Henry Knox; letters, 1791-1792, on Indian treaty results from William Blount, mentioning approbation from the president [George Washington]; letters written to Shelby as governor of Kentucky from Patrick Brown, John Chisholm, James Ore, John Rhea, James Robertson, and Charles Scott; a letter from David Smith on the presidential candidates for 1796; an exchange of five letters between Shelby and Andrew Jackson in 1818 regarding Jackson's service as commissioner to negotiate a treaty with the Chickasaw tribe; an address to the Indians signed by Shelby and Jackson; and a letter 1820 by [Benjamin] T. Smith mentioning Jackson. Draper's notes and copies of some additional Shelby papers precede the original manuscripts. Concluding this segment of the volume are copies of an article about Isaac Shelby and of Wilkins Tannehill's article based on Shelby's papers and entitled “Early Times in Tennessee” (of which another copy is in 14 DD). 2) John Sevier papers, 1766-1814. Frontier soldier and politician, Sevier (1745-1815) was a native of Rockingham County, Virginia, and in the early 1770s settled in the Holston country not far from Evan Shelby. From eastern Tennessee Sevier led a company to King's Mountain, then made several raids against the Indians and British in 1781-1782. Involved in the movement to create the separate State of Franklin, he served as its governor, an adventure which nearly caused his downfall, but by 1789 he was again accepted into public civil and military life in North Carolina. With a popular following, he was elected first governor of Tennessee for three terms (1803-1809); during the last years of his life he held a variety of other state and national offices. Sevier's varied papers reflect many aspects of his life. An early agreement (1768) was signed by his father, Valentine Sevier Sr. Letters, 1792-1800, of John's brother Valentine pertain to Indian unrest and military campaigns, to John's governorship of Tennessee, and to personal matters. The earliest record by John himself is a sheet of accounts, 1766, for sale of liquor and boarding and lease of Negroes. Allusions to national politics and to foreign affairs with France, Great Britain, and Spain are frequent in his correspondence. In 1775 Alexander Machir wrote about the actions of the Continental Congress and the prospects for “this unhappy Cival War” with England. David Ross, Patrick Henry, and Governor Alexander Martin of North Carolina all wrote in 1790 to express opposition to the cession of North Carolina land claims to the federal government. Another letter by Ross (1797) and a translation of a letter (1797) by Baron de Carondelet to the Cherokee chief Bloody Fellow concern Spanish overtures to the Cherokee. Several correspondents and Sevier himself were deeply worried over strained relations with France in 1798. Written while congressman in 1814-1815, his printed letters to his constituents report on current events at home and abroad. Other Sevier papers include: commissions and letters, 1784-1785, concerning land acquisitions in Tennessee by Sevier, John Donelson, and others; an appreciative letter (1790) by Abraham De Peyster in New Brunswick and a receipt (1791), both attesting to Sevier's return of De Peyster's commission and other Loyalist papers captured at King's Mountain. Also included are military records-militia returns including one (1793) signed by George Farragut, court-martial records, accounts for provisions, and correspondence concerning militia of Greene, Hamilton, and Washington counties, North Carolina-many of which relate to Sevier's last foray against the Indians in 1793: a brief list of Cherokee chiefs, a list of Cherokee words, and a few letters and speeches addressed to Indians. Among Sevier's other major correspondents were William and Willie Blount, William Cocke, Thomas Dillon, Augustus C. G. Elholm, David Getson, James Glasgow, Wade Hampton, militia captain Benjamin Harrison [not the governor of Virginia] , James King, Henry Knox, Joseph Martin, James Ore, John Rhea, Benjamin Smith, Daniel Smith, John Steele, John Tipton, Chief John Watts of the Cherokee, and James White. Following John Sevier's manuscripts are biographical sketches, genealogy, and letters, 1839-1851, which Draper received from Sevier descendants.
|
|
|
Series: 12 DD (Volume 12)A few original manuscripts, 1770-1814, of Andrew and Jonathan Hampton, followed by Draper correspondence, 1845-1881. Papers of Andrew Hampton, a native of England, who settled in Virginia and North Carolina and was commander of Rutherford County (North Carolina) militia at King's Mountain, include his commissions as militia officer signed by North Carolina governors William Tryon (1770), Josiah Martin (1771), and Richard Caswell (1779, 1780); an appointment as sheriff of Rutherford County (1782) signed by Governor Alexander Martin; and a few letters. The Jonathan Hampton pieces pertain to his attempt in 1814 to prove that William Green had fought as a Tory captain at King's Mountain and could thus be disqualified for a seat in the North Carolina General Assembly. Topics discussed in Draper's correspondence include the topography of Ferguson's camp near Little River, South Carolina; the battlegrounds of Blackstocks, Cedar Spring, Musgrove's Mill, Thicketty Fort, and Thompson's Peach Orchard, all in South Carolina; the origin of Thomas Sumter's sobriquet, the “Game Cock”; an anecdote about a devoted dog; and an account of the shooting on Roan Mountain of “the last elk in North Carolina.” Persons noted substantially in the letters are John Adair; Anthony Allaire, including a copy of his petition for British compensation as a Loyalist, and data on Allaire genealogy; Joseph and John Brown (d. 1780), Benjamin and Daniel Cutbirth, James Grant, William Green, Richard Henderson, Robert Henry, Joseph Hughes, Thomas McCollough, Charles Miles, Ambrose Mills, Richard Singleton, and the White brothers Isaac and Thomas. A group of letters from members of the Callaway family contains numerous references to Daniel Boone and the Callaways in North Carolina.
|
|
|
Series: 13 DD (Volume 13)Draper correspondence, mainly 1870-1874, notes, and a few clippings, all of which pertain to Thomas Sumter and his associates and not to King's Mountain. A few items concern the location and topography of Juniper Springs, the battle known as Huck's Defeat, and the skirmish at Mobley's Meeting House, but most of the materials are biographical or genealogical. Letters concern Sumter and his nickname of “Game Cock,” as well as William Capers, Jesse Coffey, Ransom Davis, Warren R. Davis, Godfrey Dreher, Gabriel and John Friday, Emily Geiger, Joseph Graham (Grimes), Wade Hampton, John Huggins, William D. James, the McCord brothers-John, Joseph, and William, Myer Moses, William Nettles, William Polk, John Singleton, John Adam Sumner, Josiah Wallace, Thomas Woolford, and William Wylie. There are also Draper's copies of selections from William R. Davie's correspondence and of a privately owned certificate (1831) by Sumter attesting to the “friendly and humane” treatment of American prisoners and wounded given by Charleston merchant Myer Moses after the fall of the city in 1780. Draper's notes on Thomas Brandon, William Bratton, William Candler, Robert Crawford, William Henderson, Robert Irwin, Edward Lacey (Lacy), Charles S. Myddelton, Andrew Pickens, Thomas Taylor, Andrew Williamson, and Richard Winn are quite extensive, but many others are mentioned briefly. Numerous South Carolina correspondents wrote with harsh bitterness or discouragement about destruction and brutality during the Civil War and the influence of the Negroes in the Reconstruction years.
|
|
|
Series: 14 DD (Volume 14)Draper correspondence, 1842-1887, and annotations about participants in the King's Mountain battle and other events during the Revolution in the Carolinas and Tennessee. Informative letters and notes on the following persons and families are found: Joseph Anderson; the Beattie brothers-David, John, and William; Andrew Caruthers; William Christian and his nephew Gilbert Christian, distant relatives of the more famous Colonel William Christian, with a genealogy of the Gilbert Christian branch; Andrew Colville; Joseph Dickson; George Doherty; William Edmondson, with a short Edmondson genealogy; Andrew Kincannon; William Lenoir; Joel Lewis and his Lewis family; Robert McFarland; Daniel McKissick; John Martin (of Surry County, North Carolina); George Maxwell; William Meredith; William Mills; Samuel Newell; Charles Robertson; William Robinson; William Russell (1735-1793) and his son William (1758-1825), with a Russell genealogy; Griffith Rutherford; John Sawyers; the Sevier family-especially John, Robert, and Valentine; and Richard Singleton. Also included are John Tipton (of Tennessee); Samuel Ware (Weir); George Wilfond and his son John Sr. (b. 1762); James Williams; James Withrow; and William Wofford. Several Loyalist officers at King's Mountain received special notice: Anthony Allaire; Uzal Johnson; Robert McGinnis; Ambrose Mills and his son William; Samuel Ryerson; William Stevenson; and John Taylor. Such Cherokee leaders as Doublehead, Little Carpenter, Oconastota, Nancy Ward, and John Watts are discussed in a few letters. Particularly noteworthy is one of William Martin's letters (1842) covering a wide range of topics: Indian treatment of women captives, Cherokee leaders he had known; Cherokee customs, including a description of the “Green Corn Dance”; Charles Lynch of Virginia and the origin of “Lynch law”; and the outstanding military service and personal attributes of the Martin family's black slave named Toby. A few papers on the Shelby-Campbell controversy, including a copy of a letter (1822) from Thomas Jefferson to John Campbell, and another manuscript copy of Wilkins Tannehill's “Early Times in Tennessee” (also in 11 DD) are found in this volume. Among Draper's miscellaneous notes are a section devoted to the infamous Harpe brothers and one on the statutory provisions for ducking as punishment for women involved in slander cases.
|
|
|
Series: 15 DD (Volume 15)Mainly miscellaneous notes and incoming letters to Draper during his King's Mountain research, followed by correspondence on the publication of King's Mountain and Its Heroes. His notes include copies of a group of letters (1763) by William Christian, William Ingles, Andrew Lewis, and Adam Stephen; one (1775) by Lewis to William Fleury; an oration (1810) on King's Mountain by Francis Preston; articles on the Shelby-Campbell dispute (found also in 8 DD); a letter (1822) on the same matter by Thomas Jefferson to Preston; papers on the alleged Toryism of William Green (found also in 12 DD); and bibliographical references to King's Mountain found in records in the Public Archives of Canada. Research letters touch on a multitude of persons, events, and locations discussed in other volumes, but only a few names are treated in sufficient significance to list: John Anderson, William Campbell, Gilbert Christian, Elijah Clarke, Patrick Ferguson and his mistresses, David Kennedy, Charles McDowell, Daniel McKissick, James Henry Sheppard, and John Whetchel (Whitsall). Also included are Joseph Winston, and the Cherokee chiefs, Doublehead, Oconastota, and John Watts. Letters (1852-1853) by George Gilmer give extensive information on Meriwether Lewis, his death, Lewis and Meriwether genealogy, and Dr. Thomas Walker. An 1874 letter by South Carolinian James H. Saye dealt wholly with issues of the day-his views on Wisconsin's industrial and agricultural prospects, his opinion that Africans were inferior to Indians and whites, and his discussion of the Grant administration and of other national and South Carolina politics. Filling the latter third of this volume is correspondence, 1879-1884. Many letters from publisher Peter G. Thomson detail the publication history of King's Mountain and Its Heroes. One of Thomson's early letters (1879) also contains his proposed plan for issuing Draper's study of the Mecklenburg Declaration (Series FF). Accompanying these business letters are a copy of Draper's letter explaining the tardy publication of his work to the King's Mountain Centennial Commission and letters from readers and book agents reacting to the book after its publication.
|
|
|
Series: 16 DD (Volume 16)Original manuscripts, 1753-1833, with a few pieces of later correspondence, 1842-1846. The majority of the early manuscripts are from the papers of the Shelby and Campbell families, but a few appear to have been removed from collections of other contemporaries. Evan Shelby's papers include a letter (1771) to his sons Isaac and John on his settlement on the Holston; additional receipts and accounts, 1753, 1773-1774, largely relating to military supplies; and a report [1774] on horses and goods taken by the Shawnee from residents of Fincastle County, Virginia. Among papers, 1787-1823, of Isaac Shelby are a few business letters, a petition (1793) from the Transylvania Presbytery meeting at Cane Run Church for a day of “humiliation, fasting, and prayer” for success in war against the Indians, letters (1818) to Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun concerning the negotiations by Shelby and Jackson for land purchase from the Chickasaw, and numerous additional documents (1812-1813, 1823) involved in the Shelby-Campbell dispute over events at King's Mountain. Letters by James Robertson to Isaac Shelby (1793) and to John Sevier (1812) concern relations with southern Indian tribes and national politics. Papers pertaining to the Campbells include a letter (1781) by William Campbell to Daniel Smith announcing Campbell's decision to seek a seat in the Virginia General Assembly; a letter (1829) by David Campbell giving an account of the first settlement of Campbell's Station, Tennessee, in 1787; a letter (1833) by John W. Campbell to Peyton S. Symmes concerning John C. Symmes; and the holograph manuscripts for narratives on the battle of King's Mountain by Arthur and David Campbell and for the biographical memoir on William Campbell written by Arthur (of which copies have also been noted in 8 DD and 10 DD). An interesting exchange of letters between Sevier and Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1800 discussed Sevier's suggestion that ventilation by ice-cooled air might possibly prevent the summer scourge of yellow fever. Among other miscellaneous documents of note are a congressional resolution (1780) on Oconastota's visit to Congress signed by Charles Thomson; an obituary sketch of Andrew Lewis [1781] in the handwriting of William Fleming; a marriage license (1801) issued by Joseph Dickson for James McCaul and Susannah Jenkins; and pension documents (1825) for Charles Pelham. Among other writers of letters and documents were John Campbell, William Casey, Robert Deny, Alexander Gordon, Harmon Perryman, James Shelby Jr., Samuel Spencer, Adam Stephen, and James Winchester. Other recipients included such men as John Brown, Arthur Campbell, and Joseph Martin. A few letters to Draper and to David Campbell in the early 1840s conclude the volume. Interspersed among the original papers are occasional copies of letters Draper obtained from the Public Records Office in London, England, and from the Horatio Gates Papers in the New-York Historical Society.
|
|
|
Series: 17 DD (Volume 17)
: Mainly publications on King's Mountain gathered by Draper. Pamphlets include: several written about the battle by Isaac Shelby [circa 1823], Robert Lathan (1880), W. R. Capps (1880), and J. Watts De Peyster (1881); a speech on the deaths of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Isaac Shelby by William T. Barry (1826); a lecture on John Sevier by William A. Henderson (1873); and Revolutionary narratives by Robert Henry and David Vance published (1891) by D. Schenck Sr. from material supplied in part by Draper. An assortment of newspaper and periodical clippings, some printed and some copied by hand by Draper, contains textual accounts and pictorial sketches about the 1880 centennial commemoration of King's Mountain, poetry inspired by the battle, and an advance endorsement of Draper's book by William Gilmore Simms and others.
|
|
|
Series: 18 DD (Volume 18)
: Draper's miscellaneous notes and bibliographical references relating to the battle and its participants. Many pertain to Patrick Ferguson. The material is accompanied by a partial index compiled by Draper.
|
|
|
Series: 19 DD (Volume 19)
: Miscellaneous papers, 1880-1882, created or collected by Draper during the writing and publication of King's Mountain and Its Heroes. Included are two letters, 1881, to the printers; maps; notes, memoranda, and draft fragments for chapters III-X; more complete drafts for the appendices; and a collection of clipped newspaper and periodical reviews and notices about the book before and after its publication. Never bound or calendared, these papers were not copied in the Draper microfilms issued in the 1940s, but they have been incorporated into the 1980 microfilm edition.
|
|
|
