Washington and Lee University, University Library Special Collections and Archives
204 W. Washington St.Lexington, VA 24450
specialcollections@wlu.edu
URL: http://library.wlu.edu/specialcollections
Administrative Information
Conditions Governing Use
The materials from Washington and Lee University Special Collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used should be fully credited with the source. Permission for publication of this material, in part or in full, must be secured with the Head of Special Collections.
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation: [Identification of item], David Flavel Jamison Papers, WLU Coll. 0056, Special Collections, Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.
In some cases the citation format may vary. Please contact Special Collections staff to verify the appropriate format.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Vanse W. Marshall in 1928.
Scope and Contents
This collection includes correspondence while Jamison was Secretary of War of South Carolina, 1861; scattered letters and papers pertaining to the South Carolina Secession Convention of which he was president, and papers related to his tenure as presiding judge of the military court of Gen. Beauregard's Corps, 1862-1864. Robert Woodward Barnwell and Lawrence Massillon Keitt are among the correspondents.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893
- Confederate States of America
- Correspondence
- Military courts
- Political science
- Secession
- South Carolina
- South Carolina -- Charleston -- Fort Sumter
- United States -- Confederate States of America
Significant Persons Associated With the Collection
- Abner, Wilson
- Aldrich, N., Reverend
- Alston, Thomas Pinckney, 1795-1861
- Anderson, Robert, Major, 1805 - 1871
- Arthur, B. F. (Benjamin Franklin), Sr., 1826-1870
- Arthur, Benjamin Franklin, 1826-1870
- Austin, Charles
- Baker, Edward Dickinson, 1811-1861
- Barbot, Anthony, 1834-1882
- Barksdale, William, 1821-1863
- Barnwell, Robert Woodward
- Barnwell, Robert Woodward, 1801-1882
- Bartow, Francis S. (Francis Stebbins), 1816-1861
- Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893
- Benjamin, J. P. (Judah Philip), 1811-1884
- Bennett, J.
- Blanding, William D., 1818-1888
- Bonham, Milledge L. (Milledge Luke), 1813-1890
- Brady, Edward W., Jr.
- Branch, John Luther, 1825-1894
- Branham, W. H.
- Brooks, John Hampden, Captain, 1833-1911
- Brown, Joseph M.
- Bryan, Edward B.
- Buchanan, James, 1791-1868
- Burnett Rhett, Andrew, 1833-1879
- Burnett, Burgh S.
- Camden, John
- Cameron, Archibald, 1813-1881
- Capers, Ellison, 1837-1908
- Capers, Francis W., 1819-1896
- Carlisle, W. H. (William Henry), b. 1819
- Carter, W. D.
- Chesnut, James, 1815-1885
- Clay, C. C. (Clement Claiborne), 1816-1882
- Colcock, William Ferguson, 1804-1889
- Cooper, Samuel, 1798-1876
- Crawford, Samuel Wylie, 1827-1892
- Cunningham, John
- Cunningham, John, 1805-1869
- D. B. Vincent
- Daggett, Thomas West, Captain, 1828-1893
- Damas, C.A.D.
- Davega, Columbus, 1830-1882
- Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889
- DeSaussure, Wilmot G. (Wilmot Gibbes), 1822-1886
- Doubleday, Abner, 1819-1893
- Dozier, William Gaillard, 1833-1908
- Dunkin, Benjamin Faneuil, 1792-1874
- Dunovant, R. G. M. (Richard Gill Mills), 1821-1898
- Dupont, John
- Easterly, John M.
- Edward, III, King of England, 1312-1377
- Evans, Nathan George, 1824-1868
- Farley, H. S.
- Fender, William M., 1833-1870
- Ferguson, Thomas B., 1841-1922
- Ferrill, John O.
- Foster, John G. (John Gray), 1823-1874
- Gibbon, John, 1827-1896
- Gilchrist, B. C., AA General
- Gist, States Rights, 1831-1864
- Gist, William Henry, 1807 - 1874
- Glaze, William, 1815-1883
- Glover, Thomas Jefferson, 1816-1874
- Gourdin, Robert N., 1812-1894
- Gregg, Maxcy, 1814-1862
- Grisham, William Steele, 1824-1878
- Guard, A.C.
- Gwynn, Walter, 1802-1882
- Hagood, Johnson, 1829-1898
- Hall, Norman J., 1842-1867
- Hamilton, James
- Hardee, William Joseph, 1815-1873
- Harllee, W. W. (William Wallace), 1812-1897
- Hayne, Isaac W. (Isaac William), 1809-1880
- Hayne, Paul Hamilton, 1830-1886
- Heinrich, Harms, 1833-1869
- Henerey, William S.
- Henning, Norman Phillip
- Hernandez, James. J.
- Heyward, Nathaniel Barnwell, 1816-1891
- Huguenin, Thomas Abram, 1839-1897
- Hunter, J. W.
- Ingles, J. A.
- Jamison, Sander Glover, 1830-1900
- Jeffords, Robert J. (Robert Josiah), 1834-1864
- Jenkins, Albert Gallatin, 1830-1864
- Jordan, Thomas, 1819-1895
- Kaminski, Heiman, 1839-1923
- Kearny, E., A.A.A.G. (Acting Assistant Adjutant General)
- Keitt, Lawrence M. (Lawrence Massillon), 1824-1864
- Kenan, Augustus Holmes, 1805-1870
- King, Henry Campbell, 1819-1862
- Lafar, John J., 1797-1873
- Lamar, L. Q. C. (Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus), 1825-1893
- Lee, Francis D., 1826-1885
- Leffmann, William, b. 1836
- Lesesne, Henry Deas, 1810-1886
- Limehouse, Edward Just, 1835-1910
- Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
- Litchfield, John L., Captain
- Lynah, Arthur M.
- Lynch, Arthur M.
- Lynch, Thomas M.
- Macbeth, Charles, 1805-1881
- Macbeth, E. W.
- Magrath, A. G. (Andrew Gordon), 1813-1893
- Manget, Victor H., 1837-1919
- Manigault, Edward, 1817-1874
- Manigault, Gabriel E. (Gabriel Edward), 1833-1899
- Martin, Robert
- Martin, William E.
- Martin, William Edward, 1815-1869
- McLaws, Lafayette, 1821-1897
- Melchers, Alexander, 1831-1885
- Memminger, C. G. (Christopher Gustavus), 1803-1888
- Mercer, George, Private
- Mercer, Hugh W. (Hugh Weedon), 1808-1877
- Meyerhoff, B., Lieutenant
- Mills, S. S.
- Moses, H.
- Motte Alston Pringle, Jacob, 1827-1886
- Myers, Abraham C. (Abraham Charles Myers), 1811 - 1889
- Norman, J. H. (James Henry), 1829-1877
- North, Edward
- Orr, James Lawrence, 1822-1873
- Parrott, R. P. (Robert Parker), 1804-1877
- Perryman, W. W. (William W.), 1831-1891
- Pettigrew, James Johnston, 1828-1863
- Pickens, F. W. (Francis Wilkinson)
- Pickens, F.W. (Francis Wilkinson), 1805-1869
- Pope, Joseph James, Jr.
- Pope, Joseph James, Jr., 1825-1870
- Porter, Wm. D. (William Dennison), 1810-1883
- Pressley, John G. (John Gotea), 1833-1895
- Pundt, J. M.
- Quinn, Patrick, 1822-1886
- Quinn, Thomas, 1828-1903
- Rhett, Robert Barnwell, 1800-1876
- Rice, Henry M. (Henry Mower), 1816-1894
- Rion, James H. (James Henry), 1828-1886
- Ripley, R. S. (Roswell Sabine), 1823-1887
- Rivers, Constant Henry, Lieutenant Colonel, 1828-1900
- Robertson, Louis F.
- Rooney, M. E.
- Rose, James
- Rutledge, Benjamin Huger, 1828-1893
- Schnierle, John, 1808 - 1861
- Scott, Winfield, 1786-1866
- Screven, John H., 1823-1903
- Seward, William H. (William Henry), 1801-1872
- Sherman, John, 1823-1900
- Shingler, William Pinkney, Colonel, 1827-1869
- Short, Emanuel
- Simms, William Gilmore, 1806-1870
- Simons, James, 1813-1879
- Simonton, Charles H. (Charles Henry), 1829-1904
- Small, Jacob, Captain
- Smith, Clifton H. (Clifton Hewitt), 1841-1902
- Smith, Robert P.
- South Carolina Cavalry Kirk's Squadron
- South Carolina Seccession Convention
- Spratt, L.W. (Leonidas William), 1818-1903
- Steedly, E.
- Steedly, Moses, 1824-deceased
- Stevens, Peter F. (Peter Fayssoux Stevens), 1830-1910
- Stokes, Jefferson, 1829-1902
- Talley, W. H. (William H.), b. ca. 1836
- Thomas, Captain
- Thomas, John P., 1833-1912
- Trapier, James H., 1815-1865
- Valentine, Jacob
- Vanderhorst, Louis M., 1832-1864
- Vaus, Richard
- Vaus, William
- Villani, Giovanni, ca.1275-1348
- Walker, Joseph, 1835-1902
- Walter, George H.
- Wardlaw, David Lewis, 1799-1873
- Washington, L. Quinton
- Waters, Philama B., b. ca.1812
- White, E. B. (Edward Brickell), 1806-1882
- Wigfall, Louis T. (Louis Trezevant), 1816-1874
- Yates, Joseph A.
- de Treville, Richard, Sr., 1801-1874
Significant Places Associated With the Collection
- South Carolina
- South Carolina -- Charleston -- Fort Sumter
- United States -- Confederate States of America
Container List
Folder two contains letters and documents from 1860 including reports from officers stationed in forts in and around Charleston harbor (SC). The primary subjects of correspondence include military preparedness, general defenses, and vulnerabilities of the various forts. Some documents show early Confederate preparations for attacking Fort Sumter, which at that point remained in possession of the United States. This folder also includes applications for the South Carolina state militia from veterans of the Mexican War (1846-1848); an important letter from Robert W. Barnwell who was a United States and Confederate senator from South Carolina; a recommendation for two Citadel cadets; and details of a donation of books to the library of the military school.
Folder three contains correspondence from January 1861. The primary correspondence is to and from Jamison and include military application letters and reports on surveys, maintenance, and activity taking place within the forts of Charleston harbor. Some of these letters contain Confederate plans for attacking Fort Sumter, two of which propose poisoning the water and attacking directly by fortified raft. A highlight is a letter from Senator Henry M. Rice of Minnesota to South Carolina senator James Chestnut on South Carolina's secession and Rice's opposition to war. Another curious letter included in this folder explores the unique story of a civilian Irish laborer, Patrick Quinn, who was employed and living within Fort Sumter before its bombardment and his brother Thomas who was a member of the South Carolina militia and seeking to have his brother leave the fort.
Folder four contains documents and letters from February 1861 as Confederate South Carolinians prepared for an attack on Fort Sumter. The folder includes a letter from General Arthur Manigault South Carolina's Ordnance Bureau urging that supplies be sent to the forts in Charleston harbor. Also included are numerous military reports related to the pending attack on Fort Sumter, placement of military regiments, and construction of forts and batteries. Other interesting contents from this folder include an application letter for South Carolina Confederate service from Columbus daVega, a Crimean war veteran; two letters pertaining to an enslaved man, Arthur or Thomas Lynch [also see folders three and five]; a letter from Laurence Keitt to David Flavel Jamison announcing the formation of the Confederate government.
Folder five contains documents and correspondence from March 1861. Included is another letter concerning an enslaved man, Arthur or Thomas Lynch [see folders three and four]; a detailed letter to South Carolina's governor Francis Pickens from Lucius Quinton Washington, a distant relative of George Washington, from Washington DC on the national political situation in the wake of President Abraham Lincoln's inaugural speech and including strategy and intelligence on Fort Sumter and Pensacola harbor (FL); a letter from Ellison Capers to D. F. Jamison on military arms; and Jamison's report from South Carolina's war department to Governor Pickens.
Folder six contains documents and correspondence from April to December of 1861. Included in this folder are reports of the Provisional Army of the Confederate States after the attack on Fort Sumter assessing the fort's damage and detailing the evacuation of the United States soldiers stationed there during the siege. Other important documents include a contract for enlisted members of a South Carolina militia company of German immigrants; David F. Jamison's letter of resignation as South Carolina secretary of war, a South Carolina militia application for Mexican War veteran Jacob Valentine signed by fellow Mexican War veterans; and a diagram for attacking Fort Sumter submitted by an unknown northerner sympathetic to the Confederate cause
Folder seven contains David F. Jamison's personal copies of government ordinances enacted during his time as Confederate provost marshal and letters from Jamison's tenure as head of South Carolina's secession convention.
Folder eight contains documents concerning the Confederate military court of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in 1863 and includes court cases on soldier desertions some with David F. Jamison's commentary. Included is an interesting petition for the discharge of South Carolina Confederate soldier William Fender, a shoemaker, requesting his return to his home in Barnwell, South Carolina for its desperate lack of shoes.
Folder nine contains documents concerning the Confederate military court of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in 1864 including a multipage fragment of a running list of military courts martial cases listing defendant's names, charges, specific details of the charge, and witnesses. There are two letters by Jamison concerning court martial procedure. Also included are brief essays presumably in Jamison's hand, titled "The Origins of Artillery", "New trial", and "The Military Courts of the Confederate States."
Folder ten contains miscellaneous four undated items or fragments of papers. Included is a narrative description of a floating structure for the defense of Charleston Harbor, a resolution for filling vacancies in the South Carolina or Confederate provisional congress; a proclamation giving the governor power to commission officers of coastal military companies; a letter from Thomas J. Glover asking for the Edisto rifles to be part of the infantry; and a letter fragment concerning political allegiances within the Confederate congress specifically mentioning Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Judah Benjamin, and various representatives and/or Senators.