Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Additional Papers of Thomas Lafayette Rosser, Accession #1171-d, -e, -f, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These additions to the Rosser papers were a gift to the Library from Miss Barbara Rosser of Charlottesville, Virginia, on September 25 and October 9, 1980, and on January 26, 1981.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of ca. 138 items (2 Hollinger boxes) of correspondence, photographs, stereoscopic views, bound volumes, and printed materials relating to Thomas L. Rosser (1836-1910), the assistant chief of construction for the Northern Pacific Railroad and a former Confederate general. Most of the correspondence is comprised of letters from Rosser to his sons, Thomas, Jr., and William, while both were attending school in Virginia. Also included is a letter from General Joseph E. Johnston to Robert E. Lee, 1862, concerning the evacuation of Norfolk, Virginia.

Of great interest are two of Rosser's diaries for the years 1872 and 1873 in which he recorded his activities in the Dakota Territory and on business trips to Chicago, New York, and Washington. Several entries concern his invention of a combination canal-railroad canal lock. In the diary for 1873, General Philip Sheridan is briefly mentioned as is George Armstrong Custer, who had the assignment of protecting expeditions venturing into Indian territories. In this same diary Rosser recounts his difficulties resulting from the Panic of 1873, which was caused by unrestrainted speculation in railroad construction and wil investment schemes, and was touched off by the failure of Jay Cooke and Company, financier of the Northern Pacific. Rosser had to sell the company's equipment at auction and find other work during this period while taking care of his family. He eventually found employment as chief engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, a post he held until his retirement in 1885.

Rosser's letterbook, 1871-1872, complements the diaries and contains receipts, business correspondence, a payroll, salary vouchers, memoranda on unfinished work in each section, and notes on his survey of the Dakota Territory. Ira Spaulding, Samuel B. Holabird, and Winfield S. Hitchcock are correspondents.

Fifty-two stereoscopic views and seven photographs show scenes of Minnesota and Ontario at the time Rosser lived and traveled there while employed by the Northern Pacific and, subsequently, the Canadian Pacific railroads. Some views of other places around the world are included. Other photographs in this collection chiefly pertain to the Rosser and related families.