Campaigning with Grant
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of 46 engraved portraits, 2 engraved other illustrations, 1 photographic print and 22 textual documents inserted into William Van R. Whitall's copy of Horace Porter's Campaigning with Grant. The textual documents are either manuscript or partially manuscript and partially printed. Each of the portraits is of a prominent leader mentioned by Porter at some point in the text. Although the textual documents vary in form, function and scope, each document contains an autograph signature of some person mentioned by Porter in his text, and appear to have been collected by Whithall for the significance of their autographs rather than for other content. A few documents are slips or leaves with only an autograph signature and nothing else. Most, however, are items originally created in the course of personal, military or other government activity and consist of short notes accompanying or explaining other corrrespondence that is not present with this volume, and sent by or received by Horace Porter and other former members of Grant's military staff who served along with Porter as Grant's secretaries during the period of Grant's presidency, such as Frederick T. Dent and Orville Babcock. Documents from other persons include those from John C. Kelton, Cyrus B. Comstock, William Averell, Benjamin Butler, Rufus Ingalls, David Dixon Porter, and others and originate from their military service, civilian goverment service, business or personal correspondence. Engravers whose work appears among the portraits include several who were prominent in the northeastern U.S. during the late nineteenth century, such as Alexander Hay Ritchie, John A. O'Neill, John Chester Buttre and others. Some of the documents described in the 1927 American Art Association auction catalog as inserted by Whitall were not present in the volume when it was acquired by USMA Library in 2023.
Dates
- Creation: 1860 - 1900
Creator
- Porter, Horace, 1837-1921 (Author, Person)
- Whitall, William Van R. (Collector, Person)
- Woodin, William H. (William Hartman), 1868-1934 (Former owner, Person)
Extent
71 Leaves : The items inserted by the former owner into the volume after publication consist of 71 leaves.
Language of Materials
English
System of Arrangement
Each illustration or document is inserted into Withall's copy of Campaigning with Grant so that it is near a point in the text mentioning the person shown in the illustration or associated with the document.
Custodial History
Likely collected by V. Van R. Whithall and likely bound at his direction into his copy of Porter's Campaigning with Grant. Owned at some pont after 1927 by William Hartman Woodin. Some of the documents likely collected by Whitall and bound at his direction into the volume were apparently removed after 1927, but it is not known whether by Woodin or by a later owner.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated to United States Military Academy Library by Dennis A. Lowe, November 9, 2023
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the United States Military Academy Library Archives and Special Collections Repository