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Papers of Vance, congressman (1858-1861), governor (1862-1865, 1877-1879), and U.S. senator (1879-1894). Early letters concern his student days at UNC, marriage to Harriet Espy, and challenges to duels. Correspondence while in Congress includes letters to D. L. Swain on Indian affairs (1860) and from Unionists. Letters from Vance as colonel, 26th Regt. NCT, describe operations around New Bern, 1862. His correspondence as wartime governor covers many topics including defense of North Carolina; military supplies; railroads and telegraph; conscription and desertions; blockade-running and the Advance; trade with London, Bermuda, and Nassau; hospitals; the Quakers; suspension of habeas corpus; relations with the Confederate government; the peace movement; campaign for reelection in 1864; and general confusion at the end of the war. Letters from 1865 to 1877 concern his imprisonment, parole, and eventual pardon, the Holden-Worth gubernatorial campaign of 1865, North Carolina Railroad, election to and rejection by the U.S. Senate (1870-1872), and his election as governor in 1876. Correspondence as governor (1877-1879) concerns primarily his senate campaign, but also the State Library and the furniture taken from the Executive Mansion by Federal troops in 1865. Subjects in his correspondence while senator include struggle for control of railroads in the state; Democratic oppostition to Radicals in North Carolina and in Virginia; presidential campaigns; prohibition; the tariff and lobbying on specific duties; the internal revenue system; naval appropriations; the civil service; remonetization of silver; Farmers' Alliance; pension claims and foreign service appointments; and events during or relating to the Civil War, such as invention of the torpedo. Much correspondence is with his second wife Florence Martin and with the children; and there are papers about memorials after his death and a family controversy over his burial place. Vance's diary during and after the war includes thoughts on Holden and reasons North Carolina should not return to the Union (ca. 1864). An appointments diary (1878) and a diary of a European trip with his second wife and stepson are included. Miscellaneous items include accounts, deeds and land grants, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, school reports, statement about duel between Dr. Robert B. Vance and Samuel P. Carson (1827), Heroes of America ceremony, description of travel in western mountains (n.d.), and a history of St. John's Church, Williamsboro. Correspondents include Edward Atkinson, Rufus Barringer, P. G. T. Beauregard, Judah P. Benjamin, M. L. Bonham, Thomas Bragg, John C. Breckinridge, Joseph E. Brown, W. H. S. Burgwyn, W. R. Cox, Junius Daniels, George Davis, Jefferson Davis, Jubal A. Early, R. C. Gatlin, William A. Graham, H. H. Helper, D. H. Hill, Sr., William W. Holden, Thomas J. Jarvis, Andrew Johnson, R. D. Johnson, Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, John Letcher, Collett Leventhorpe, S. R. Mallory, Charles Manly, C. G. Memminger, A. S. Merrimon, J. Johnston Pettigrew, D. C. Pearson, John H. Reagan, L. L. Polk, David S. Reid, W. L. Saunders, Alfred M. Scales, James A. Seddon, George W. Smith, W. N. H. Smith, William Smith, Cornelia P. Spencer, Edward Stanly, David L. Swain, Edward Warren. W. H. C. Whiting, and Jonathan Worth. |
