Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of originals, photocopies, and transcriptions of correspondence sent to and from U.S. Representative Henry Pelham Holmes Bromwell during the Civil War.
Henry Pelham Holmes Bromwell (1823-1903) was a lawyer and politician from Illinois. He was friends with Abraham Lincoln and was a presidential elector for him in 1860. From 1865 to 1869 Bromwell served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois. In 1870 he moved to Colorado, where he continued working in public service.
The collection contains original letters sent to Bromwell during the Civil War, including a letter from Major James A. Connolly describing marching through Georgia during Sherman's March to the Sea and the anti-Black actions of Major Gereral Jefferson C. Davis at Ebenezer Creek. In the letter, Connolly identified Davis as a sympathizer of the South and requests an investigation into his actions. There is also a letter from W. S. Marshall, a constituent stationed in Vicksburg, Mississippi, urging Congress to take action to ease racial tensions in the region. In addition, there is a deposition by Allan Pinkerton regarding Timothy Webster, one of his secret service operators, who was captured in Richmond, Virginia, court-martialed by the Confederate Government, and executed in 1862. Webster's 1841 marriage certificate is included, as Bromwell was working to get benefits for Webster's widow.
Among the photocopies in the collection are an 1861 letter to Bromwell from his mother; a letter from Bromwell describing arrangements in Springfield for Lincoln's funeral; and three 1865 letters to Bromwell from William H. Herndon, asking for assistance in his Lincoln research. In addition, there is a copy of an 1865 letter from William Pickering claiming Lincoln had planned to reappoint him as Governor of Washington territory.
Henry Bromwell's daughter, Henrietta Bromwell, donated the original letters to the Library in 1919. The photocopies are from the Henry Pelham Holmes Bromwell Papers at the Library of Congress.
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