Military affairs

Description

Subseries F, Military affairs, 1816-1869, undated, contains a wide range of material, including appointments, commissions, orders, correspondence, reports, receipts, journals, maps, printed matter, and news clippings. Letters of appointment and six parchment commissions are included in this series. Presidential signatures on the commissions include those of Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, and Abraham Lincoln. The date span is 1836 to 1863. Orders cover the years 1836 to 1864. Correspondence sent consists of a letterbook of requisitions and receipts from Garey's Ferry, East Florida, dated 1838-1839. Correspondence received, dated 1838-[1855] and 1861-1869, is of a military nature and deals with assignments, troop movements, "Indian affairs" and battles in Mexico and at Fair Oakes. Additional correspondence includes letters retained by Silas Casey for reference. They include letters, to and from others, about the expedition against the Coquille Indian Tribe, the occupation of San Juan Island in Puget Sound, and a letter protesting the occupation by the Governor of Vancouver Island. A later group of letters concerns the board of examiners reviewing the manual on military tactics. These letters date to 1851-1859, and 1863-1867 respectively. Casey also retained copies of letters by others recommending him for promotions. These letters are dated 1842, 1856-1857. A group of reports contains Casey's eye witness reports of the Battle of Mexico, 1847, and the Battle of Seven Pines, 1862, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks. Also included are reports of the evacuation of White House, Virginia and investigations of an incident regarding a Black sentinel. This series also includes a journal bound with thread, recording a six week scouting assignment in Florida. It is undated, but was most likely written in 1839. An undated manuscript copy of bill to the Senate and House of Representatives regarding the addition of regiments to the United States Army for Black troops; during the Civil War, Casey presided over the board of examiners charged with choosing officers to lead Black troops, so it is likely that he may have had some interest in this bill. A collection of maps contains four small, hand-drawn maps, one of the Coquille River, Oregon Territory, the others of Civil War sites. The first, dated, 1851, traces the route of Lt. Colonel Silas Casey's Command along the Coquille River. The second shows the approximate position of the Army of the Potomac on July 2, 1862. The other two, which are undated and untitled, show General Wessell's Headquarters near Live Oak Bridge and pickets from Woodyard Ford to Little River Pike. Finally, this series contains a miscellaneous assortment of items dating from 1845 to 1874, including a pamphlet listing the officers of Major General Winfield Scott engaged in the Battle of Mexico, 1848, and a copy of the Army & Navy Journal, October 31, 1874, describing the Battle of Fair Oaks, also described in a news clipping.