General James Harrison Wilson commanded the cavalry unit that captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis (1808–1889) on May 10, 1865. In this letter written three days later to his close friend Adam Badeau (1831–1895), military secretary to General Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), Wilson vividly narrates the possibly apocryphal story of Davis’s attempt to escape disguised as a woman. Gift of Shirley W. Morgan. Civil War Letters of Adam Badeau, Manuscripts Division.
FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION: See the finding aid for this item.
In 1676, an Indian named Peter Freeman asked the General Court of Massachusetts for his wife’s freedom “by reason of services rendered the English and as promised by Gov. [Josiah] Winslow.” Near the end of King Philip’s War, there was confusion about which Native Americans were English allies, which had surrendered, and which were still enemies, and many were mistakenly imprisoned or punished. Gift of Gladys Straus. Straus Autograph Collection, Manuscripts Division.
The son of Ohio Valley explorer and Indian agent Christopher Gist (1706–1759), Thomas was captured in 1758 during the French and Indian War by Wyandot (Huron) Indians near Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh). Taken with other prisoners to the Huron town opposite Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit), Gist was adopted by a Wyandot family and well treated. He escaped after a year of captivity. This account may have been written by a family member after Gist’s return. Gift of P. Blair Lee and E. Brooke Lee. General Manuscripts Bound, no. 376, Manuscripts Division.