Alfred Cumming Papers, 1792-1889

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Alfred Cumming Papers, 1792-1889

http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/cummingalfred/

Public official, Indian agent, and Territorial Governor of Utah (1857-1861). Family and political correspondence, mainly of the 1850s, with material on Mormon history, including the "Mormon War," and on frontier and pioneer life. Includes journals, scrapbooks, letter books, and proceedings pertaining to councils and negotiations with the Blackfoot Indians and other tribes (1855). Letters of Cumming's wife, Elizabeth Wells Randall Cumming, describe incidents on her trip to Utah with her husband when he was named governor with frontier conditions and Indian troubles. Cumming's official letter books contain correspondence to James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, Howell Cobb, John B. Floyd, Albert S. Johnston, Brigham Young, and others. Additional correspondents include W.W. Bibb, J.S. Black, William Medill, B.F. Perry, Franklin Pierce, Alexander Stephens, and G.M. Troup. Includes papers of William Clay Cumming, a brother, pertaining to his studies at Princeton University (1805) and at Litchfield Law School; his accounts of opposition to Federalism in New England; his experiences in the War of 1812; travels in the Mississippi Valley and the South; and a few comments on Brazil and Uruguay (1816). The collection also contains papers from Thomas Cumming.

4.0 Linear Feet; 760 Items

eng,

David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 6359329

Related Entities

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Cumming, Alfred

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tt4xt0 (person)

Alfred Cumming was born in 1802 in Augusta, Georgia. As Mayor of the city of Augusta, he achieved prominence by his active work in curbing a yellow fever epidemic. In May 1857, President James Buchanan appointed him the second Governor of Utah Territory, following Brigham Young. His trip West took several months and included a winter near Fort Bridger. He finally arrived in Utah with his wife, Elizabeth, in the spring of 1858. At the time, the territory was in conflict as the Mormon...