Nathan George Evans papers, 1861-1872.

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Evans, Nathan George, 1824-1868. Nathan George Evans papers, 1861-1872.

Nathan George Evans papers, 1861-1872.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/680021787

Earliest items written while Evans' attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and discuss student life of antebellum cadets: letter, 6 Apr. 1847, to George A. Lucas in Binghamton, N.Y., re details of a new cadet uniform, a "riding suit" with "pantaloons of a bluish grey, some considerable lighter than our present uniform...," reporting that "Stewart, G[eorge] H. is considered the most graceful rider in the class he appears perfectly at home not all afraid of any horse." Evans closes this letter by encouraging Lucas to visit "the Point next encampment" as "we would then be prepared to give you a cordial reception being liberated from the Pledge and having made preparations to receive excellent liqueurs from New York." Letter, 24 Feb. 1848, from Evans at West Point to George A. Lucas, re conclusion of the war in Mexico, disappointment among the cadets "at the awful prospects of peace," Evans' preference for being appointed to a mounted unit following his graduation, including his opinion "strongly in favor of the Dragoons.... I must by any means get into a mounted Corps where I can have the luxury of a fine horse." Letter, 5 Apr. 1861 (Sullivan's Island, S.C.) re command of Col. [Richard H.] Anderson on the Island; permit, 9 Nov. 1861, [Headquarters], 7th Brigade, issued to Capt. [John?] Carleton "now under arrest... to visit the H[ea]d Quarters of Gen. Beauregard to learn the facts of his recent trial before a General Court Martial" (item docketed and signed by Gen. P.G. T. Beauregard); letter 9 Feb. 1862 (Adams Run, S.C.) re arrest of William McDonald for looting and "marauding" from homes on Edisto Island, S.C., following his arrest while "in possession of considerable property of the citizens... from Edisto Island." Printed receipt for ordnance and ordnance stores, 18 June 1862, signed by J[o]no[than]. B. Fraser, First Lieutenant, Artillery, acknowledging receipt of ordnance and ordnance stores from Gen. G.N. Evans [sic], Comma[ndin]g Troops at James Island, including Enfield rifles and bayonets, Springfield rifles, percussion muskets, muskets altered from flint to percussion, cartridge boxes, cavalry saddles, and bayonet scabbards, all "captured from the Enemy"; letter, 19 Nov. 1863 (Mt. Pleasant, Charleston Co., S.C.) to Gov. J[ohn] L[aurence] Manning (Manchester, Sumter District, S.C.) to advise him re Evans' controversy with [Fitz William] McMaster (1826-1899). Letters from the post-Civil War era reflect Evans work as a teacher in S.C. and Alabama, and comment on the new social order of Reconstruction: letter, 2 Dec. 1867 (Cokesbury, S.C.) to Beverly [D. Evans], in with N.G. Evans reports that he had accepted a teaching position in Alabama and would leave Cokesbury, S.C., where he "taught... successfully, after the West Point method, but my school was too small"; two letters, 6 July 1868 (from John Gill Shorter in Eufala, Ala.) and 26 Oct. 1868 (from Daniel M. Seals in Clayton, Ala.), to Evans in Midway, Alabama, describe opportunities to take over the governance of schools in their respective towns. Three letters, 1868, to Evans from his Aunt Anna in Greenwood, S.C., re family news and Reconstruction in S.C.; letter, 9 Aug. 1868, re a train trip taken by African American members of the South Carolina Legislature, "It was humiliating to see the So. Ca. Legislature pass up on the Cars not long since with the pretext to inspect the road from Columbia to Greenville to see them sitting in the car, some without their coats, mixed up with the whites and getting out at every Depot talking to the negroes, to be firm that they had things in their own hands, to think what our state has come to which was once the pride of the union." Letter, 30 July 1872 (Sandersville, Georgia) from Beverly [D. Evans] to Col. C.C. Jones, explaining that the papers of N.G. Evans were destroyed when the "Army of Gen. Sherman sacked my house in 1864."

15 items.

University of South Carolina, System Library Service, University Libraries