English
The papers of Charles W. Lowell consist mainly of materials collected by Lowell during his service as captain of Company B, 80th Infantry Regiment, Corps D'Afrique. The collection contains correspondence, primarily concerning military business; legal documents, which contain the records of court proceedings for which Lowell served as judge; bills and receipts; miscellaneous military inventories; military orders and circulars; and a section of miscellaneous documents.
Charles W. Lowell Papers, 1860-1867
Collection 2068
10 boxes, 3 lin. feet
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
1300 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Charles Winthrop Lowell is a ninth generation descendent of Percival Lowell, who was the first Lowell to emigrate to America, in 1639. He was born to Hon. Phillip Smith Lowell and Harriet Butler Lowell on November 20, 1834, in Farmingham, Maine.
He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1859 and studied law with the Hon. Charles P. Chandler, whose daughter Mary Elizabeth he married in June of 1860. Their daughter, Mary Chandler Lowell, was born on January 18, 1864; her mother died six days later. He married again, ca. 1870, Sarah ("Sally") W. Huff of Salem, Va., but had no children from this marriage.
Lowell was a prominent lawyer in Maine and Louisiana and served as a captain in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. After the war, he continued military service as a colonel and provost marshal general. At the close of the war he settled in New Orleans, La., served as a member and speaker of the Louisiana legislature, and for several years was postmaster of New Orleans. Lowell died on October 5, 1877, in Foxcroft, Maine.
The 80th Regiment of United States Colored Troops (which was formerly known as the Corps d'Afrique or The Native Guards) was formed in Louisiana in 1863. The mustering of African-American soldiers during the Civil War was a key event that helped change the struggle from a war of politics to a war for freedom, a position which was not overtly recognized by the United States government until 1863.
As the captain of African-American troops, Charles Lowell was directly involved in an important endeavor during this transitional period of the war. However, the bulk of Lowell's correspondence, which is of a military nature, provides little information about the soldiers, the organization of the unit, Lowell's responsibilities, or the troops' duties. Lowell's personal correspondence occupies a very small space in this collection and gives no hints about his actions, his opinions, or the activities of his company or the regiment. Similarly, the military documents that constitute a significant portion of the collection create a very meager and vague picture of life as an officer. Inventories of supplies received and given to the troops, however, may provide information about the quantity and quality of equipment given to Lowell's company, and some military orders reflect the types of duties assigned to Lowell's troops.
Lowell's legal papers offer glimpses into the many courts-martial and proceedings in which he was involved, both directly and indirectly. Most of the men held for crimes were members of the United States Colored Troops, and these documents give not only the names of those arrested and the offenses for which they were held and tried, but often show the punishments recommended by jurors and the sentences meted out by the courts.
Series I
Correspondence
2 boxes
a. Official correspondence
b. Personal correspondence
Series II
Legal Documents
2 boxes
Series III
Bills and Receipts
2 boxes
Series IV
Military Documents
3 boxes
a. Miscellaneous inventories
b. Special orders
c. Circulars
d. General orders
Series V
Miscellaneous
1 box
Series 1. Correspondence
(Boxes 1-2).
Series 1 contains Official Correspondence and Personal Correspondence of Charles W. Lowell, including for the most part his communications regarding military business. Personal Correspondence includes items from Mary E. Chandler, Ruth Perkins, Samuel Ryerson, and two letters written by Lowell to his sister-in-law and brother-in-law, which were supplied by the Maine Historical Society.
Series 2: Legal Documents
(Boxes 3-4).
Series 2 contains legal documents, most of which appear to be the records of court proceedings for which Lowell served as Judge. Some records may have been kept in the event that a trial would take place; many folders contain the slips upon which the jury wrote their verdicts.
Series 3: Bills and Receipts
(Boxes 5-6).
Series 3 contains the bills and receipts from Lowell's law practice in Maine before the war (1860-1864) and those collected while he was in the military (1864-1867). Many of the military receipts have orders attached.
Series 4: Military Documents
(Boxes 7-9).
Series 4 contains Miscellaneous Inventories kept for military purposes. These include inventories of food, clothing, and camp supplies; receipt rolls of clothing and supplies; rosters and muster out forms; abstracts of advances for work and supplies; and monthly returns of Quartermaster's stores. These become more complete and better organized as the years go on, with printed forms replacing handwritten documents. Special Orders (1863-1866), Circulars (1863-1866), and General Orders (1863-1866) are also included in Series 4. These documents include printed and handwritten military orders.
Series 5: Miscellaneous
(Box 10).
Series 5 includes miscellaneous documents relating to military and civilian matters. These include papers relating to the estate of Mary J. Mayhew, military discharge notices and official correspondence, a copy of the Memorial Service held in Christ Church, New Orleans, on the event of President Lincoln's death, ballots, business cards, counterfeit money from Louisiana State Bank, a map of Port Hudson, and blank military documents.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Colored Troops--80th Regiment
United States-History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Courts martial
United States-History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Military documents
Reprocessed by: Leslie Hunt
Processing Completed: December 2000
A folder-level inventory was completed in 2001 in order to include this finding aid in an EAD encoding project. The collection was fully processed prior to the compilation of the new inventory, but previously there was only a box-level inventory. No changes in the arrangement were made during the creation of the folder-level inventory.
None.
The collection is open for research.
Gift of Mrs. James Armentrout, Jr. in 1977.
Accession number: 77:53
Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], Charles W. Lowell Papers (Collection 2068), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Series 1: Correspondence
Official Correspondence
1862-1863
1
1
January-May 1864
1
2
June-July 1864
1
3
August-September 1864
1
4
October-25 November 1864
1
5
29 November-December 1864
1
6
January-6 February 1865
1
7
8 February-29 May 1865
1
8
31 May-10 September
1
9
25 September-December 1865
1
10
April-9 May 1866
2
1
10 May-9 June 1866
2
2
11 June-5 July 1866
2
3
5-18 July 1866
2
4
20 July-21 August 1866
2
5
24 August-10 October 1866
2
6
11-28 October 1866
2
7
28 October- 5 December 1866
2
8
5-24 December 1866
2
9
28-31 December 1866
2
10
1-18 January 1867
2
11
19 January-6 October 1867
2
12
Personal Correspondence
February-October 1866
2
13
Mary E. Chandler (1862 & n.d.)
2
14
Polly Perkins (1855-1861 & n.d.)
2
15
Ruth Perkins (1854-1861)
2
16
Samuel Ryerson (1858-1862)
2
17
Miscellaneous (1867)
2
18
Series 2: Legal Documents
Dunham and Lilly
3
1
John K. Roode
3
2
Pvt. William Foster
3
3
James McLaughlin
3
4
Pvt. Leander Bunker, 1860
3
5
Albert Negus, 1863
3
6
William O. Osgood, 1863
3
7
William Pethie, 1863
3
8
Noah Witherell, 1863
3
9
Pvt. Morris Haley, 1863
3
10
Perry H. Ferguson, 1863
3
11
Augustus Safter, 1864
3
12
Jefferson Baker, 1865
3
13
Pvt. Henry Brusolph, 1864
3
14
Pvt. Ernest Martin, 1864
3
15
Rosino Veasie, 1864
3
16
James Munroe, 1864
3
17
Steward D. S. Vaughn, 1864
4
1
Andrew Oates, 1864
4
2
Alexander Jontuie, 1864
4
3
Robert Manning, 1864
4
4
Alfred Parker, 1864
4
5
Isaac Stebbins, 1864
4
6
William Tate, 1864
4
7
Henry Clay, 1864
4
8
Calvin W. Fitch, 1864
4
9
Calvin W. Fitch, 1864
4
10
Samuel H. Harrison, 1864
4
11
C.W. Lowell vs. Chaplain Thomas Conway, 1864
4
12
Pvt. Solomon Reed, 1864
4
13
Citizen G. Bourgeouis, 1864
4
14
Citizen John Donalsen
Citizen Thomas Haynes
Citizen Eugene Lambert
Citizen V. Meyette, 1864
4
15
Citizen Felix Alexander
Citizen T. Y. Barris
Citizen Orville Kelly, 1864
4
16
Citizen John Ketten
Citizen W. H. Landreaux
Citizen Eugene Metturs, 1864
4
17
Citizen Fulyens Millett
Citizen Oscar Millett
Citizen Lazine Ory, 1864
4
18
Citizen Louis Tassau
Citizen Orville Treque
Citizen Cyprius Vickman
John Smith, 1864
4
19
Miscellaneous Information, 1865
4
20
Citizen John Caldwell, 1865
4
21
Louis Gastinel, 1865
4
22
Louis Gastinel, 1865
4
23
Miscellaneous, 1866
4
24
Miscellaneous, n.d.
4
25
Series 3: Bills and Receipts
1860-26 October 1861
5
1
18 October-17 December 1861
5
2
December 1861, n.d.
5
3
20 February 1863
5
4
January-September 1864
5
5
October-December 1864
5
6
January-14 August 1865
5
7
21 August-1 September 1865
5
8
8-18 September 1865
5
9
19-25 September 1865
5
10
25-28 September 1865
5
11
29 September-2 October 1865
5
12
3-5 October 1865
5
13
6-9 October 1865
5
14
9-11 October 1865
5
15
11-14 October 1865
5
16
14-20 October 1865
5
17
10-23 October 1865
5
18
23-31 October (and n.d.) 1865
5
19
1-6 November 1865
5
20
6-7 November 1865
6
1
7-11 November 1865
6
2
13-21 November 1865
6
3
21-23 November 1865
6
4
23-27 November 1865
6
5
28-30 November (and n.d.) 1865
6
6
1-5 December 1865
6
7
6-9 December 1865
6
8
11-20 December 1865
6
9
22-30 December 1865
6
10
31 December and n.d. 1865
6
11
1-2 January 1866
6
12
5 January-30 May 1866
6
13
June-18 August 1866
6
14
August (n.d.)-10 October 1866
6
15
12 October-8 December 1866
6
16
January 1867
6
17
n.d.
6
18
Series 4: Military Documents
Miscellaneous Inventories
31 May-30 August 1863
7
1
31 August-September (n.d.) 1863
7
2
September (n.d.)-December (n.d.) 1863
7
3
January-February 1864
7
4
April-June (n.d.) 1864
7
5
June (n.d.)-September 1864
7
6
19 September-30 October 1864
7
7
October (n.d.)-30 November 1864
7
8
November (n.d.)-December (n.d.) 1864
7
9
January 1865
7
10
February-15 March 1865
7
11
21 March-April 1865
7
12
May-August 1865
7
13
August (n.d.)-September (n.d.) 1865
8
1
September (n.d.) 1865
8
2
7-31 October 1865
8
3
31 (and n.d.) October 1865
8
4
October (n.d.)-30 November 1865
8
5
30 (and n.d.) November 1865
8
6
November (n.d.)-30 December 1865
8
7
30-31 (and n.d.) December 1865
8
8
January-June 1866
8
9
August-December 1866
8
10
May 1867
8
11
n.d.
8
12
n.d.
8
13
Special Orders
July-October 1863
9
1
December 1863
9
2
January-February 1864
9
3
March-April 1864
9
4
May-29 August 1864
9
5
31 August-25 September 1864
9
6
27 September-7 October 1864
9
7
15 October-29 November 1864
9
8
29 (and n.d.) November-December 1864
9
9
January-March 1865
9
10
May-December 1865
9
11
January-8 August 1866
9
12
14 August-December 1866
9
13
Circulars
October-November 1863
9
14
January-May 1864
9
15
July-December 1864
9
16
January 1865
9
17
March-September 1866
9
18
n.d.
9
19
General Orders
June-14 November 1863
9
20
30 November-23 December 1863
9
21
23-30 December 1863
9
22
January-17 February 1864
9
23
19 February-12 March 1864
9
24
18 March-5 May 1864
9
25
9 May-24 June 1864
9
26
27 June-22 August 1864
9
27
22-26 August 1864
9
28
27-31 August 1864
9
29
31 August-7 September 1864
9
30
8-13 September 1864
9
31
13-18 September 1864
9
32
18-23 September 1864
9
33
23-30 September 1864
9
34
30 September-5 October 1864
9
35
6 October-10 October 1864
9
36
11-13 October 1864
9
37
14-17 October 1864
9
38
19-24 October 1864
9
39
25-27 October 1864
9
40
28 October-1 November 1864
9
41
8-18 November 1864
9
42
28 November-6 December 1864
9
43
7-26 December 1864
9
44
26-29 December 1864
9
45
29-31 December 1864
9
46
7-19 January 1865
9
47
22-30 January 1865
9
48
31 January-18 February 1865
9
49
March-May 1865
9
50
July-October 1866
9
51
Series 5: Miscellaneous
Estate of Mary J. Mayhew 1861
10
1
January-August 1863
10
2
April-August 1864
10
3
October-December (and n.d) 1864
10
4
January-October, 1865
10
5
Memorial Sermon on Lincoln's Death 1865
10
6
March-September 1866
10
7
10 January 1867
10
8
Ballots
10
9
Business Cards
10
10
Counterfeit money
10
11
Map of Port Hudson
10
12
Blank documents
10
13
Blank documents
10
14
Blank documents
10
15
Blank documents
10
16