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Andrew Atkinson Humphreys papers
This collection documents all aspects of Andrew Atkinson Humphreys's career in the United States Army and Topographical Corps of Engineers, as well as some aspects of his personal life and family history. A.A. Humphreys's papers are arranged into eleven series, most of which focus on his...
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| Collection: | Andrew Atkinson Humphreys Papers |
| Collection Number: | 0304 |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects and Genres: | |
| Online Access: | Link to finding aid |
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| LEADER | 12037ntc a2200553 u 4500 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | ead-0304 | ||
| 008 | 131023i17081930xx eng d | ||
| 040 | |e dacs | ||
| 041 | 0 | |a eng | |
| 099 | |a 0304 | ||
| 100 | 1 | |a Humphreys, A.A. (Andrew Atkinson) |d 1810-1883. |e creator | |
| 245 | 1 | |a Andrew Atkinson Humphreys papers |f 1708-1930, undated |g 1850 - 1879 | |
| 300 | |a 69.0 Linear feet |f 120 boxes, 76 volumes, 15 flat files | ||
| 351 | |b This collection is arranged into eleven series: Series 1. Correspondence and orders, 1848-1879, undated; 1 Linear foot; Series 2. Ephemera and printed matter, 1842-1898, undated; 4 Linear feet; Series 3. Family papers, 1708-1930, undated; 2.5 Linear feet; Series 4. Maps and drawings, 1857-1865, undated; 0.2 Linear feet; Series 5. Miscellaneous, 1853-1931, undated; 0.4 Linear feet; Series 6. Sanitary Commission and Fair; 1862-1865; 1.2 Linear feet; Series 7. Supplies, 1859-1864; 4 Linear feet; Series 8. Topographical surveys, 1828-1880, undated; 2 Linear feet; Series 9. Volumes, 1827-1901, undated; 19 Linear feet; Series 10. Vouchers, 1861-1871, undated; 30 Linear feet; Series 11. Writings, 1835-1883, undated; 4 Linear feet. | ||
| 500 | |a Materials Separated from the Resource: A fairly large group of material was separated from the collection because it was deemed to have been erroneously included in the A.A. Humphreys papers during an earlier rehousing project. These papers consist of petitions and correspondence to the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives, receipts and correspondence addressed to Levi Hollingsworth and Sons, correspondence addressed to Edward Armstrong, and invitations addressed to James T. Mitchell. These materials have been flagged for processing at a later date. | ||
| 500 | |a Processing Information: This collection was processed using guidelines set out in the "More Product, Less Process" approach to archival processing. Given the scope of this collection, it could benefit from further processing at a later date. | ||
| 506 | |a This collection is open for research. | ||
| 520 | |a This collection documents all aspects of Andrew Atkinson Humphreys's career in the United States Army and Topographical Corps of Engineers, as well as some aspects of his personal life and family history. A.A. Humphreys's papers are arranged into eleven series, most of which focus on his military service. The correspondence and orders in series 1 (1848-1879) represent a mixture of personal and official military documents, which provide a view into Humphreys's work on the Mississippi River survey and his service in the Army of the Potomac under General George Meade. Series 2 contains pamphlets, periodicals, scientific journals, military documents, and newspapers, which cover a wide range of topics, indluding surveying, astronomy, Philadelphia public buildings, military regulations, and the court martial case of Fitz-John Porter. Series 3 (Family papers) offers a minimal perspective on the life of Joshua Humphreys, who designed the U.S.S. Constitution, with a small selection of accounts and papers related to shipping. More significantly represented in series 3 is A. A. Humphreys's son, Henry, who served under his father during the Civil War, and continued on to a military career of his own. Henry H. Humphreys's scrapbooks in boxes 11-14 contain correspondence, clippings, memorabilia concerning the anniversary of the Constitution, and other documents, personal and professional. Series 4 contains maps drafted for maneuvers of the Army of the Potomac. See the General George G. Meade papers for related material. Series 5 (Miscellaneous) contains a small group of papers from Humphreys's personal and professional activities, as well as a scrapbook compiled after his death. Series 6 contains receipts for expenses, payroll, and transportation of goods related to the Sanitary Commission and Fair in Philadelphia. Series 7 (Supplies) offers a perspective on the food and goods consumed by soldiers and officers during the height of the Civil War. This series is mostly comprised of receipts, but there are also reports on food quality and records of rations received. Series 8 documents Humphreys's work with the United States Corps of Topographical Engineers, and includes accounts, correspondence, legislation and reports related to various projects. Series 9 (Volumes) is one of the most comprehensive series in the collection because a significant portion of the manuscript material that would normally have been separated into other series is bound in a group of fifty-seven volumes, which make up the bulk of the series. The majority of these volumes cover the Civil War period, and include several volumes of letters from Humphreys to his wife about the war and daily activities (Volumes 33-34). Volumes 1-32 contain correspondence, both military and personal, arranged chronologically. Volumes 35-55 contain official military correspondence from the Civil War era. Series 10 (Vouchers) is the largest series in the collection, consisting primarily of payment vouchers. Boxes 35-39 contain bounty fund payments; boxes 41-45 contain muster rolls for various regiments; and boxes 46-111 contain muster payrolls, bounty payments, correspondence related to payments and miscellaneous vouchers. The items in the last group of boxes were not sorted because they appeared more interconnected and were difficult to separate into discrete groups. The last series, Writings, contains material for Humphreys's book The Virginia Campaign (boxes 115-117), as well as several hand-written drafts. Also included are drafts and material for Gettysburg to the Rapidan (boxes 117-119) and personal journals (box 119). All materials are arranged chronologically within series. | ||
| 520 | |a The papers of Andrew Atkinson Humphreys span the course of Humphreys's career, including his service in the Second Seminole War, his work as a civil engineer on surveys along the U.S. coast and the Mississippi River, as chief of staff for General George Meade; and as head of the United States Corps of Topographical Engineers. The collection consists of correspondence, orders, reports, payment vouchers, ephemera, maps, survey data, drafts and published works. The most significant groups of materials in this collection are documents from the Civil War, including muster rolls, reports, orders, and payment vouchers, which may have been collected when Humphreys served in the Army of the Potomac; and papers related to the survey of the Mississippi River in the 1850s and 1860s. Also of interest are Humphreys's later reflections on the Civil War in his notes and manuscripts for Gettysburg to the Rapidan and The Virginia Campaign. Also included in this collection is a small group of family papers related to the lives and work of Joshua and Henry H. Humphreys. | ||
| 524 | 8 | |a Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], Andrew Atkinson Humphreys papers (Collection 304), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. | |
| 541 | 1 | |a Gift of the Humphreys family. Some items were purchased by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. | |
| 544 | |a A.A. (Andrew Atkinson) Humphreys biographical notes (call number Am .685), 1865-1884. Adolfo Fernandez Cavada diary (call number Am .6956), 1861-1863. Frank M. Etting collection (collection 193), 1558-1917. George Gordon Meade papers (collection 410), 1793-1896. Joshua Humphreys papers (collection 306), 1682-1931. Samuel Humphreys journal (collection 2001), 1818-1845. | ||
| 544 | |a Humphreys family papers (05186), 1840-1918; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Southern History Collection. | ||
| 545 | |a Andrew Atkinson Humphreys was born in Philadelphia in 1810, and went on to attend the military academy at West Point. Andrew was the son of Samuel Humphreys, who was the chief constructor for the United States Navy, and the grandson of Joshua Humphreys, who is often called the "Father of the American Navy." Humphreys graduated from West Point in 1831 and enlisted with the Second Artillery Regiment in South Carolina. Humphreys' service took him to Florida, where he fought in the beginning of the Second Seminole War, until the fall of 1836, when he became too sick to complete his service. He traveled for a short period of time, and then reenlisted in the Corps of Topographical Engineers in 1838. Humphreys worked on the U.S. coastal survey, in addition to many smaller projects in Washington, D.C. and Chicago during the 1840s. From 1850 until 1861, he took charge of the Mississippi River survey project, which spanned the length of the river to the Mississippi Delta. Humphreys and his assistant Henry L. Abbot produced a significant report from the survey, entitled Report upon the Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River, in which they detail the factors involved in the river's flooding and document the state of the levee system. This work was one of the major works of Humphreys's career, and may mark his most significant contribution to the field of engineering. During this period, Humphreys also directed the survey of the Pacific Railroad, under the supervision of the secretary of war, Jefferson Davis. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Humphreys's focus shifted toward topographical engineering for the Army of the Potomac. His skills as a surveyor were employed to map the courses of battle and plan strategy for the Union Army. Humphreys's friendship with Jefferson Davis was an obstacle in the beginning of his service in the Union Army, but he proved himself to be a superior soldier and over time rose in rank. He served as chief of staff for General George G. Meade in 1863 and 1864, and later commanded the 2nd and 3rd Army Corps. After the Civil War, Humphreys commanded the Army Corps of Engineers (which merged with the Corps of Topographical Engineers in 1863) until his retirement in 1879. After his retirement, Humphreys wrote several memoirs of his service in the Civil War, which detailed the campaigns of Gettysburg and Virginia. Andrew Atkinson Humphreys spent the last years of his life in Washington, D.C., where he died in 1883. | ||
| 555 | |a Finding Aid Available Online: | ||
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a Abbot, Henry L. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a Bache, A. D. (Alexander Dallas) |d 1806-1867. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a Carson, Hampton L. (Hampton Lawrence) |d 1852-1929. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a De Peyster, J. Watts (John Watts) |d 1821-1907. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) |d 1822-1885. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a Humphreys, Henry H. (Henry Hollingsworth) |d b. 1840. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a Humphreys, Joshua |d 1751-1838. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward) |d 1807-1870. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a Meade, George Gordon |d 1815-1872. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 600 | 1 | 7 | |a Porter, Fitz-John |d 1822-1901. |2 NACO Authority File |
| 610 | 2 | 7 | |a United States Sanitary Commission |b Philadelphia Branch |2 NACO Authority File |
| 650 | 0 | |a Hydrographic surveying--Mississippi River. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a Seminole War, 2nd, 1835-1842. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a Spouses--Correspondence--19th century. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a United States. Army of the Potomac. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a United States. Army. Corps of Engineers--History--19th century. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. | |
| 651 | 0 | |a United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Engineering & construction. | |
| 651 | 0 | |a United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Maps. | |
| 651 | 0 | |a United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Military tactics--Union. | |
| 651 | 0 | |a United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Union. | |
| 651 | 0 | |a United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865. | |
| 852 | |a The Historical Society of Pennsylvania |b Andrew Atkinson Humphreys Papers |l 0304 | ||
| 856 | 4 | 2 | |y Link to finding aid |u http://www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/h/humphreys304.html |