James Buchanan writes to Christopher L. Ward and describes life in London as the new United States Minister to the United Kingdom and discusses the possibility of a conflict between Russia and Turkey in the Crimean. Buchanan also mentions his introduction to Queen Victoria. "The manners of the...

US Minister to the United Kingdom James Buchanan thanks Sir William Molesworth for his speech on "Naval Prizes." While "the agreement is unanswerable," Buchanan tells Molesworth that he "presented more historical information on the subject, in a clear and distinct manner, than I have ever seen...

James M. McKim, a member of the Class of 1828 and an editor at the Philadelphia based The Anti-Slavery Standard, writes to a subscriber, Mr. Worrell. McKim mentions the major slavery related event of the day as well as the Anglo-French siege of Sevastopol (Sebastopol) in the Crimean War...

Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney writes his grandson, [Roger Brooke] Taney Campbell, and notes that he is glad to have heard so much from the Campbell family this summer. As Taney explains, he and his wife just this morning received letters from Taney Campbell's father and sister...

President James Buchanan explains why he cannot grant E. L. Molineux's request that a merchant clerk of New York City receive an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Transcript included.

Charles F. Thomas' diary includes intermittent entries dating from leaving Dickinson College in July 1859, to attending at Garrett Bible Institute in Evanston, Illinois, and to working as a Methodist circuit rider in Pennsylvania as the Civil War begins. In March 1860, Thomas saw Abraham Lincoln...

Alexander McClure writes thirteen letters to Eli Slifer, the Secretary of the Commonwealth under Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin, in which he criticizes the management of local military troops, proposes raising regiments for the Union Army, comments on various Pennsylvania political issues, and...

William Bradford Reed writes an unknown recipient and discusses President James Buchanan's perspective on the secession crisis. Reed notes that President Buchanan "told me last night he though things looked better" and that "he has no doubt of the safety of the [federal] forts" located in...

Governor Andrew Curtin writes eleven letters to Eli Slifer in which he offers him the position as Secretary of the Commonwealth, describes his preference for David Wilmot as Senator, recommends Wallace Kerr for the vacant clerkship in Slifer's office, notes problems with General Biddle's...

Henry D. Maxwell writes sixteen letters to Eli Slifer, Secretary of the Commonwealth during the Civil War, regarding the following topics: Maxwell's application for the directorship of the mint, recruitment and funding for the army, potential candidates for vacant positions in the military,...

Former Attorney General Edwin McMasters Stanton writes former President James Buchanan to discuss public affairs in Washington and comment on events that occurred during the last few months of Buchanan's administration.

Israel Gutelius writes fifteen letters to Eli Slifer, the Secretary of the Commonwealth during the Civil War, in which he asks Slifer to go to Washington and request the Secretary of the Navy to appoint Gutelius to a position in Philadelphia. "If I am appointed," Gutelius promises to "publish...