Salmon P. Chase

Salmon Portland Chase Civil War Papers. The papers of Salmon Portland Chase (1808-1873) cover the years 1755-1898, with the bulk of the material spanning 1824-1872. The collection consists of diaries, correspondence, letterbooks, and miscellany. The early diaries are more intimate and detailed than later ones. The first volume includes marginalia citing names of people, topics, or events discussed in the adjacent text. References to people are generally accompanied by biographical information. The diaries covering the years 1861-1864 document Chase's participation in the formulation of policy and events relating to the Civil War. The diary for 9 December 1861 to 30 September 1863 contains Chase's draft of Lincoln's 6 March 1862 message to Congress on the abolition of slavery, three letters from Chase to his daughter, Janet, written 7, 8, and 11 May 1862 on "The Taking of Norfolk," and a "Narrative of Operations" of the war from 11 May to 24 June 1862. An account of the cabinet meeting at which Lincoln proposed the Emancipation Proclamation is in the diary covering the period 20 July to 12 October 1862 publisheded later by the American Historical Association as volume two of its Annual Report for 1902. Entries in both volumes for 1862 are in the handwriting of Homer G. Plantz; those for 1863 were recorded by Jacob W. Schuckers. The diary for 24 June to 6 July 1864 includes Chase's activities in the days immediately preceding and following his resignation as secretary of the treasury.

(Page count: ≈ 16,000)

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