Dates: 1844 - 1904

Personal and business correspondence, newspaper clippings, speeches, articles, miscellaneous papers of Major General Samuel G. French, C.S.A. General French was born in New Jersey on November 22, 1818; graduated from the United States Military Academy on July 1, 1843; served in the Mexican War; resigned from the Army on May 31, 1856; lived in Warren County, Miss., from 1856 to 1861; entered the Confederate States Army and became a Major General on August 31, 1862; served at Greenville, Miss., as president of the Board of Levee Commissioners for the Counties of Bolivar, Washington, and Issaquena in 1866–1869; and died in Florida on April 20, 1910.

The papers pertain generally to the personal and business affairs of French and to Confederate military history and activities of Confederate veterans. Fifteen pieces are letters or copies of letters written by French. The correspondence (507 pieces) covers the period from May 29, 1844, to March 26, 1904, and is distributed by dates as follows:

  • undated, 5 pieces
  • 1844–1851, 2 pieces
  • 1855–1859, 3 pieces
  • 1860–1869, 92 pieces
  • 1870–1889, 38 pieces
  • 1890–1899, 271 pieces
  • 1900–1904, 96 pieces

Some letters of interest in the collection are as follows:

  • Wirt Adams, Vicksburg (November 27, 1868)
  • Adelbert Ames, Greenville (April 26, 1869)
  • Joseph E. Brown, Washington, D.C. (February 14, 1882)
  • Joseph M. Brown, Atlanta, Ga. (14 pieces, March 28, May 30, 1892; January 23, August 8, 1894; March 24, July 18, August 28, November 1, 1896; June 28, 1898; March 1, 1899; May 21, August 31, September 5 and 6, 1900)
  • Julius L. Brown, Atlanta, Ga. (13 pieces, May 17, 18, and 21, June 26, September 24, October 3 and 4, 1900; July 5, 6, 12, 18, and 29, August 10, 1901)
  • R. Bullock, Washington, D.C. (January 10, 1890)
  • Ellison Capers, Columbia, S.C. (2 pieces, August 12, 1896; January 26, 1897)
  • Charles Clark, Beulah (September 6, 1868)
  • Brutus J. Clay, Pine, Ky. (August 5, 1868)
  • F. M. Cockrell, Washington, D.C. (5 pieces, August 17, 1886; March 12, 1890; August 5, 1892; April 27, June 28, 1898)
  • Alvan C. Gillem, Vicksburg (5 pieces, October 16, November 9 and 17, December 2 and 15, 1868)
  • John B. Gordon, Washington, D.C. (April 16, 1894)
  • Jones S. Hamilton, Jackson (March 1, 1866)
  • J. B. Hood, New Orleans, La. (April 21, 1866)
  • Charles E. Hooker, Jackson (3 pieces; September 10, 1898; November 7 and 15, 1899)
  • Stephen D. Lee, Starkville and Columbus (10 pieces, March 10, May 2 and 9, August 6, 1896; June 22, 1898; January 21, and 30, April 3, 1899; June 20, August 4, 1900)
  • W. G. Myers, Bolivar Landing (4 pieces, August 21, September 26, October 12 and 17, 1868)
  • D. W. Sanders, Louisville, Ky. (24 pieces, July 13, 1866; June 5 and 10, July 19, 1885; April 2, 1886; February 1, March 7, April 19, November 28, 1894; January 30, February 19, March 10, April 23, June 18, 1896; May 3, August 4, 1897; March 17 and 24, May 3, July 1 and 28, August 4, 1898; May 20, September 27, 1900)
  • J. M. Smith, Columbus, Ga. (February 23, 1886)
  • Alex P. Stewart, Lebanon, Tenn., and Chickamauga, Ga. (4 pieces, June 2, 1866; March 25, April 20, May 11, 1897)
  • Edward C. Walthall, Washington, D.C. (March 12, 1898)
  • James Brant Wilson, New York, N.Y. (7 pieces, September 24, 1896; January 30, April 20, June 16 and 28, 1897; December 4, 1899; March 13, 1900)
  • Robert C. Wood, New Orleans, La. (9 pieces, January 9 and 13, February 7, April 1, 10, and 17, August 8, 1896; January 26, March 17, 1898)
  • Thomas J. Wood, Vicksburg (January 30, May 9, 1866)
  • Marcus J. Wright, Washington, D.C. (13 pieces, February 15, October 8, November 12 and 18, December 28, 1897)
  • William Yerger, Jackson (2 pieces, August 31, September 28, 1866)

The newspaper clippings (106 pieces) cover the period from May 26, 1846 to June 3, 1903. The volume is the manuscript (570 pages) of Samuel G. French, Two Wars: An Autobiography (Nashville: Confederate Veteran 1901. pp. 16, pp. 404).