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Alexander Robert Chisolm papers

Call Number

MS 670.5

Date

1861-1908, inclusive

Creator

Chisolm, Alexander Robert, 1834-1910

Extent

0.75 Linear feet (3 boxes), 1 reel of microfilm

Language of Materials

The documents in this collection are in English.

Abstract

Colonel Alexander Robert Chisolm (1834-1910) served as the senior aide-de-camp to General G. T. Beauregard from 1861-1865. The collection primarily consists of Chisolm's remembrances of the war, especially the battles at Fort Sumter, the First Battle of Bull Run, and Shiloh. The collection also includes a fan-like cipher used by General Beauregard for sending messages during the war, with a sample of how the substitution of letters works using the phrase "Jones goes South to night." The Civil War portion of this collection has been digitized and is available online to on-site researchers and to users affiliated with subscribing institutions via EBSCOhost.

Biographical note

Colonel Alexander Robert Chisolm (1834-1910) served as the senior aide-de-camp and, in Chisolm's words, the "confidential friend" to General G. T. Beauregard from Beauregard's arrival in Charleston, South Carolina on March 2, 1861 until May 6, 1865. Chisolm was born on November 19, 1834 in Beaufort, South Carolina to Edward Chisolm and Mary Elizabeth Hazzard. Two years after Edward's death in 1836, Chislom's mother took Chisolm and his sister, Sarah, on a visit to New York. On this trip, Mary Elizabeth died after being thrown from a horse. Chisolm and his sister were therefore cared for from a young age by their aunt and uncle in New York.

At age eighteen, Chisolm returned to South Carolina to visit his relatives and survey the land that he and his sister had jointly inherited. Their inheritance comprised the western half of the Coosaw Plantation in Beaufort, also called Chisolm's Island, and some two hundred and fifty slaves. Chisolm purchased his sister's interests in the land and slaves and also bought another 3,321 acres of land suitable for growing rice and cotton. Chisolm found plantation life "most delightful" and contentedly managed his properties during the 1850s. When he was not overseeing his land, he also spent time traveling in Europe.

In 1861, the governor of South Carolina requested that Chisolm bring some of his male slaves to Charleston to assist with constructing batteries on Morris Island. The construction of these batteries was a defensive measure to prevent the United States from reenforcing Major Anderson at Fort Sumter. Chisolm supervised the construction and asked the governor for an official military appointment in return for offering to use his own boat and oarsmen in defense of the harbor. Chisolm's proposition was approved by General Beauregard, and he was made a Lieutenant Colonel on March 2, 1861. Chisolm spent his early days in the military "bearing orders to the commanding officers of the forts and of the guard vessels between Sumter and the outer bar on the ocean."

Beauregard found Chisolm so useful that he began using Chisolm as his confidential aide-de-camp. As part of Chisolm's duties, Beauregard dictated to Chisolm his notes for meetings with his generals. Many of Beauregard's important orders and communications were derived from these notes, including his orders regarding the Battle of Shiloh and the final agreement between General Johnston and General Sherman at Greensboro, North Carolina after General Lee's surrender. For four years and two months, Chisolm accompanied Beauregard wherever he was ordered. Chisolm was present at many battles, including Fort Sumter, Shiloh, and the First Battle of Bull Run.

After the war, Chisolm traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive a pardon from the attorney general. As the first Confederate officer to appear in Washington, Chisolm also met with President Johnson. He was officially pardoned in December 1865. Chisolm sold his plantation in Beaufort and began working as a shipping merchant in Charleston. He moved to New York in 1870, and for a time served as the commander of the Confederate Veterans Camp of New York. Chisolm married Helen Margaret Schieffelin, the daughter of General Richard Lawrence and Margaret Schieffelin, in 1875. The Chisolms lived on East 48th Street and established a country residence in Morristown, New Jersey called Airy Hall.

A.R. Chisolm died in 1910.

Source: A.R. Chisolm's autobiography (Box 1, Folders 1-3), the Alexander Robert Chisolm Papers, MS 5002, The New-York Historical Society.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in five series:

Series I. Autobiography
Series II. Correspondence
Series III. Military Documents
Series IV. Notes and Speeches
Series V. Scrapbooks, Newspaper Clippings, and Cipher

Scope and Contents

The Alexander Robert Chisolm Papers document Chisolm's experiences and recollections of the Civil War, especially the battles at Fort Sumter, the First Battle of Bull Run, and Shiloh. The collection primarily consists of Chisolm's remembrances of the war as recorded in his personal notes, speeches he delivered at various commemorative events, his postwar correspondence, and in his unpublished autobiography. Chisolm describes the tactical aspects of the battles he took part in as well as the human struggles of war. Other materials in the collection include documents related to the Confederate military and many newspaper and magazine clippings pertaining to the war. The collection also contains a fan-like cipher used by General Beauregard for sending messages during the war, with a sample of how the substitution of letters works using the phrase "Jones goes South to night." The Civil War materials in this collection have been digitized and are available online to on-site researchers and to users affiliated with subscribing institutions via EBSCOhost.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Conditions Governing Use

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the Alexander Robert Chisolm Papers, MS 5002, The New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated to the New-York Historical Society by A.R. Chisolm's son in 1912.

Separated Materials

A partial item-level inventory of the collection conducted by the New-York Historical Society in 1912 was separated but is available upon request.

Related Materials

The family papers of A.R. Chisolm's in-laws, the Schieffelins, are housed at the New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division and at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Existence and Location of Copies

Some materials in this collection are on microfilm. Materials that are on microfilm must be viewed in that format. See reference staff for details.

Collection processed by

Rachel Schimke

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:47:13 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024