Title: Chesnut Family Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1782-1896

Call Number: Mss 141; Micro 771

Quantity: 2.0 c.f. (5 archives boxes) and 4 reels of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of three prominent South Carolinians of the antebellum period, James Chesnut, Jr. (1815-1885), a prominent secessionist and member of the South Carolina legislature and later an aide to General Beauregard; his father-in-law, Stephen Decatur Miller (1787-1838); and a contemporary, John Lawrence Manning (1816-1889), governor from 1852 to 1854. The collection consists primarily of correspondence related to personal affairs and to social and economic conditions on South Carolina plantations, rather than to politics. Miller served as governor and U.S. Senator between 1820 and 1833, and some of the correspondence relates to the issue of nullification. Also present are several photographs and a genealogy.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00141

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

The founder of the Chesnut family in South Carolina was John Chesnut, whose letters comprise the earliest papers in the collection. He brought his family from Virginia to a home near Camden, South Carolina, after the conclusion of the French and Indian War. Little is known about his son, James, Sr., “the Old Colonel,” except that he was educated at Princeton and was the prosperous owner of several large plantations and reportedly the master of over 1000 slaves. His correspondence indicates strong ties with the North, both of a family and economic nature; his wife Mary Coxe was a resident of Philadelphia. James, Jr., the youngest and most prominent of their thirteen children, was born in 1815 and like his father graduated from Princeton. He read law and was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1837. In 1840, he married Mary Boykin Miller, the daughter of Stephen Decatur Miller.

Miller had been an influential figure in South Carolina politics during the nullification crisis. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1817-1819, in the South Carolina Senate, 1822-1828, as South Carolina's governor, 1828-1830, and as U.S. Senator, 1831-1833. During his term as governor, Miller, a converted anti-Calhoun Democrat, did much to advance the cause of the nullifiers. In 1832 and 1833 he attended the state convention held to deal with the nullification question. In 1832, he voted for state sovereignty, although the following year he had returned to a more moderate position. He retired in that year to a cotton plantation in Mississippi where he remained until his death in 1838.

In 1840, James Chesnut, Jr., began his long years of service in the South Carolina legislature. He served from 1840 to 1852 in the lower house. In 1852 he was elected to the state Senate and until 1856 he was president of that body. In 1858 he was elected to the U.S. Senate. In the meantime he had also become prominent in the secession movement. As early as 1850 he had served as a representative to the Nashville Convention. Feeling that war was imminent he resigned his Senate seat in 1860 to aid in drafting the South Carolina Ordinances of Secession and to serve on the committee to draft the Confederate constitution. During the war he served as aide for General Beauregard and for President Jefferson Davis, as member of the state executive council for South Carolina, and as general of the South Carolina coastal reserves. Although disenfranchised by Reconstruction he continued his political activities, serving as delegate to the convention to protest military rule in 1867 and to two state taxpayers conventions in 1871 and 1874. He died in 1885.

John Manning Lawrence was the scion of the Richardson-Manning dynasty which provided six South Carolina governors during the nineteenth century. Manning served as governor from 1852 to 1854 and as delegate to the National Democratic convention in 1856. During the war he was an aide for General Beauregard. In 1865 he was chosen as U.S. Senator but was not permitted to take his seat.

The collection consists of incoming letters, all arranged chronologically, a calendar of these letters, and one small folder of photographs and genealogical information. The collection is available both in original paper form and on microfilm. The majority of the letters are those of James Chesnut, Jr. and Sr. Unfortunately it is sometimes difficult to identify which man was the recipient, for James, Sr., remained active through the Civil War. The letters to Stephen Miller are concentrated during the period of 1820-1830 and largely deal with the running of his plantations, although there are a few from constituents referring to the local political situation during the developing nullification crisis. The letters to John Manning, concentrated from 1850 to 1865, comprise the majority of the letters for the Civil War period. They largely deal with affairs on his plantation holdings and include requests for help of various sorts from South Carolinians even after the conclusion of his term in office. It is unclear as to how these Manning papers came into the possession of the Chesnut family for none of the letters reveal any correspondence between members of the two families.

Other information on the Chesnut family can be gained from Diary from Dixie, the diary of Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, edited by Isabella Martin and Myrta Avary. Other James Chesnut Papers are held by the Library of Congress (1862), Emory University Library (1864-1865), University of North Carolina Library Southern History Collection, and Duke University Library (1831-1863). North Carolina Library also has holdings concerning Stephen D. Miller and John L. Manning.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Herbert A. Keller, Madison, Wisconsin, circa 1952.

Reel   1 Box   1	Chronological calendar
	Correspondence
Reel   1 Box/Folder   2/1-11	1782-1829
Reel   1 Box/Folder   3/1-2	1830-1831
Reel   2 Box/Folder   3/3-9	1832-1841
Reel   2 Box/Folder   4/1-3	1842-1845
Reel   3 Box/Folder   4/4-10	1846-1854
Reel   3 Box/Folder   5/1-2	1855-1857
Reel   4 Box/Folder   5/3-13	1858-1896; undated
Reel   4 Box/Folder   5/14	Photographs and genealogy