Overview
Papers of Charles Stewart, the Commissary General of Issues, Continental Army and delegate to Continental Congress from New Jersey along with some family documents and papers.
Dates
- Creation: 1768-1877
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
3.5 linear feet (7 boxes)Contains correspondence, official accounts, reports, and legal papers, chiefly from Charles Stewart's tenure as Commissary General of Issues during the American Revolution. These materials document the acquisition and distribution of food and clothing supplies for the Continental Army troops. Stewart's correspondents include George Washington, Nathanael Greene, Benedict Arnold, Alexander Hamilton, and John Hancock. Transcripts of letters, 1778-1780, from Stewart to Moore Furman (from originals in New Jersey State Archives), drafts and copies of other letters written by Stewart, and some family documents are included. Other materials are Charles Samuel Stewart's letters, 1821-1833, to his mother, the earliest from his student years at Princeton Divinity School; and letters to his children from a voyage to Japan, 1860-1861, and during the blockade of Gulf ports in the Civil War, 1861-1862. Also Charles Seaforth Stewart's letters, from George B. McClellan and others; and a letter, 1833, from James Fenimore Cooper to William Cullen Bryant concerning the French Treaty of 1831.
Biographical / Historical
Charles Stewart (1729-1800) was the Commissary General of Issues, Continental Army and delegate to Continental Congress from New Jersey. Charles Samuel Stewart (1795-1870) was Senior Chaplain, U.S. Navy. Charles Seaforth Stewart (1823-1904) was Colonel, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army.
Arrangement
- I. Letters to Charles Stewart
- II. Drafts and copies of letters from Charles Stewart
- III. Miscellaneous papers, etc., of Charles Stewart
- IV. Official accounts and reports of the Commissary General's Department under Charles Stewart
- V. Papers of Charles Samuel Stewart
- VI. Papers of Charles Seaforth Stewart
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
51M-124. Deposited by Charles C. Stewart; received: 1951.
- Title
- Stewart, Charles, 1729-1800. Charles Stewart family papers, 1768-1877: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01286
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu