TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
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Inventory of the Edgar McLean Papers, 1859-1868
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Eric Raetz, 2003. ©2003. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
|
| Creator | McLean, Edgar, d. 1920 |
| Title | Edgar McLean Papers |
| Dates | 1859-1868 |
| Extent | 0.4 linear feet (1 box) |
| Abstract | Correspondence, writings, and official military documents of 1st Lieutenant Edgar McLean. McLean fought for the Union in the Civil War with the 122nd Illinois Regiment, and then became a Lieutenant in the 110th U.S. Colored Infantry. Most correspondence was written by Edgar McLean’s mother and other relatives to him during his service. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | VAULT Case MS 10024 |
| Collection Stack Location | Vault 35 3 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
Edgar McLean Papers, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Purchased from Charles Apfelbaum Rare Manuscripts & Archives, Apr. 2003.
Processed by
Eric Raetz, 2003.
Access
The Edgar McLean Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 5 folders at a time maximum, and items in each folder will be counted before and after delivery to the patron (Priority I).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Edgar McLean Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biography of Edgar McLean
Civil War Union soldier and farmer.
Edgar McLean was born in Illinois and joined the war effort as a young man. Before leaving for the war with the local regiment (the 122nd Illinois Infantry) he fell in love with a young woman and was engaged. She promised to wait for him until after the war. In this state of affairs McLean was recruited for the 122nd, which was organized in August 1862. In the 122nd he started as a teamster and ended as a private. The 122nd participated in a number of Civil War duties: guarding supplies and railroads, battles with rebel forces near Huntington Tenn., at Tupelo Miss., and at Nashville, Tenn. However, McLean was promoted on December 16 1863 to become a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Alabama Colored Infantry, which later became the 110th US Colored Infantry. The 110th took part in actions such as guarding railroads in northern Alabama and performing general guard duty in Tennessee until it was mustered out on February 6 1866.
After his Civil War Service McLean returned to his hometown of Kane, Ill. to find that the woman he had been engaged to was now married. McLean was depressed but eventually found a new girl, married her, and ran a successful farm. He was respected in the community, although some begrudged the fact that he had abandoned his local regiment to serve in a colored regiment. The record is unclear if the McLeans had any children, but it is clear that at one point the couple took in a young orphan girl. Edgar McLean also had a hobby of tinkering and applied for several patents, although it is unclear if any of them were actually approved. Edgar McLean died of cancer in 1920.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Correspondence, writings, and official military documents of Civil War 1st Lieutenant Edgar McLean, 1859-1868.
All correspondence is incoming from relatives and friends to Edgar McLean. During this time Sarah F. McLean (and most of the other relatives) lived in Jersey and Macoupin counties in Illinois. There is some correspondence from McLean’s cousin, James S. Jennings, who served with the 137th Indiana Infantry. The correspondence mostly details local weddings and deaths and family news. Some of the correspondence deals with local military news (the gathering of Rebel prisoners, local actions towards the peace movement) as well as family financial matters, family and neighborhood sicknesses and outbreaks, and Sarah McLean’s interest in and respect for clairvoyants. There are also a few pieces of poetry and verse, as well as a number of official military documents that mostly detail the return of and accounting for equipment after the war.
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Arrangement
Papers arranged by type of material.
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Jennings, James S.
- McLean family -- Correspondence
- McLean, Edgar, d. 1920
- McLean, Sarah F.
- United States. Army. Colored Infantry Regiment, 110th (1864-1866)
- United States. Army. Illinois Infantry Regiment, 122nd (1862-1865)
- United States. Army. Indiana Infantry Regiment, 137th (1864)
Subjects
- Clairvoyants -- Illinois -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
- Correspondence -- Tennessee -- 1851-1900
- Correspondence -- Illinois -- Jersey County --1851-1900
- Correspondence -- Illinois -- Macoupin County -- 1851-1900
- Jersey County (Ill.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
- Macoupin County (Ill.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
- Manuscripts, American -- Illinois
- Manuscripts, American -- Tennessee
- Parent and adult child -- Illinois -- Correspondence
- Soldiers -- Illinois -- Correspondence
- Tennessee -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Military life
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
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Container List |
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| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Letter, McLean, Fanny to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (moving, acquaintance, election), Nov. 2, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Letter, McLean, Fanny and Sarah McLean, to Edgar McLean, "Home," Jersey County, IL (healing medium, railroads, martial law, illness, marriage), Envelope, Mar. 16, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Letter, McLean, Fanny to Edgar McLean, Shipman, Macupin County, IL (moving, neighbors, death of President), May 7, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Letter, Hatfield L. S. and W. H. O___? to Edgar McLean, location unknown (travel, trunk, picking corn, health), Oct. 7, 1860 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Letter, Jennings, James S. to Edgar McLean, "Home" (health, farming, religion), Apr. 22, 1860 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Letter, Jennings, James S. to Edgar McLean, "Home" (building church, neighbors, marriage, weather), Mar. 27, 1861 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Letter, Jennings, James S. to Edgar McLean, Tullahoma, TN (troop movement, illness), Aug. 25, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Letter, Jennings, James S. to Edgar McLean, "Home" (marriage, acquaintances, peace rumors), Envelope, Feb. 17, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Letter, Jennings, William (uncle) to Edgar McLean, Dora [MO] (battles, opinions on peace, horses, weather, moving), Envelope, Apr. 6, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Letter, "Your friend Joseph" to unidentified, Arlington VA (measles, boarding, sugar, visit), Mar. 19, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jerey County IL (letter delivery, laundry, visiting), Sep. 27, 1859 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Staunton, IL (seances, mental illness, children), Envelope, Jan. 16, 1860 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Staunton, IL (illness, shop, 'circles' and mediums, buying a house, money), Jan. 30, 1860 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Staunton, IL (cancer, funerals), Feb. 20, 1860 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Staunton, IL (buying a farm, supporting a family), Apr. 1, 1861 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Staunton, IL (illness of grandfather, inability to visit, medicine, letters, work), Envelope, Mar. 31,1861 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Madison County (travel, grandfather's possessions (Bible, likenesses, farm), funeral, will, buying property), Oct. 18, ca. 1861 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Staunton, IL (Father's farm, inherited money, moving), Envelope, Jan. 15, ca. 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Kane, IL (travel, railroads, buying farm), Feb. 18, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (illnes, moving, inherited property, farming, money, visiting home, post office), Aug. 24, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (post office, illness, books), Oct. 6, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (Golden Circle, threat of property destruction, health, sending pay, avoiding temptation), Oct. 20, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, [Jersey County, IL] (writing and sending letters, camp life), Nov. 3, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Kane, IL (neighbors, illness, thoughts on the war, McClellan), Nov. 13, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Kane, IL (concern for son's health, death of infant, illness), Nov. 26, 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Kane, IL (artist, Christmas, weather, California, sending supplies), Dec. 23-25,1862 | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (roads, death of Aunt, money, dating), Feb. 1, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Kane, Jersey County, IL (weather, neighbors, moving, amputation, money), Feb. 22, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, [Jersey County, IL] (honesty in letter-writing), Envelope, Feb. 26, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (mail, threshing machine, horses, 'democrat lies,' hopes for peace, weather, furlough), Envelope, Mar. 30, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (letters, money), Apr. 4, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (illness, money, copperheads), Apr. 29, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 33 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (illness, money, hopes for return home), May 19, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 34 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (illness, burning of mailboat, school), May 19, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 35 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (difficulty of writing, illness, rumors of death), Jun. 17, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 36 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (Vicksburg, weather, illness, rumors), Jun. 25, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 37 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (starting a shop, health, money), Jul. 12, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 38 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (selling livestock, moving, acquaintances, weather), Jul. 26, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 39 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (letters, wells, house, school), Sep. 22, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 40 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (illness, the new farm, weather), Oct. 11, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 41 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (illness, weather, Whitehall skirmish, copperheads), Envelope, Dec. 1, 1863 | |||||||||
| 1 | 42 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, [Jersey County, IL] (suppies from home, shoot out, death, crops), Envelope, Jan. 5, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 43 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (illnes, sending supplies), Apr. 1, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 44 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (illness, death of child, copperheads, shop, horses), Apr. 15, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 45 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (money, buying farms, weather), Apr. 29, ca. 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 46 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, "Home," Jersey County, IL (lack of letters, rebel prisoner, grief), May 22, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 47 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Kane, IL (crops, domestic trouble, longing for peace, battle at Paduen), Jul. 1, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 48 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, [IL] (new house, sending supplies, missing letters, rumors of battle, prices), Jul., ca. 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 49 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, [Jersery County, IL] (difficulty receiving letters, joining the army, death of soldier), Jul. 17, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 50 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Kane, IL (weather, letters), Sep. 2, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 51 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (fair, guerillas, school, furlough, California), Envelope, Oct. 19, 1864 | |||||||||
| 1 | 52 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Kane, Jersey County, IL (difficulty transporting mail, jaundice, death, marriage, hopes for safety), Jan. 6, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 53 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Kane, Greene County, IL (buying land, farming, molasses, Sherman), Jan. 15, ca. 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 54 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Greene County, IL (death of brother, illness), Feb. 6, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 55 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Jersey County, IL (the Draft, guerillas, letters), Envelope, Feb. 27, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 56 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, "Home" [IL] (visiting home, moving, labor, boss, machines, the girl back home), Jun. 14, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 57 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Shipman, IL (visiting soldiers, returning wounded, crops, railroad), Jul. 15, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 58 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, "Home" IL (inability to visit home, illness, crops, children), Jul 28, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 59 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, IL (worry due to lack of letters, visiting home), Aug. 14, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 60 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, IL (railroads, money, buying land, the engine), Envelope, Sep. 22, ca. 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 61 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, Macoupin County, IL (lack of letters, mowing, suicide), Oct. 15, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 62 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, IL (no mustering out, machines, marriage, the girl back home gets married), Envelope, Nov. 12, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 63 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, IL (camp life, illness), Nov. 20, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 64 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, Macoupin County, IL (injury, loss of livestock, veterans mustered out, return of soldier's body, wagons, food prices), Dec. 13, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 65 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, Macoupin County, IL (death of son Eugean, fits, farming), Envelope, Dec. 29, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 66 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, IL (death, tuberculosis, lack of pay, moving), Jan. 8, 1866 | |||||||||
| 1 | 67 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, IL (illness, grief, Eugean's last moments, horses), Jan. 17, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 68 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, IL (illness, lady companion, arguments about moving, start of a new town, engines), Jan. 22, 1866 | |||||||||
| 1 | 69 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, IL (legal issues), Envelope, Feb. 22, 1867 | |||||||||
| 1 | 70 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Woodburn, IL (weather, prayer meetings, death of postmaster, illness), Jan 22, 1867 | |||||||||
| 1 | 71 | Letter, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, Staunton IL (working as laborer), Envelope, Sep. 11, 1868 | |||||||||
| 1 | 72 | Two notes, McLean, Sarah to Edgar McLean, n.d. | |||||||||
| 1 | 73 | Letter, McLean, Edgar to Captain Benjamin, Near Roanoke River, NC (report of officer serving: 2nd lieutenant), May 3, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 74 | Letter, Quartermaster General to Edgar McLean, Washington DC (return of quartermaster's stores), Jun. 14, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 75 | Letter, Quartermaster General to Edgar McLean, Washington DC (return of quartermaster's stores), Sep. 28, 1865 | |||||||||
| 1 | 76 | Letter, Perry, Alex J., Quartermaster General to Edgar McLean, Washington DC (return of clothing and equipage), Jun. 20, 1866 | |||||||||
| 1 | 77 | Letter, Perry, Alex J., Quartermaster General to Edgar McLean, Washington DC (return of clothing and equipage), Envelope, Jul. 23, 1866 | |||||||||
| 1 | 78 | Letter, Perry, Alex J., Quartermaster General to Edgar McLean, Washington DC (return of clothing and equipage), ca. 1866 | |||||||||
| 1 | 79 | Miscelleneous notes, n.d. | |||||||||
| 1 | 80 | "Rules and Regulations for the government of Officer's Mess," (rations, officers), n.d. | |||||||||
| 1 | 81 | Poem, "Love me as of yore," Will Allen, n.d. | |||||||||
| 1 | 82 | Poem, "To Annie S," Edgar McLean (with "Love meas of yore" by Will Allen on back), n.d. | |||||||||
| 1 | 83 | Poem, "Twenty Years Ago," Edgar McLean, n.d. | |||||||||
| 1 | 84 | Directions for painting interrupted by patriotic parody of Dixie Land, n.d. | |||||||||
Related Material
See the Special Collections information file for related material about the regiments that McLean and some of his correspondents served in.
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