Beschreibung:

The collection consists of over 25 original letters and other ephemera from the personal archive of Ebenezer Stone, Massachusetts Infantry, and Adjutant General of Massachusetts from 1851-1860. He was also a prosperous local businessman. Ebenezer Whitten Stone was born June 10, 1801. He entered the Army in 1817. When he left in 1821 he became a merchant in the Boston area, first in clothing, then in drugs, paints and dyes from 1843-1850. He married Catharine Louisa Whitcomb on November 22, 1825 and settled eventually in Roxbury. When he left the Army, he enlisted in the Boston City Guards, part of the Massachusetts Militia and worked his way through the ranks of the guard. In 1830, he was admitted to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. He held local civil positions as well, as a representative to the General Court and later, as a councilman in Roxbury. In 1851 he was appointed Adjutant General of Massachusetts. He made his first priority a complete inventory of arms, equipment and organization of the state militia. He recommended purchasing new percussion muskets and suggested a state-wide militia encampment with training. He eventually wrote the "Digest of the Militia Laws of Massachusetts." As soon as war broke out, Stone enlisted, becoming captain of Co. D, 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Because Stone had updated the militia a decade earlier and Governor Andrews had anticipated war and began preparations as soon as he was sworn in in January, the 1st Massachusetts was the first unit to reach Washington fully armed and ready to fight. A few other individuals or small companies had arrived earlier, especially from Pennsylvania, but most were untrained and unarmed. Stone served the entire war and was brevetted lieutenant colonel for gallantry with the 61st Massachusetts before the fall of Richmond. Ebenezer and Catharine had a number of children, including Elizabeth (Lizzie), Mary, and Caroline (Carrie), Frances and Henry are listed in the 1870 census. A couple others died in infancy. Ebenezer died in 1880, nearing his 70th year. He does not show up in the 1880 census, but Catharine and the five children are still listed as living in the home. Somewhat interestingly, the three daughters, whose letters are part of this archive, do not seem to have married. The archive includes stockholder handwritten with signatures by: Ebenezer Stone; Axel Dearborn, iron foundry owner of Dorchester; Gustavus Farley; Robert Farley; James W. Vose, cabinet and piano maker Boston; William G. Glynn; George Sheldon, author of the first volume of History of Deerfield published. In 1870 Sheldon founded the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) and in 1880 opened the Memorial Hall Museum after PVMA purchased the building from Deerfield Academy, Plus “Statement of Sundry Stocks purchased by E.W. Stone for joint account with John Lilley…” and two other accounts of joint stocks. Also a statement concerning a case against John Lilley in the Dist. Of Mass. Circuit court. And Stone’s certificate as an Insurance Broker, 1876. "A Synopsis of a Court Martial of Forty Days" by Robert Caverly. Lowell (MA): Samuel N. Merrill, 1858. 8vo, printed wraps (rear wrap missing), 24pp. This is a pamphlet-style book that involves a case that General E.W. Stone brought against Robert B. Caverly for “unmilitary and unofficerlike conduct while on duty,” as an officer in the Lowell (MA) Guards. The court martial was held in Salem (even though most witnesses lived in Lowell) and lasted 40 days. Peacetime courts-martial are a bit unusual, and Caverly speculates: “… it sometimes turns out to be the offspring of an inordinate ambition to gratify private animosity or revenge, rather than to illicit truth or to establish justice. Such seems to have been the origin of the Salem Court-Martial of 1858, as will appear by glancing at its extraordinary developments and proceedings.” He then proceeds to summarize the charges, most found to be untrue. The first unusual feature