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3. Provenance 5. Inventory 6. Subjects |
George Sears Greene Collection Civil engineer and soldier, of Rhode Island and New York Collection, 1818-1911 Size: 0.5 linear feet Catalog number: MSS 460 Processed by: Rick Stattler, July 2001 ©Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division |
Historical note:
George Sears Greene (1801-1899) was born in Warwick, R.I. to Caleb Greene. He graduated from West Point in 1823, and then served as an artillery officer through 1836. For the next twenty-five years he was in private practice as a civil engineer, with his largest project being the Croton Aqueduct in New York. He volunteered as colonel of the 60th New York Infantry in January of 1862, and then was appointed Brigadier General that April. He played major roles in the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and was severely wounded in September of 1863. He returned to action, was again wounded, and was awarded the brevet rank of Major General dating to the conclusion of his active service in March of 1865. After that point, he resumed his civil engineering work in New York, and became an active genealogist and antiquarian. The authoritative genealogy, Greenes of Rhode Island..., was published from his notes in 1903.
Gen. Greene had four children by his first wife, Elizabeth Vinton (1805-1832), all of whom died young. By his second wife Martha B. Dana, he had the following surviving children:
George S. Greene Jr. (1837-1922), m. Susan Dana. Had Martha (1865-1884), Carleton (1868- ).
Samuel D. Greene (1840-1884). Naval officer. Had three children.
Charles T. Greene (1842- ). Had sixteen children.
Anna M. Greene (1845- ). Married Murray S. Day, had no surviving children.
Francis V. Greene (1850-1921). Soldier, historian. Had five children.
Bibliography:
Biographical Cyclopedia of Rhode Island, 292.
Clarke, Louise Brownell, The Greenes of Rhode Island, 473-474. New York, 1903.
Scope and content:
This collection is divided into two groups. The first group contains various papers of Gen. Greene, mostly correspondence and reports relating to the Battle of Gettysburg, a letter book he kept while stationed at Fort Sullivan in Maine, and a memorandum book relating to his work on New York's Croton Aqueduct. The correspondence includes letters by other noteworthy Union generals such as Henry Slocum, George Meade and Alpheus Williams.
Subgroup 2 is titled The William and Marion Sluys Collection of Greene Family Manuscripts. It consists of family correspondence between Gen. Greene, his son George Jr., his grandson Carleton, and other family members. Also included is a rare printed copy of a speech Gen. Greene gave at West Point in 1888.
Provenance:
The provenance of Subgroup 1 is unknown, but judging by the cataloging, the papers were very likely donated before 1944. Subgroup 2 was donated by Peter J. Sluys in 1995, and is to be known as The William and Marion Sluys Collection of Greene Family Manuscripts.
Processing note:
Related papers at the Rhode Island Historical Society include:
Letter from Greene to cousin Henry W. Greene, 1890. MSS 461, page 83.
Letter from Greene to Amos Perry, 1888. MSS 9001-T, glued to inside cover of Samuel Tillinghast diary
Five letters from Greene requesting Narragansett Club publications, 1866-1874. MSS 578.
Manuscript Greene genealogy, began by George S. Greene in 1835, with notes through 1915. Later published as Greenes of Rhode Island... See Reference Collection.
Ten-page Dana genealogy. Manuscript Genealogies, vol. 1, page 63 (Reference Collection).
Diary of Greene's grand-niece Alice Greene Phelon, 1896. MSS 9001-P.
Papers of Greene' s nephew Benjamin Phelon. MSS 618.
Inventory:
Subgroup 1: George Sears Greene Papers
Box 1, folder 1. 1854-1862
1854/01 Regulations re admission of cadets into the military academy
1862/12/24 Letter to Sen. Preston King (copy)
Box 1, folder 2. 1863
1863/07/04 Letter, Col. Abel Goddard to Capt. C.P. Horton
1863/07/06 Letter, Capt. Stegman to Capt. C.P. Horton
1863/07/06 Letter, Lt. Col. H. Hammerstein to Capt. C.P. Horton
1863/07/06 Letter, Col. H.A. Barnum to Capt. C.P. Horton
1863/07/06 Letter, Col. Daniel Ireland to Capt. C.P. Horton
1863/07/06 Letter, Gen. Thomas L. Kane to Capt. Thomas H. Elliot (copy)
1863/07/12 Letter, Geo. S. Greene to Capt. Thomas H. Elliot (copy)
1863/07 Report of casualties at Gettysburg
1863/07/16 Revised report of casualties at Gettysburg
1863/08/22 Letter, Gen. A.S. Williams to Col. H.C. Rodgers re Gettysburg
1863/08/22 Letter, Gen. A.S. Williams to Col. H.C. Rodgers excepting Gettysburg (copy)
1863/12/20 Letter, Gen. A.S. Williams to Gen. H.W. Slocum
1863/12/30 Letter, H.W. Slocum to Gen. George G. Meade (copy)
1863/12/30 Letter, H.W. Slocum to George S. Greene, with attached report
1863/12/30 Extract of above letter from Slocum to Greene
1863? Extract of letter to Capt. Elliot
1863? Annotated map of battlefield
1863? Pages 3, 4 and 5 of report by H.W. Slocum
Box 1, folder 3. 1864
1864/02/25 Letter, Gen. George G. Meade to Gen. Henry W. Halleck (two copies)
1864/03/10 Letter, Gen. George G. Meade to George Sears Greene
Box 1, folder 4. 1886-1888. Genealogical letters, George S. Greene to Mrs. A.S. Bulkley, dated 12/21/1886, 12/28/1886, 1/10/1888, 3/21/1888 and undated.
Box 1, folder 5. 1892
1892/04/27 Letter from H.C. Pitney of the Morris Aqueduct to George S. Greene
1892/05/02 Letter from H.C. Pitney of the Morris Aqueduct to George S. Greene
Box 1, folder 6. 1893
1893/07/02 Speech on Gettysburg, by George S. Greene
Box 1, folder 7. 1897
1897 George S. Greene's handwritten military record. 6 pages.
Box 1, folder 8. Undated
"The Battle of Antietam" by George S. Greene. 4 pages.
Fragment of letter from O.L.F. Browne of Syracuse
Box 1, folder 9. Volumes
Letter book, 1831-1841, kept mostly at Fort Sullivan, Eastport, Maine.
(includes monthly weather log kept 1818-1822 at Marblehead, and 1822-1828 at Ft. Sullivan)
Memorandum book of engineering calculations for Croton Aqueduct, circa 1874-1882
Subgroup 2: The William and Marion Sluys Collection of Greene Family Manuscripts.
Gift of Peter J. Sluys, 1995
Box 2, folder 1. Letter, Gen. George Sears Greene to grandson Carleton Greene, 12/8/1883
Box 2, folder 2. Letter, Anna M. (Greene) Day to brother George Sears Greene Jr., 8/19/1873
Box 2, folders 3-8. 6 letters, Carleton Greene to father George Sears Greene Jr., 1888-1889
Box 2, folder 9. Undated letter, Charlotte to George Sears Greene Jr.
Box 2, folder 10. Letter, Kate Gannett to Susan M. (Dana) Greene (Mrs. George S. Greene Jr.), 2/17/___
Box 2, folders 11-13. 3 essays by "Susie Dana" (future Mrs. George S. Greene Jr.), undated, titled: "Rome's Degeneracy", "The Crusades" and "The Social and Literary Features of the Middle Age."
Box 2, folder 14. "Address by Gen. George S. Greene, at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Graduates, West Point, N.Y., June 11, 1888". Printed pamphlet, 6 pages, said to be only known extant copy.
Box 2, folder 15. Course schedule, Carleton Greene, Cornell University, 1889-1890
Box 2, folder 16. Undated account, probably from Carleton Greene
Box 2, folder 17. Itinerary of vacation, 1910, on back of envelope addressed to George Sears Greene Jr., 1911.
Subjects:
"Address by Gen. George S. Greene, at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Graduates, West Point, N.Y., June 11, 1888"
Antietam, Battle of, Md., 1862
Barnum, Henry A. (1833-1892)
Bulkley, Mrs. A.S.
Civil engineering - New York
Croton Aqueduct (New York)
Day, Anna M. (Greene) (1845- )
Gettysburg (Pa.), Battle of, 1863
Greene, Carleton (1868- )
Greene, George S. Jr. (1837-1922)
Greene, Susan M. (Dana)
Kane, Thomas L. (1822-1883)
King, Preston (1806-1865)
Maine - Climate - Observations
Meade, George G. (1815-1872)
Meteorology - Observations
Slocum, Henry w. (1827-1894)
Sluys, William and Marion
United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865
William and Marion Sluys Collection of Greene Family Manuscripts
Williams, Alpheus S. (1810-1878)
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RIHS1822