Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Edward M. L'Engle Papers, #425, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Edward M. L'Engle of Jacksonville, Fla., prior to 1940

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Adam Fielding, Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, September 2010

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Banks and banking--Florida--History--19th century.
• Florida Central Railroad Company (1868-1882)
• Florida--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• Florida--Social conditions.
• L'Engle, Edward M. (Edward McCrady), 1834-1900.
• Lawyers--Florida--History--19th century.
• Littlefield, M.S. (Milton Smith), 1830-1899.
• Oregon--Description and travel.
• Plantations--Florida.
• Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--Florida.
• Slavery--Florida.
• Swepson, George William, 1811-1883.
• Texas--Description and travel.
• Washington (State)--Description and travel.

• See also William Johnson L'Engle Papers (#1486).
• Pictures of several individuals in the Edward M. L'Engle Papers can be found in the S.S. Alderman Collection (#1253-z).

Edward McCrady L'Engle (1834-1900) of Jacksonsville, Fla., was the son of Capt. John Claudius L'Engle (1800-1864), a planter in the St. Johns River region of Florida. L'Engle attended the College of Charleston, and worked as a lawyer prior to the Civil War. During the war, he served with the Florida troops of the Confederate army in Virgina as a captain. After the war, he returned to law, later becoming the president of the Florida Central Railroad Company.

The collection includes L'Engle's legal, business, political, and family correspondence, chiefly 1856-1897. Papers before 1866, a small part of the collection, relate to railroad development, plantation life and slavery, social conditions, and public opinion before and during the war in Florida. Antebellum papers include letters from other southeastern states and from an army officer on the Texas frontier and in the Oregon and Washington territories.

Postwar papers chiefly concern the Florida Central Railroad, which was entangled in the Reconstruction manipulations of George William Swepson and general Milton Smith Littlefield. Included documents are transcribed arguements from The Florida Central Railroad Company vs. J. Fred Schutte, et al. Supreme Court case in 1880. The postwar papers also reflect L'Engle's legal practice, banking, and business activities in general, including relations with northern businessmen, and contain material on the political opinions of the conservative white element in Florida during Reconstruction. Correspondents include most of the antebellum, Confederate, and conservative leaders of the state, many of whom were L'Engle's relatives or close friends, and a number of prominent persons from other southern states.