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This collection has use restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 2.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 850 items) |
| Abstract | Marcus Joseph Wright, Confederate brigadier general and military historian, worked for 30 years, beginning in 1878, as agent of the U.S. War Department charged with collecting and compiling official Confederate army records. The collection includes correspondence, early memoirs, and other papers of Wright. Included is post-Civil War correspondence with ex-Confederate leaders concerning military history, his work, and various publications. Also included are letters, 1831-1860, of Wright's father-in-law, planter and politican John W. Womack of Eutaw, Green County, Ala., to his brother Jacob Lewis Womack, planter of Ridgeville, Butler County, Ala., concerning family matters, cotton planting, the Alabama legislature, and the coming war. There are also papers, 1929-1945, of Wright's son, Howard P. Wright, that deal chiefly with his father and Confederate history, as well as genealogical notes on the Wright family of McNairy County, Tenn., and photographs, loose clippings, and scrapbooks of clippings, chiefly relating to Confederate history. |
| Creator | Wright, Marcus Joseph, 1831-1922. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Processed by: Eric France, May 1991
Encoded by: Kathryn Michaelis, May 2010
Updated by: Staff, July 2018
This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.
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Subject Headings
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.
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Related Collections
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Biographical Information
Marcus Joseph Wright, Confederate brigadier general and military historian, worked for 30 years, beginning in 1878, as agent of the U.S. War Department charged with collecting and compiling official Confederate army records.
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Scope and Content
The collection includes correspondence, early memoirs, and other papers of Wright. Included is post-Civil War correspondence with ex-Confederate leaders concerning military history, his work, and various publications. Also included are letters, 1831-1860, of Wright's father-in-law, planter and politican John W. Womack of Eutaw, Green County, Ala., to his brother Jacob Lewis Womack, planter of Ridgeville, Butler County, Ala., concerning family matters, cotton planting, the Alabama legislature, and the coming war. There are also papers, 1929-1945, of Wright's son, Howard P. Wright, that deal chiefly with his father and Confederate history, as well as genealogical notes on the Wright family of McNairy County, Tenn., and photographs, loose clippings, and scrapbooks of clippings, chiefly relating to Confederate history.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. John W. Womack Letters, 1831-1860 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters from John W. Womack, Marcus Joseph Wright's father in law, to his brother, Jacob Lewis (Lewis) Womack, and a letter of advice, undated, to his daughter, Pauline, wife of Marcus Joseph Wright.
Most letters discuss family matters, the state of people's health, and crop conditions. Family members mentioned in the letters include John W. Womack's mother, who split her time between John and Lewis; John's first wife Nancy and their daughter; and his second wife Ann M. Beville (or Bevill) Womack and their children Winston, Sidney, and Pauline. Members of Lewis's family mentioned in the letters include his wife Agnes and their children Augustus (Gus), and Caroline. Occasionally mentioned are John's brother Joseph Womack's struggle with alcoholism, and the illness and death of their brother Mansel Womack (1810?-1842). Many letters mention politics, travel, social matters, and business and legal affairs.
| Folder 1 |
1831-1839 |
| Folder 2 |
1840-1849 |
| Folder 3 |
1850-1860 |
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Series 2. Biographical and Genealogical Material, 1792-1922.
Arrangement: topical.
Folder 4-5
Folder 4Folder 5 |
Wright family historyA history of the Wright family, including notes, quotations from history books, newspapers, directories, and other sources concerning the Wrights. |
| Folder 6 |
Marcus J. Wright biography, bibliography, and tributesContains copies of Wright's 1922 obituary and tributes published at the time of his death. Also included are obituary notices, 1875, of Wright's wife, Martha Elcan Wright, and a partial list of Wright's writings. |
| Folder 7 |
Early memoirs of Marcus J. WrightAn 18-page typescript containing Wright's early memoirs, through the time of his employment in the United States Navy Yard at Memphis, 1850-1851. |
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Series 3. Correspondence and Related Material, 1853-1923 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence and other papers chiefly relate to Marcus J. Wright's personal life, his various governmental appointments, his work assembling Confederate records for publication by the United States War Department, and his publications. Includes some Confederate papers, and much post-war correspondence concerning Confederate affairs. An index of correspondents was prepared by Wright's son, Howard P. Wright, and is filed at the beginning of the series.
| Folder 8 |
Index of correspondents |
| Folder 9 |
1853-1876 |
| Folder 10a |
1877 |
| Folder 10b |
1878 |
| Folder 10c |
1879 |
| Folder 10d |
January-June 1880 |
| Folder 10e |
July-December 1880 |
| Folder 10f |
1881 |
| Folder 11 |
1882-1884 |
| Folder 12 |
1885-1888 |
| Folder 13 |
1889 |
| Folder 14 |
1890-1894 |
| Folder 15 |
1897-1899 |
| Folder 16 |
1900-1910 |
| Folder 17 |
1911-1923 |
| Folder 18 |
Undated |
| Extra Oversize Paper Folder X-OPF-1044/1 |
Extra-oversize papersIncludes oversize photograph, Reunion of Confederate Veterans, 22 June 1897, taken at the home of Judge Jacob M. Dickinson, former United States Secretary of War, in Nashville, Tenn. and poster showing an aerial view of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, painted by Rudolph J. Shutting, copyright 1913. |
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Series 4. Howard P. Wright Papers, 1864-1949.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence of Howard P. Wright, son of Marcus J. Wright, concerning his father, Confederate history, and the history of McNairy County, Tenn. His correspondents are various historical societies, libraries, patriotic societies, interested individuals, descendants of Confederate veterans, and various governmental and private agencies who are concerned with marking historical spots, preserving monuments, and similar activities.
| Folder 19 |
1929-1937 |
| Folder 20 |
1938-1939 |
| Folder 21 |
Materials relating to Marcus J. Wright as post commander at Macon, Ga., 1864 |
| Folder 22 |
1940 |
| Folder 23 |
1941-1949 |
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Series 5. Clippings and Articles, 1894-1933.
Arrangement: topical.
Chiefly consists of clippings and typescripts from the papers of Marcus J. Wright. Howard P. Wright previously had possession of the clippings, and he organized them and added clippings concerning various matters relating to Confederate history.
Folder 24-27
Folder 24Folder 25Folder 26Folder 27 |
Wrtings of Marcus J. Wright |
| Folder 28 |
Clippings concerning Marcus J. Wright |
| Folder 29 |
Clippings |
| Folder 30 |
Clippings concerning Jefferson Davis and other Confederate matters |
| Folder 31 |
Clippings concerning various Confederate matters |
| Folder 32 |
Biographical materials concerning Leonidas Truesdale, cousin of Marcus J. Wright, and Moses Ezekiel, the artist who designed the Confederate monument in Arlington Cemetery |
| Folder 33 |
Miscellaneous clippings added by Howard P. Wright |
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Series 6. Pictures, 1863-1933 and undated.
Pictures are undated unless otherwise indicated.
| Image Folder PF-1044/1 |
PicturesIncludes twelve pictures: B. F. Haller; A. S. Johnston; W. Miller Owen, 1865 (verso reads, "Lieutenant Colonel Artillery C.S.A."); Marcus J. Wright; Man dressed in animal hides, standing on a Native American blanket and carrying a bow (Verso reads, "B. Gen Arney"); Squire T. Tevis, 8 March 1865; Mr. Swagger, 8 March 1865; Mr. Spurr, 8 March 1865; F. J. Cridlam (Cridland?), 1863; T. C. Hindman; Miss Elizabeth Whitson "of Hickman County Tennessee (from verso)"; Unidentified man. |
| Image Folder PF-1044/2 |
PicturesIncludes seven pictures: Honorable Richard Warner (Tennessee); Elderly woman, seated (Verso reads, "Miss Georgie Hayes of Eutaw Alabama. Mrs. John V. Wright, Wife of Hon. John V. Wright of Tennessee."); Harvey M. Watterson; Redfield Proctor; John Vines Wright (Caption beneath photo reads, "Father of Georgie Hayes Lyon."); Colonel H. C. Smathes; Uniform coat of Marcus J. Wright, 1933 (Coat is photographed in a display case in the National Museum, Washington, D.C.). |
| Image Folder PF-1044/3 |
PicturesIncludes ten pictures: Marcus J. Wright (four portraits); E. O. Perrin (three); Jefferson Davis (two); William Swinton (one). |
| Image Folder PF-1044/4 |
PicturesIncludes eleven pictures: Nine photographs of tablets and markers on the Chickamauga Battlefield, Georgia; One photograph of a marker at Shiloh National Military Park, Tennessee; Copy of an engraving of the Macon, Ga., railroad station where Marcus J. Wright had his headquarters in 1864 (Copied from the Macon Telegraph, 13 August 1864). |
| Image Folder PF-1044/5 |
Pictures:Includes six pictures: Marcus J. Wright (two images); Major-General Corbin; Colonel James Ross Howard (photograph is accompanied by a copy of Howard's obituary announcement from the Washington Post, 1892); Two photographs of an unidentified painting (painting is a portrait of a young woman and a little girl. One photograph shows an unidentified man standing next to the painting). |
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Series 7. Volumes
Arrangement: topical.
| Folder 34 |
Volume 1: Scrapbook containing newspaper clippingsChiefly articles by Marcus J. Wright. Many of the clippings are missing from the pages. |
| Folder 35 |
Volume 2: Scrapbook containing picturesChiefly pictures of Confederate leaders and United States presidents. Many from steel engravings. |
| Folder 36 |
Folder number not used |
| Oversize Volume SV-1044/3 Original (closed) |
Volume 3: Scrapbook containing newspaper clippingsVolume is unavailable for research use due to fragility. Contains articles collected by Marcus J. Wright on a variety of subjects. Indexed. |
| Oversize Volume SV-1044/3 Use |
Volume 3: Scrapbook containing newspaper clippingsThis is a photocopied, use copy of the original SV-1044/3, which is closed to research. |
| Folder 37 |
Volume 4: Scrapbook containing articles by Marcus J. WrightIndexed. |
| Folder 38 |
Volume 5: Scrapbook containing articlesChiefly articles by Marcus J. Wright about the Civil War. Indexed. |
| Folder 39 |
Volume 6: Small scrapbookContains article by Marcus J. Wright titled, "Attempted Sale of U. S. Vessels to the Confederates, by Lieut. Glenney, in May 1863." |
| Folder 40 |
Volume 7: Confederate portrait album |
| Folder 41 |
Volume 8: "The Wright Family of America, Savannah, Georgia, Branch." Compiled and edited by David A. D. Ogden Jr. |
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Items Separated