William Rufus Shafter Papers

http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf8g5006fv No online items Guide to the William Rufus Shafter Papers Special Collections staff Department of Special Collections Green Library Stanford University Libraries Stanford, CA 94305-6004 Phone: (650) 725-1022 Email: [email protected] URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc © 2008 The Board of Trustees of Stanford University. All rights reserved. Guide to the William Rufus M0072 1 Shafter Papers Guide to the William Rufus Shafter Papers Collection number: M0072 Department of Special Collections and University Archives Stanford University Libraries Stanford, California Processed by: Special Collections staff Date Completed: 1998 Encoded by: Steve Mandeville-Gamble and Bill O'Hanlon © 2008 The Board of Trustees of Stanford University. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: William Rufus Shafter papers Dates: 1862-1945 Bulk Dates: 1862-1904 Collection number: M0072 Creator: Shafter, William Rufus, 1835-1906 Collection Size: 4 linear feet Repository: Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives. Abstract: The Shafter Collection represents the papers and other materials assembled by General William R. Shafter during his many years of military service. As might be expected, the Collection includes personal and official correspondence, military papers (orders, reports, rosters, etc.), broadsides, maps, cartoons, photographs, miscellaneous printed material, and newspaper clippings. Correspondence composes approximately eighty percent of the Collection, the majority of which concerns the period from 1862 to 1994. In addition, a small collection of materials assembled by Shafter's son-in-law, William H. McKittrick, has been added to the basic Shafter Collection. Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English Access Collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use. Publication Rights Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections. Preferred Citation William Rufus Shafter papers, M0072. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. Acquisition Information Purchased from Stewart Edward White, of Burlingame, executor of the William H. McKittrick estate, 1938. Custodial History Upon Shafter's death his papers passed into the possession of Mr. and Mrs. William H. McKittrick. Mrs. McKittrick was the former Mary Shafter. Acknowledgements This pamphlet and the microfilm edition of the William R. Shafter Papers were made possible by a grant of funds from the National Historical Publications Commission to the Manuscripts Division of the Stanford University Libraries. Introduction The papers of William Rufus Shafter have been the subject of much interest and inquiry since they were reported in The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections several years ago. The career of this important, though relatively unknown, United States military officer of the last half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is covered by personal correspondence, official documents, and assorted ephemera. Guide to the William Rufus M0072 2 Shafter Papers The biographical sketch, scope note, and roll notes in this pamphlet detail the contents of the Collection, as well as highlight the significant steps in Shafter's career. It is quickly evident why researchers working on a variety of subjects have expressed interest in this collection; the rich research potential of the William Rufus Shafter Papers has barely been tapped, and there is no definitive biography of this important American military figure. Manuscripts and archival collections are the laboratory of the humanities. They provide the basic tools with which the historical or literary researcher may advance, prove, or disprove theories, and add to, modify, or correct previously accepted interpretations of factual evidence. Unlike the basic elements used in a scientific laboratory, these fundamentals of the humanities are very rare, often one of a kind. The good researcher must travel to the location of the original documents, or acquire copies when possible. The National Historical Publications Commission has recognized this problem and, through its microfilm and letterpress publication programs, has made possible wider dissemination of such essential research collections. The Stanford University Libraries have been able, with the aid and encouragement of this organization, to add the personal papers of General William Rufus Shafter to the growing pool of historical information now available on microfilm. It would be impossible, in the space allotted, to mention all those who have assisted this project over its various stages with good counsel and considerable effort. Some do, however, deserve very special credit: Lynn M. Jiménez, Editor, and Marjorie Dobbs, Production Assistant of the project staff; Fred Shelley, Deputy Director of the National Historical Publications Commission; Colonel George Pappas, U.S.A., Retired; Michele Leiser of the Manuscripts Division; the staff of the Department of Special Collections and the Director's Office of the Stanford University Libraries; Herb Larson and Mike West of the Mark Larwood Company; Brian Russell, microphotographer; and the Stanford University Press. To these and the many others who have contributed to the successful completion of the microfilm edition of the William Rufus Shafter Papers, I express my sincere gratitude and thanks. Patricia J. Palmer Project Director Biography / Administrative History William Rufus Shafter, born on October 16, 1835, at Galesburg, was said to have been the first white male born in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. His father, Hugh Morris Shafter, came to what was then the frontier from Windsor, Vermont, and built his future home, a log cabin. He returned to Vermont to marry Eliza Sumner of Massachusetts. The newly married couple then proceeded to Michigan and to their small farm. When he was not helping his father on the farm, Shafter attended common school in Galesburg. Anxious for further education, he began teaching in 1856. Eventually he attended Prairie Seminary in Richland County, where in 1861 he learned of the outbreak of the Civil War. He promptly enlisted in the Union Army for three years. On August 22, 1861, Shafter was appointed a First Lieutenant of the Seventh Michigan Infantry, a regiment which served a year with the Army of the Potomac and saw action at Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, West Point, and Savage Station. At the age of twenty-six, he was promoted to a Major in the Nineteenth Michigan Infantry. It was with this regiment that, after a fierce struggle, he was taken prisoner at Thompson's Station on March 5, 1863. Shafter was exchanged that May, and by June of 1863 was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Seventeenth U.S. Colored Infantry. He remained with this unit for the duration of the Civil War, leading them through the battles before Nashville on December 15-16, 1864. After the surrender at Appomattox, Lieutenant Colonel Shafter received the Brevet of Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers for gallant and meritorious service. Upon the reorganization of the U.S. Army he was mustered out of service on November 2, 1866. Shafter had impressed his commanding officers throughout the War. They described him as brave, gallant, prompt, intelligent, and a good disciplinarian. Due to his outstanding record, he received many strong recommendations for permanent appointment in the reorganized army. Unlike many officers who passed from the temporary to the permanent establishment of the army at the end of the war, Shafter spent no time in civilian life. His first appointment in the U.S. Army was that of Lieutenant Colonel of the Forty-first U.S. Infantry on July 28, 1866. Three years later, he was assigned to the Twenty-fourth U.S. Colored Infantry, with which he served ten years. For the most part, those years were spent on the Mexican frontier. There, he was relatively successful in controlling marauding bands of Indians and Mexican bandits. It was during this period that Shafter received the appellation Pecos Bill for leading his hungry and thirsty command to the Pecos River in Texas. In 1879, Shafter was promoted to Colonel of the First U.S. Infantry, a position he held for nearly eighteen years. From 1879 he commanded his regiment in Dakota, Texas, and Arizona, was Superintendent of the Recruiting Service in New York, and again commanded his unit in Arizona, California, and South Dakota. Shafter was post commandant at Angel Island from 1891 to 1897, except for a period in 1894, when he led a battalion against strikers in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. For his most distinguished gallantry in action at the battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia, May 31, 1862, Shafter received the Congressional Medal of Honor. This decoration, given in 1895, brought him to the attention of high-ranking officers in Guide to the William Rufus M0072 3 Shafter Papers Washington. President McKinley acknowledged his rank and record by commissioning him Brigadier General on May 3, 1897. The Senate promptly confirmed his appointment, and Shafter became commander of the Department of California, assigned to the same station where he had so long been post commander. Shafter's call to fame came with the outbreak of the Spanish-American War

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