State of Tennessee Department of State Tennessee State Library and Archives 403 Seventh Avenue North Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0312 BUELL-BRIEN PAPERS 1805-1943 Processed by: Harriet C. Owsley and JWW Archival Technical Services Date Completed: March 8, 1960 Manuscripts Accession Number: 267 Location: III-A-1-7, Oversize Drawer M-12-18 Microfilm Accession Number: 829 MICROFILMED INTRODUCTION The papers of George P. Buell (1833-1883), Civil Engineer, 1852; Lieutenant Colonel, 58th Indiana Infantry, 1861; Brigadier General, 29th Infantry, 1866; Colonel, 15th Infantry, 1879; and the papers of Buell's father-in-law, John Smith Brien (1807-1867), lawyer and jurist; member of the Tennessee Legislature, 1838-1839, 1865-1866; Judge of the Chancery Court, 1851-1853; Judge of the Circuit Court, 1858-1861, were obtained for the Tennessee State Library and Archives Manuscripts Section in 1960 from Miss Rochette Buell, Nashville, Tennessee, grand-daughter of George P. Buell and great grand-daughter of John Smith Brien. The papers have been separated into military and non-military items. The military correspondence has been arranged chronologically and the non-military correspondence is in an alphabetical order. The chief correspondents are listed for the non-military papers. For students of the period prior to the Civil War the papers of Judge Brien contain items of value. He represented the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in their suit against the Methodist Episcopal Church, North, in 1850 and won his case. Judge Brien had large interests in iron furnaces and several suits involved these interests. The correspondence contains expressions of opinion regarding secession and politics during the 1850's. The Buell Papers are composed primarily of military papers both for the Civil War and for the Wars against the Indians during the 1870's and 1880's west of the Mississippi in which General Buell played an important part. For those interested in the exploits of the United States Army during the period after the Civil War a study of these papers would be rewarding. The collection consists of 15.36 linear feet of shelf space, and numbers approximately 10,000 items. Literary rights in the unpublished writings of George P. Buell and John Smith Brien in these papers have been dedicated to the public. Single photocopies of unpublished writings may be made for purposes of scholarly research. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The Buell Papers comprising approximately 10,000 items covering the years 1805-1943 may be divided into two nearly equal parts -the military and the non-military. The military papers contain two order books of Don Carlos Buell for the years 1849-1858 but the largest portion of the military papers are concerned with the career of General George P. Buell during the Civil War and during his later operations against the Indians, west of the Mississippi. The bulk of the military papers fall in the later period 1870-1882 and are composed of general and special orders, ordnance reports, telegrams, military correspondence, endorsement books, court martial records, account books, and military maps. The official report of the Battle of Chickamauga is one of the most valuable items of the military papers. The largest portions of the non-military items are the papers of Judge John S. Brien, father-in-law of George P. Buell. They contain about 90 legal documents and briefs dealing with the cases of Judge Brien. These include the cases of the Iron Mountain Furnace and the suit brought in 1850 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, against the Methodist Episcopal Church, North. About 70 letters for the period 1839-1867 make up the correspondence of Judge Brien and include such names as D. N. Barrow, John Bell, W. G. Brownlow, Robert S. Caruthers, R. M. Corwin, J. W. Dobbs, Ephraim H. Foster, M. P. Gentry, James C. Jones, William Ledbetter, Daniel Lord, J. W. Maybin, J. Netherland, Balie Peyton, Finch P. Scruggs, O. P. Temple, Theodore Trauemicht, Felix Zollicoffer, and others. Eight small docket books give the schedules of cases of Judge Brien while he served as Circuit Court Judge of Davidson County, 1857-1861. There are also two brief books belonging to the Judge dated 1845 and 1858-1861. Approximately 1000 letters compose the correspondence of the Pickett sisters, Lida (Mrs. Theodore Caskins), Alice (Mrs. Albert Akers), and Miss Lucy Pickett who never married but had a number of admirers. There are a few letters of Albert Akers and the two Pickett men, Howard and Joe. The Picketts were nieces and nephews of Mrs. John S. Brien who reared them after their parents' death. A diary kept by Mrs. John S. Brien begins with a memoir of her early life and becomes a diary beginning October 20, 1877, with occasional entries until February, 1882, when her grandson, Don Carlos Buell, came to live with her and to attend Montgomery Bell Academy. About 125 letters make up the correspondence of Mrs. George P. Buell (Rochie Brien) and her son, Don Carlos. In addition to these letters, there is a little diary kept by Mrs. Buell from March, 1876, to October, 1877. The diary begins with a trip from Fort Griffin, Texas, to Ringgold, Texas, which required two months. The country is described as being very beautiful for most of the trip. Several days were spent at San Antonio. After Custer's forces were massacred in Dakota by the Sioux Indians, General Buell was ordered to construct a fort farther west than Fort Abraham Lincoln from which Custer had set out on his fateful advance against the Indians. Mrs. Buell went home to Nashville in August, 1876 to be with her mother, Mrs. Brien. She joined her husband in November, 1876, at the Cheyenne Agency. The diary ends with a description of the battlefield where Custer made his last stand. The remainder of the non-military papers are concerned with the family and ancestors of George P. Buell. The oldest letter in the collection was written by Don C. Buell to his father and is dated January 29, 1808, Ithaca, New York. This Don C. Buell must have been an uncle of the two Civil War Generals, although there is no proof of this in the papers. Twenty-seven letters bound together were written by John F. Lane while a student at West Point to members of his family with the dates 1824-1836. John F. Lane was the brother of Ann Lane Buell and Jane Lane Huntington and the son of Amos and Mary Foot Lane. One hundred and thirteen letters received by John F. Lane, 1831-1834, from his mother, father, sisters, brothers, and some others are bound in a volume. Another volume contains 44 letters, 1832-1836, which are the correspondence of E. M. Huntington and his wife, Jane Lane Huntington. A diary of Mary Foot Lane was kept periodically from August, 1829 to November 21, 1852. Mary Foot, born January 29, 1778, daughter of John Foot of Watertown, Connecticut, married Amos Lane and moved to Cincinnati in 1808 and later to Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Her husband died in 1826. Her daughter, Ann Lane, born March 1, 1809, married George P. Buell, Sr. The career of their son, George P. Buell, Jr., who married Rochie Brien of Nashville, Tennessee, is the primary concern of these papers. George Buell's non-military correspondence includes the names of F. Adkinson, J. H. Bradford, Don Carlos Buell, Powell Clayton, Will A. Coulter, Will Cumback, J. A. Davenport, Edwin J. Davis, J. W. Forney, W. H. Francis, John C. Fremont, James A. Garfield, Henry Gillum, B. F. Grafton, B. W. Gray, E. B. Hart, Rutherford B. Hayes, John Pope, Marshall O. Roberts, Felix H. Robertson, M. Samaniego, W. T. Sherman, John M. Trew, and O. B. Wilcox. There are approximately 100 letters and papers of Salmon A. Buell, a brother of George P. Buell. Some of the papers deal with the perpetual calendar, an invention of S. A. Buell. Forty-four letters to various members of the Buell family were written by Sister Ann Cecilia from the convent at Galesburg, Illinois, and several other places. She was a sister of George P. Buell, Five large account books and thirteen small ones; four small pocket diaries; some correspondence, letters and telegrams dealing with the Railroad Business of George P. Buell; documents relating to Silver Mines in Colorado; legal papers dealing with purchases of land in the west; several hundred bills and receipts; genealogical data concerning the Brien, Buell, Lane, and Foot families; three scrapbooks; a few photographs; and some personal memorabilia make up the remainder of the collection. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH George P. Buell 1833, October 4 Born and raised at Buell homestead near Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Son of Ann Lane and George P. Buell, Sr., brothers and sisters were: Salmon A., John L., Julian O., Mary L., Almira, and Ann Lane. 1851 Obtained position on Indiana-Cincinnati Railroad. Trained for civil engineer. 1852 Position as civil engineer for Columbus-Shelby Railroad in Indiana. 1853 1st Assistant Engineer at Fort Wayne, Indiana -headquarters for above railroad. 1854 Attended Norwich Military Academy. 1856 Graduated from Norwich Military Academy. 1857 City Civil Engineer at Leavenworth City, Kansas Territory. 1861, December Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel 58th Indiana Infantry. 1862, June Commissioned Colonel. 1865, January Brevet Brigadier General Volunteers - Federal Army - for long, faithful and most valuable service and for able management of pontoon trains. 1865, July Honorably mustered out. 1865, December 27 Married Rochette Brien. 1866, July Lieutenant Colonel 29th Infantry. U. S. Army. Sent West of Mississippi to fight Indians. 1867, March Brevet Colonel for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee.