Call Number:

C0980

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); James S. Woods Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1840-1847 (inclusive)

Creator:

Woods, James S., 1824-1846

Form:

Correspondence -- 19th century

Abstract:

Consists mainly of family correspondence of James S. Woods, from his entrance into the military academy at West Point in 1840, through his graduation in 1844, and into his Mexican War experience in Matamoros, Mexico, in June 1846.

Son of a Presbyterian minister, and grandson of Princeton University President John Witherspoon, James Sterrett Woods had a brief but distinguished military career. Graduating with the West Point Class of 1844, Woods served as a second lieutenant of infantry and was killed during the Mexican War.

The collection consists mainly of family correspondence of Woods, from his entrance into the military academy at West Point in 1840, through his graduation in 1844, and into his Mexican War experience in Matamoros, Mexico, in June 1846. Also included is a Civil War era carte de visite of an officer in full military uniform (presumably one of Woods's brothers), Woods's military commission (1845) as a brevet second lieutenant of infantry, and the January 23, 1847, issue of the Presbyterian newspaper in which his father writes at length about Woods's death in the war.