Call Number:

MSS 0512

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

4 item (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0512, William Axton Stokes papers, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1842-1874 (inclusive)

Creator:

Stokes, William A. (William Axton), 1814?-1877

Form:

correspondence and Speeches (documents)

Abstract:

Materials documenting William Axton Stokes' personal life, as a Major in the Civil War and as a member of the Philadelphia bar in the mid-nineteenth century, through correspondence and writings.

William Axton Stokes (1814-1877) was an attorney in Philadelphia in the mid-nineteenth century. He also served as a Major in the U.S. Infantry during the Civil War, although the duration of his service is unclear from evidence in this small collection. He served for a period in 1861 as Major Commanding at the 18th U.S. Infantry Headquarters, Camp Thomas, Franklin County, Ohio.

Correspondence, December 13 and 22, 1861. Series 147. Volume 21. Adjutant General. Correspondence to the Governor and Adjutant General of Ohio, August 17, 1861- December 30, 1861. The Ohio Historical Society Civil War Documents Searchable Database. Retrieved November 18, 2005 from http://www.ohiostory.org/onlinedoc/civilwar/sa0147/21_01.cfmBiographical AND/OR historical information derived from the collection.

The William Axton Stokes papers, spanning 1842 to 1874, was a gift of the Moyerman family circa 1970-1972. This small collection consists of four items: an 1861 letter from Stokes to his wife written while he was stationed at Camp Thomas, Ohio, during the Civil War; an 1874 letter from Thomas A. Scott, President of the Pennsylvania Company; a handwritten draft of a biographical sketch of Sir Mathew Hale; and an oration delivered in 1842 at the Philadelphia Museum.

This small collection is fragmented and lacks a clear narrative for these separate events in William Axton Stoke's life. The Civil War letter provides a description of Stokes's duties as commanding officer of Camp Thomas, headquarters of the 18th Regiment, U.S. Infantry. The letter from the president of The Pennsylvania Company discusses post-war investments in stock of the Southern Rail Road Association. The manuscripts of the 1842 oration delivered at the Philadelphia Museum and the 1847 biographical sketch of Matthew Hale hint at the intellectual interests of William Stokes in addition to providing his professional identity as a member of the Philadelphia bar.