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Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid.
Size | 1.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 109 items) |
Abstract | James Simons (1813-1879) of Charleston, S.C., was a lawyer, legislator, and militia general. His son, James Simons Jr. (1839-1919), was a student in Leipzig, Germany; a Confederate officer; a state legislator; a lawyer; and was active in the Society of the Cincinnati as president of the state society in 1898 and vice president general of the national organization in 1902. The collection consists chiefly of the papers of James Simons, mostly concerning his activities with the South Carolina militia, 1855-1860, including correspondence and court martial proceedings related to his controversy with Edward McCrady Jr. (1833-1903), lawyer and historian, over McCrady's rank. Other materials include letters, 1840s, from James Louis Petigru about legal matters, and two letterpress copy books, 1858-1860 and 1862-1866, relating to Simons's legal practice and militia matters. The papers of James Simons Jr. consist chiefly of family letters received while he was studying at Leipzig, Germany, during the 1850s. Letters discuss social and political news. Also included are miscellaneous items related to the Society of the Cincinnati, 1889-1917. |
Creator | Simons, James, 1813-1879. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Carolyn Wallace, January 1963
Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2005
Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid.
Back to TopThe 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.
James Simons (1813-1879) of Charleston, S.C., was a lawyer, legislator, and militia general. He was speaker of the house in the South Carolina legislature when the Civil War began. During the war, he served as brigadier general of the South Carolina Militia Fourth Infantry Brigade. James Simons married Sarah L. Wragg and with her had at least two children: James Simons Jr. and Henrietta Simons.
James Simons Jr. (1839-1919) attended South Carolina College and the University of Leipzig. He returned to South Carolina in 1860 and served as a captain and later a colonel in the Confederate Army. After the war, he practiced law in Charleston with his father as Simons and Simons, and later with Rudolph Siegling and John D. Cappelmann. He served in the state legislature from 1878 to 1891, and was speaker of the House from 1882. Simons was president of the News and Courier Company for 25 years, was chair of the Board of Public School Commissioners of Charleston, and was active in the Society of the Cincinnati as president of the state society in 1898 and vice president general of the national organization in 1902. Simons married Elizabeth Potter Schott in 1890.
Back to TopThe collection consists chiefly of the papers of lawyer, legislator, and militia general James Simons (1813-1879) and mostly concern his activities with the South Carolina militia, 1855-1860. Correspondence and court martial proceedings relate to his controversy with Edward McCrady Jr. (1833-1903), a lawyer and historian who sought the colonelcy of a new regiment being formed in 1860 within the South Carolina Militia Fourth Infantry Brigade commanded by Simons. Other materials include letters, 1840s, from James Louis Petigru about legal matters, and two letterpress copy books, 1858-1860 and 1862-1866, relating to Simons's legal practice and militia matters.
The papers of James Simons Jr. (1839-1919) are chiefly family letters received while he was a student at Leipzig, Germany, during the 1850s. Letters discuss social and political news, such as yellow fever, national and sectional politics, the capture of the slave ship Echo, the city of Charleston, S.C., and fatherly advice. There are miscellaneous items related to the Society of the Cincinnati, 1889-1917.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Folder 1 |
1842-May 1858 |
Folder 2 |
1858 July-September |
Folder 3 |
November 1858-June 1859 |
Folder 4 |
December 1859-1866 |
Folder 5 |
1889-1903 |
Folder 6 |
1905-1906 |
Folder 7 |
1907-1909 |
Folder 8 |
1910-1917 |
Folder 9 |
Undated |
Folder 10 |
Volume 1: Court martial proceedings, 2 March 1857-17 April 1857Proceedings of court martial held at Military Hall in Charleston, S.C., by the South Carolina Militia Fourth Infantry Brigade. The court was concerned with several charges against Major Edward McCrady Jr. and Colonel I. Charles Blum. The record contains the charges, testimony, and pertinent documents. |
Folder 11 |
Volume 2: Letterpress copy book, 3 March 1858-2 February 1860, 749 pages.Outgoing business and professional correspondence; includes index of correspondents |
Folder 12 |
Volume 3: Letterpress copy book, 9 January 1862-24 October 1866, 694 pagesOutgoing business and professional correspondence, including letters of Simons as brigadier general; includes index of correspondents |