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Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Daniel Hoard Baldwin Letters #4182-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Typed transcriptions also are available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Daniel Baldwin Alexander of Atlanta, Ga., in August 1978.

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Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, July 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, January 2010

This collection was processed with support, in part, from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Preservation and Access.

The 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.

• Baldwin, Daniel Hoard, 1825-1887.
• Baldwin, William.
• Merchants--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Merchants--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.
• Race relations--History--19th century.
• Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
• Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )--History--19th century.
• Secession.
• Sectionalism (United States)
• United States--Economic conditions--1865-1918.
• United States--Race relations--History--19th century.

• Lucy Hull Baldwin Papers (#849);
• George Johnson Baldwin Papers (#850).

Daniel Hoard Baldwin, son of Tilly and Rebecca (Hoard) Baldwin was born in Phillipston, Mass., in 1825. In 1843, he moved to Savannah, Ga., where he worked as a clerk in the business of his uncle Loammai Baldwin. Later, he became a partner in the Brigham and Baldwin shipping firm, which ran steamers between Savannah and New York. In 1855, he married Kate Alice Philbrick, the daughter of Samuel (b. 1793) and Priscilla Elvira Bascomb Philbrick. They had four children: George Johnson (1856-1927), who married Lucy Harvie Hull; Kate Philbrick, who married Walter I. McCoy; Nellie Holman, who married Adam Leopold Alexander; and Daniel Hoard, who died in 1880.

During the Civil War, Daniel H. Baldwin served as a captain in the quartermaster corps. All the ships owned by Brigham and Baldwin were destroyed in the war. In 1866, Baldwin moved to New York City where he became a commission merchant. Sometime around 1876, he established the firm of Baldwin and Company, cotton factors, in Savannah. He served on the board of the Savannah Cotton Exchange and was a member of the Chatham Artillery. Baldwin maintained homes in Savannah and New York where he died in 1887.

These papers consist of a receipt, 1859, for room and board for Mrs. Baldwin in Newton, Ga.; five letters from Baldwin in Savannah, Ga., to William Baldwin in Massachusetts during the secession crisis, 1860-1861; a lengthy letter from Baldwin in Savannah to William Baldwin, 1864; and three letters from Baldwin in New York to William Baldwin during Reconstruction, 1867-1869.

The five lengthy letters, November 1860-April 1861, discuss the secession crisis; the role of slavery and the Republican party in precipitating the crisis; the South's determination to achieve independence, the prospects of a long and costly war; and Baldwin's own feelings about the South's attitude.

The long letter, smuggled to William Baldwin through Nassau in 1864, elaborates on many of these themes and comments at length on the probable effect of the war on Northern taxes. The letter also discusses northern politics, the attitude of the Lincoln government in prosecuting the war, the long-range effect of the destruction of constitutional government regardless of the outcome of the war, and the relative moral fiber of Northern and Southern generals. Enclosed is a sheet of advice to William Baldwin, primarily about making money from the war by buying gold with greenbacks, and a list of questions pertaining to war issues.

The three letters, 1867-1869, written by Baldwin in New York, analyze the financial prospects of the country, Republican politics, Reconstruction, and race relations. Included is a proposal by Baldwin to import laborers from Africa for Southern planters, thus also adding to the voting strength of Republicans.