COLLECTION GUIDES

1742-1884; bulk: 1861-1867

Guide to the Collection


Collection Summary

Abstract

This collection consists of the papers of Albert Gallatin Browne of Massachusetts, kept while serving as a special supervising agent of the Treasury Department in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida during the Civil War.

Biographical Sketch

Albert Gallatin Browne was born in Salem, Mass., on December 8, 1805, to James Browne and Lydia Vincent Browne. Before the Civil War, Browne was a partner in the ship chandler and ropemaker firm of Whiton, Browne, and Wheelwright of Boston and Salem. During the Civil War, Browne served as the special supervising agent, 5th Special Agency of the U.S. Treasury Department in Beaufort, Port Royal, and Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. He was in charge of seizing supplies and goods left behind by the Confederate Army for shipment to the North and supervising trade and commerce in areas of the Confederacy occupied by U.S. forces. Under certain acts, the agency received and collected abandoned, captured, and seizable property. Albert G. Browne died in 1885.

Collection Description

The Albert Gallatin Browne papers contain correspondence with government officials, the War Department, and others relating to Browne's duties as special supervising agent; lists of captured and abandoned property; expenditures; deposits and receipts; printed and manuscript government regulations pertaining to treasury agents; orders for subsistence stores; vouchers for seized merchandise; legal documents regarding the ownership of cotton and other confiscated items; letterbooks; printed material; and account books. Also included are letters written to Browne by his son Albert G. Browne, Jr. (1835-1891), who served as military secretary to Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew during the Civil War, and miscellaneous letters collected while in the South.

Acquisition Information

Gift of the estate of Charlotte Crowninshield Browne, through Warburton K. VerPlanck, Jan. 1981 and May 1987.

Detailed Description of the Collection

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I. Professional papers, 1863-1868

Close I. Professional papers, 1863-1868

II. Personal papers, 1830-1873

Close II. Personal papers, 1830-1873

Preferred Citation

Albert Gallatin Browne papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Persons:

Browne, Albert Gallatin, 1835-1891.
Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873.
Fessenden, William Pitt, 1806-1869.
McCulloch, Hugh, 1808-1895.
Sargent, Nathan, 1794-1875.

Organizations:

National Alarm Corporation.
United States. Dept. of the Treasury. Officials and employees.
United States. War Dept.

Subjects:

Account books--1863-1865.
Cotton--Florida.
Cotton--Georgia.
Cotton--South Carolina.
Diaries--1864.
Real property--Florida.
Real property--Georgia.
Real property--South Carolina.
Reconstruction--Florida.
Reconstruction--Georgia.
Reconstruction--South Carolina.
Soldiers--Diaries.
Southern States--Economic conditions.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Economic aspects.

Materials Removed from the Collection

Photographs from this collection have been removed to the MHS Photo Archives.

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