Guide to the Edwin Allen Sherman papers, 1872-1971, (bulk 1896-1913)
Processed by Mary-Ellen Jones
The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
© 1998
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Note
History --History, California History --History, North America (excluding USA) --History, Mexico History --Military History
Guide to the Edwin Allen Sherman Papers, 1872-1971, (bulk 1896-1913)
Collection number:
BANC MSS 89/81 c
BANC MSS C-B 719 FILM
BANC MSS C-B 719
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Contact Information:
- Processed by:
- Mary-Ellen Jones
- Date Completed:
- August 1989
- Encoded by:
- Xiuzhi Zhou
© 1998 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Edwin Allen Sherman Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1872-1971,
Date (bulk): (bulk 1896-1913)
Collection Number: BANC MSS 89/81 c
BANC MSS C-B 719 FILM
BANC MSS C-B 719
Creator:
Sherman, Edwin Allen, 1829-1914
Extent:
Number of containers: 5 boxes.
Linear feet: 2.1.
Repository: The
Bancroft Library.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Letters, manuscripts of writings, and clippings relating primarily to Edwin Allen Sherman, especially to his service in the
Mexican War, his successful efforts to erect a monument in Monterey, California to honor John Drake Sloat, and other activities
designed to commemorate historic events in California. His writings include Personal reminiscences of a California pioneer
of '49 and The true account of the great Jesuit conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln "the martyr president"
of the United States, Friday April 14th 1865. Includes also some correspondence and papers of his wife, Adeline A. Dodd Sherman;
his son, Edwin Allen Sherman; and his grandson, Allen Banks Sherman.
Four series: 1. Correspondence, 1871-1971; 2. Manuscripts & writings by Edwin Allen Sherman, 1895-1911; 3. Miscellaney, 1882-
1936; 4. Clippings, 1892-1932.
Languages Represented:
English
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Edwin Allen Sherman papers, BANC MSS 89/81 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Material Cataloged Separately
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Gift of Helen B. Sherman (Mrs. Allen B. Sherman).
Scope and Content
Letters, manuscripts of writings, and clippings relating primarily to Edwin Allen Sherman, especially to his service in the
Mexican War, his successful efforts to erect a monument in Monterey, California to honor John Drake Sloat, and other activities
designed to commemorate historic events in California. His writings include Personal reminiscences of a California pioneer
of '49 and The true account of the great Jesuit conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln "the martyr president"
of the United States, Friday April 14th 1865. Includes also some correspondence and papers of his wife, Adeline A. Dodd Sherman;
his son, Edwin Allen Sherman; and his grandson, Allen Banks Sherman.
Biography
Sherman Was There
The Recollections of Major Edwin A. Sherman With an Introduction
by Allen B. Sherman
Edwin Allen Sherman was born on August 25, 1829, in North Bridgewater (now Brockton), Plymouth County, Massachusetts. His
father was Jacob Sherman and his mother, Mary Ann (Pratt) Sherman. He resided in his place of birth until six years of age
when, in 1835, his parents moved to South Boston. Here he attended the Hawes Grammar School until the spring of 1843 when
he left home to visit relatives in Brimfield, Peoria County, Illinois. On his return trip he began his journalistic career
by reporting for newspapers in Illinois, Wisconsin, and New York; and in Boston he was employed by William Lloyd Garrison
on the Emancipator and Free American.
In 1845, with prospect of war with Mexico, he enlisted in the United States Army. As soldier and interpreter he served with
Generals William J. Worth, Zachary Taylor, and Winfield Scott, in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey,
Vera Cruz, Matamoras, and Cerro Gordo. At Monterey and Matamoras he assisted in getting out the American Flag, an army newspaper
made up in Mexican Government printing offices. At the siege of Vera Cruz, Sherman was wounded by the windage of a cannon-shot
passing between his knees.
With the news of the discovery of gold in California, Sherman assisted in forming the Camargo Company, which sailed from Philadelphia
on February 1, 1849, in the Baltimore brig Thomas Walters for Tampico. From there the company traveled on horseback across
Mexico by way of San Luis Potosm, Guadalajara, and Tepic, to Mazatlan where the company took passage in the Peruvian bark
Fanny, Captain Du Brodt. The vessel arrived in San Francisco on May 24, 1849.
After the dissolution of the company, Sherman proceeded to Sacramento and thence to Rose's Bar on the Yuba River, where he
mined until the fall. In January 1850, during the great flood, he went by sea to San Pedro and San Diego, and with others
purchased horses and returned to Sacramento where they were disposed of at a large profit. In May 1850 he went to the Merced
River to mine, but high waters drove his party out, causing a return to San Francisco. In July he went to Sonoma, and with
a large party went to Clear Lake, fought Indians, and recovered large bands of horses and cattle the owners of which had been
murdered. In December 1850 he returned to Sonoma, and in 1852 he was elected city clerk of the Common Council under Mayor
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. He also assisted in editing the Sonoma California Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin. In January
1854 he returned to his home in South Boston, Massachusetts.
Later that same year, with John C. Frimont, Sherman returned to California via Panama, and the following year he was elected
county surveyor of Sacramento County, which office he held for two years. During this time, and for a few years afterward
in connection with a private land office business, he was frequency engaged in the translation of papers relating to land
grants, and assisted in the preliminary location and surveys of many of the grants. In 1860 he purchased the printing office
of the San Bernardino Herald and published the Patriot, a Union paper, using the Ames Press (now in the Henry Ford Museum
at Dearborn, Michigan). Later he moved the press to Aurora, Nevada, and published the Esmeralda Star, also a Union sheet.
In 1863 Sherman was elected state controller of Nevada. In 1862 Govemor Leland Stanford, of California, had commissioned him
major of engineers on the staff of Brigadier General Alexander Malcolm Dobbie, and he was made military instructor of the
National Guard of California for the state at large, it being placed on a war footing to suppress rebellion. Sherman was in
New York City at the time of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, on April 14, 1865, and served as marshal of the
Pacific Division of States and Territories in the great funeral procession in that city on April 25.
In 1866 he returned to Austin, Nevada, as superintendent of the New York & Austin Silver Mining Company. In December 1869
he resigned, went to White Pine, and located the site of Shermantown. In 1874 he was appointed town surveyor of Gold Hill,
Nevada, and also deputy United States mineral surveyor, which offices he held until 1877 when he resigned and removed to San
Francisco. In June 1883 he took up residence in Oakland, California, where he remained for the remainder of his career as
mining expert, author, and contributor to San Francisco newspapers and magazines.
Sherman's life was an exemplification of an unrelenting devotion to country and to freedom, even to the neglect and sacrifice
of personal interest. The author's passing on March 17, 1914, ushered in a new era of like sacrifice but unprecedented in
scope for the cause of freedom.
The original manuscript of Major Sherman's recollections, written in the first part of the present century from notes made
earlier, is contained in six tablets of heavy paper, written on one side, in ink. It is divided into five parts: 1. His boyhood
around Boston; 2. The Mexican War; 3. His journey in 1849 across Mexico, from Tampico to Mazatlan; 4. California during the
Gold Rush period; 5. The author's second visit to California and the conclusion of his career. We are omitting the first and
second parts and begin here with Part 3.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of letters, manuscripts of writings, and clippings relating primarily to Edwin A. Sherman, especially
to his service in the Mexican War, his successful efforts to erect a monument in Monterey, California to honor John Drake
Sloat, and other activities designed to commemorate historic events in California. His writings include Personal Reminiscences
of a California Pioneer of '49 and The True Account of the Great Jesuit Conspiracy in the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
"the martyr president" of the United States, Friday April 14th, 1865.
It also includes some correspondence and papers of his wife Adeline A. Dodd Sherman; his son, Edwin Allen Sherman, Jr., and
his grandson, Allen Banks Sherman.
SERIES 1: Correspondence, 1872-1971.
Box 1, folder 1.
Edwin Allen Sherman Outgoing Correspondence, 1901-1907.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Correspondence primarily concerning The Sloat Monument Association, and other veterans interests.
Box 1, folder 1
A - W, letters from Sherman
1901-1907
Box 1, folder 2-56; Box 2, folder 1-42.
Edwin Allen Sherman Incoming Correspondence, 1872-1913.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically, and then chronologically.
Correspondence concerns a variety of veterans associations and their interests.
Box 1, folder 2
Misc. A - F, letters to Sherman
1895-1913
folder 3
Misc. G - M, letters to Sherman
1895-1913
folder 4
Misc. N - S, letters to Sherman
1887-1913
folder 5
Misc. T - Z, letters to Sherman
1894-1910
folder 6
Adams, Charles Albert
May 18, 1910
folder 7
Adams, Edson Francis
Oct. 9, 1911
folder 8
Alger, Russell Alexander
March 29, 1897
folder 9
Andrews, Abraham
July 27, 1907
folder 10
Associated Veterans of the Mexican War
1902-1904
folder 11
Baird, George Washington
April 30, 1913
folder 12
Baird, Thomas Robert
1904
folder 13
Beardsley, Lester Anthony
1896
folder 14
Beatty, William Henly
May 1, 1896
folder 16
Bidwell, Annie Ellicott (Kennedy)
1900-1905
folder 17
Bidwell, John
Dec. 13, 1899
folder 19
Boggs, Lilburn W.
Dec. 7, 1902
folder 20
Boggs, William Montgomery
1901-1910
folder 21
Bonaparte, Charles Joseph
Aug. 3, 1905
folder 22
Bowman, Jacob Nelbert
June 13, 1910
folder 23
Buckles, Abraham Jay
July 15, 1907
folder 24
Burnett, Wellington C.
Aug. 11, 1903
folder 25
California Society of New York
1902
folder 26
Chiniquy, Charles Paschal
Aug. 10, 1878
folder 27
Clem, John Lincoln
1907-1909
folder 28
Daniels, Milton John
Jan. 20, 1904
folder 29
Du Pont, Thomas Colleman
Feb. 12, 1904
folder 30
Eldridge, Zoeth Skinner
June 26, 1913
folder 31
Fletcher, Robert Howe
1908-1910
folder 32
Forbes, Harrye R. P.
June 4, 1910
folder 34
Fremont Memorial Association
Sept. 12, 1907
folder 35
Frisbie, John B.
Oct. 30, 1899
folder 36
Funston, Frederick
June 4, 1907
folder 37
Garfield, James Abram
Nov. 13, 1880
folder 38
Gillett, James Norris
Jan. 20, 1904
folder 39
Gillis, James Louis
Jan. 22, 1904
folder 40
Goodrich, Caspar Frederick
April 4, 1904
folder 41
Graham, William Montrose
March 26, 1895
folder 42
Greely, Adolphus Washington
May 16, 1907
folder 43
Herbert, Hilary Abner
May 4, 1896
folder 44
Howard, Oliver Otis
Aug. 17, 1886
folder 45
Howison, Henry Lylurgus
1895-1896
folder 46
Hudson, Millard Fillmore
March 27, 1907
folder 47
Ingersoll, Royal Rodney
1896-1908
folder 48
Kahn, Julius
May 19, 1910
folder 49
Kimball, Amos Samuel
June 11, 1896
folder 51
Kutz, George Fink
June 8, 1896
folder 52
Lamont, Daniel Scott
1896
folder 53
Lauck, Joseph B.
May 11, 1910
folder 54
Lee, James Grafton Carleton
June 5, 1896
folder 55
Lewis, Martha Jane "Patty" Reed
1910
Box 2, folder 1
McAlister, Adam A.
1902-1912
folder 3
McCalla, Bowman H.
1896-1907
folder 4
McLachlan, James
May 27, 1902
folder 5
Mattison, Frank
July 21, 1903
folder 6
Meyer, George von Lengerke
April 1, 1910
folder 7
Miles, Nelson Appleton
1896-1903
folder 8
Mills, Susan Lincoln Tolman
1888-1904
folder 9
Moody, William Henry
1904
folder 12
Native Daughter of the Golden West
1896-1910
folder 13
Native Sons of the Golden West
1905-1912
folder 14
Needham, James Carson
1904-1910
folder 15
Nevada, Emma
Feb. 16, 1900
folder 16
Nichols, William Ford
May 20, 1910
folder 17
Osterhaus, Hugo
May 25, 1910
folder 18
Pardee, George Cooper
1904-1907
folder 19
Perkins, George Clement
1895-1911
folder 20
Phelan, James Duval
1896-1907
folder 21
Phelps, Thomas Stowell
June 6, 1910
folder 22
Pickett, La Salle Carbell
1898-1899
folder 23
Pittsinger, Eliza A.
May 25, 1896
folder 24
Power, John Carroll
July 23, 1890
folder 25
Rolph, James
Nov. 4, 1909
folder 26
Roosevelt, Theodore
1902-1904
folder 27
Rowell, Joseph Cummings
March 7, 1904
folder 28
San Francisco Portola Festival Committee, 1909 & 1913
July 24, 1913
folder 29
Scott, Hugh Lenox
July 31, 1907
folder 30
Scott, Irving Murray
Feb. 6, 1896
folder 31
Scottish Rite. Masonic Order
1872-1904
folder 33
Society of California Pioneers. San Francisco
1896-1913
folder 35
Stevenson, Jonathon Drake
May 8, 1891
folder 36
Stewart, Charles West
1902-1906
folder 37
Sumner, George Watson
June 3, 1896
folder 38
Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe
Dec. 18, 1899
folder 39
Wheeler, Benjamin Ide
1907-1910
folder 40
Woodruff, Charles Albert
1907-1910
folder 42
Young, Samuel Baldwin Marks
June 14, 1896
Box 2, folder 43-52.
Adeline A. Dodd Sherman Incoming Correspondence, 1917-1925.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically, and then chronologically.
Correspondence, primarily expressing sympathy at the death of Edwin Allen Sherman, Sr.
folder 44
Clem, Joseph Lincoln
Aug. 3, 1922
folder 45
Daughters of California Pioneers
April 13, 1914
folder 47
Lewis, Martha Jane "Patty" Reed
March 18, 1914
folder 48
McAlister, Adam A.
March 19, 1914
folder 49
Melvin, Henry Alexander
Feb. 19, 1916
folder 50
Native Daughters of the Golden West
March 25, 1914
folder 51
Waste, William Harrison
April 7, 1914
folder 52
Wittenmyer, Clara K.
March 18, 1914
Box 2, folder 53-55.
Edwin Allen Sherman, Jr. Correspondence, 1914-1936.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Letters by, arranged chronologically; letters to, arranged alphabetically. Letters by, relate primarily to family affairs;
letters to, other personal interests.
Box 2, folder 53
Misc. A - Z, letters from Sherman
1917-1925
folder 54
Misc. A - Z, letters to Sherman
1918-1919
folder 55
Pershing, John Joseph
March 20, 1914
Box 2, folder 56-57.
Allen Banks Sherman Correspondence, 1936-1971.
Scope and Content Note
Letter by, to the Christian Science Monitor transmitting an article by Edwin Allen Sherman, Sr. about Charles Dickens' visit
to Boston circa 1839-1842. Letter to, from The Edison Institute, transmits photocopied material concerning the J. Judson Ames
printing press.
Box 2, folder 56
Misc. A - Z, letters from Sherman
1971
folder 57
Misc. A - Z, letters to Sherman
1936
Box 3, folder 1-10; Box 4, folder 1-4.
SERIES 2. Manuscripts and Writings, 1895-1911.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Contains holograph and typescript copies of his published works, as well as some unpublished works.
folder 2
Autobiography, holograph
n.d.
folder 3
Autobiography, typescript & carbon
1935
folder 4
My Connection With the Public Press
ca.1907
folder 5-10
Personal Reminiscences of a California Pioneer of 1849, holograph
1911
Box 4, folder 1
Personal Reminiscences of a California Pioneer of 1849, typescript, with annotations by A. B. Sherman?
1935
folder 2
Personal Reminiscences of a California Pioneer of 1849, carbon
1935
folder 3-4
The True Account of the Great Jesuit Conspiracy in the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln holograph & printed material
1895
Box 5, folder 1-4.
SERIES 3. Miscellany, 1882-1936.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged by personal name.
Contains items of personal interest to the four Sherman family members such as financial statements, poetry, lists, awards,
memorabilia, etc.
Box 5, folder 1-2
Edwin Allen Sherman
1892-1910
folder 4
Edwin Allen Sherman, Jr.
1882-1918
folder 5
Allen Banks Sherman
1904-1936
Box 5, folder 5-9.
SERIES 4. Clippings, 1892-1932.
Scope and Content Note
Arrangement
Arranged by subject.
Contains published articles by Edwin Allen Sherman Sr., and information relating to the Sherman family. The remainder primarily
concerns veterans and military affairs.
Box 5, folder 6
Articles by Edwin Allen Sherman
1910-1911
folder 8
Charles Paschal Telesphore Chiniquy