Guide to the George N. Macy / Amasa L. Lincoln Papers

Processed by D. Tambo and T. Lewis
Department of Special Collections
Davidson Library
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone: (805) 893-3062
Fax: (805) 893-5749
Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html
© 2003
Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Guide to the George N. Macy / Amasa L. Lincoln Papers, ca. 1779-1899

Collection number: Wyles Mss 35

Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara

Contact Information:

  • Department of Special Collections
  • Davidson Library
  • University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Santa Barbara, CA 93106
  • Phone: (805) 893-3062
  • Fax: (805) 893-5749
  • Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
  • URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html
    Processed by:
    D. Tambo and T. Lewis
    Date Completed:
    25 November 2002
    Encoded by:
    David C. Gartrell
© 2003 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: George N. Macy / Amasa L. Lincoln Papers,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1779-1899
Date (bulk): (bulk 1850s-1880s)
Collection Number: Wyles Mss 35
Creator: Macy (George N.) / Lincoln (Amasa L.)
Extent: .4 linear feet (1 document box)
Repository: University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Physical Location: Del Sur
Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

None.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred Citation

George N. Macy / Amasa L. Lincoln Papers. Wyles Mss 35. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Acquisition Information

Purchase, 1978.

Biography

George N. Macy left his home in Nantucket, Massachusetts, to serve as an officer in the Union Army of the Potomac's Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Co. I. He survived the war, despite being wounded several times, even losing his left hand in the battle of Gettysburg, and eventually attained the rank of Brevet Major General.
Known as the "Harvard Regiment" due to the large number of Harvard graduates among its officers, the 20th Massachusetts played a major role in many of the most important battles of the Civil War, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, and was even present for General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The Harvard Regiment also suffered the greatest number of casualties of any Massachusetts regiment, and ranked fifth in the Union Army overall. Another of its officers, Oliver Wendell Holmes, went on to become a justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Throughout the war, George Macy maintained a correspondence with his friend Amasa Lyman Lincoln, a Boston banker. Lincoln kept these letters, as well as a scrapbook containing clippings relating to the 20th Massachusetts and other contemporary events. After the end of the Civil War, Amasa Lincoln and his family moved to Santa Barbara, where they established a hotel they called the Lincoln House. Today known as the Upham Victorian Hotel & Cottage Gardens, it is the oldest continuously operating hostelry in Southern California.
Some related printed sources include:
Abbott, Henry Livermore. Fallen Leaves: The Civil War Letters of Major Henry Livermore Abbott (1991).
Bruce, George Anson. The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1865 (1906).
Katcher, Philip R. N. Lincoln's Unsung Heroes (1997)
Massachusetts Adjutant General's Office. Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War (1931).
Miller, Richard F., and Robert F. Mooney. The Civil War: The Nantucket Experience (1994).
Roster of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 (1997- ). Volumes 2-3 include Massachusetts.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection contains correspondence, a photo album, a scrapbook, and other Civil War materials, mainly relating to the Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The correspondence, 1861-1865, is from Harvard graduate and Brevet Major General George N. Macy to his friend, Boston banker Amasa Lyman Lincoln. Lincoln later moved to Santa Barbara and established the Lincoln House hotel. The photograph album contains images of Macy and Lincoln, as well as others with surnames of Austin, Bainbridge, Bancroft, Barnes, Bradford, Bradley, Canfield, Cartright, Davis, Hayden, Hunt, Putnam, Seaver, Smyth, and Sturgis. The scrapbook includes a five dollar note dated 1779 and a printed copy of a proclamation by Thomas Jefferson ( National Intelligencer Extra, July 2, 1807).

Box 1: 1

1861, 1861

Box 1: 1 - 4

Correspondence

Box 1: 2

1862, 1862

Box 1: 3

1863, 1863

Box 1: 4

1864-1865, 1864 - 1865

Box 1: 5

Photograph album, ca. 1870s-1880s

Abstract: [Mainly cartes de visite, of George N. and Mrs. Macy, and Amasa Lyman Lincoln, as well as others with surnames of Austin, Bainbridge, Bancroft, Barnes, Bradford, Bradley, Canfield, Cartright, Davis, Hayden, Hunt, Putnam, Seaver, Smyth, and Sturgis (mainly women)]
Box 1: 6

Scrapbook of Amasa L. Lincoln, 1857 - 1863

Abstract: [Includes clippings relating to the 20th Massachusetts Regiment, as well as a five dollar note dated 1779, a printed copy of a proclamation by Thomas Jefferson ( National Intelligencer Extra, July 2, 1807), an 1859 one-cent stamp, other clippings, invitations, announcements, tickets, and receipts]
Box 1: 7

Miscellany, ca. 1852 - 1899

Abstract: [Includes Civil War items such as currency and clippings, as well as other receipts and invitations, mainly relating to Amasa L. Lincoln]