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Guide to the Edwin Allen Sherman papers, 1872-1971, (bulk 1896-1913)
BANC MSS 89/81 c
BANC MSS C-B 719 FILM
BANC MSS C-B 719
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Table of contents
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
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.
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
Collection is open for research.
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.
[Identification of item], Edwin Allen Sherman papers, BANC MSS 89/81 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
- Newspapers transferred to Microforms Division of The Bancroft Library.
- Printed material transferred to Acquisition Division of The Bancroft Library.
-
Photographs transferred to Pictorial Colections of The Bancroft Library
Identifier/Call Number: (BANC PIC 1989.048--PIC)
Gift of Helen B. Sherman (Mrs. Allen B. Sherman).
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.
Sherman Was There
The Recollections of Major Edwin A. Sherman With an Introductionby 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.
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.