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Charles Gladding Civil War letters, 1862-1900.
MANUSCRIPT 1880-1882
Collection Overview
Title:
Charles Gladding Civil War letters, 1862-1900Creator/Contributor:
Gladding, Charles, 1828-1894, creatorCreator/Contributor:
Gladding, Charles, 1828-1894Abstract:
This collection consists of letters from Charles Gladding to his wife Ann during the Civil War, 1862-1863. These handwritten
letters give insight to the life of a young officer in Civil War camp conditions as his regiment campaigns from Paducah, Kentucky;
Memphis, Tennessee; Yazoo Pass; Cairo, Illinois; Columbus, Kentucky; later, Vicksburg and Natchez, Mississippi. In each letter
Charles expresses love, devotion and concern for the welfare of his wife and children, while simultaneously giving dedicated
and loyal service to the cause and to his role in the Civil War. $
Letters continue in this collection until Charles' death in 1894, and a few beyond, to 1904, which are connected to the Gladding,
McBean and Company business. In addition to the handwritten letters, biographical information about the original partners
of Gladding, McBean and Company--Charles Gladding, Peter McGill McBean and George Chambers, is provided. Biographical information
about Charles' son, Albert James Gladding, who became a senior partner in the Gladding, McBean and Company, after Charles'
death, is also provided. A box of realia contains a window box display of Charles Gladding's Civil War memorabilia, his Civil
War pistol and a copper plate tintype of Albert James Gladding. $
Date:
1862 (issued)Contents:
Box 1880: Correspondence series: Outgoing; letters sent from Charles Gladding to wife, arranged in chronological order.
Box 1881: Correspondence series: Incoming; letters received, arranged in chronological order. -- Biographical series: Xeroxed
information about the Gladding family; handwritten "Articles of Copartnership;" Gladding, McBean and Company business partners.
-- Photographs. -- Newspaper clippings of obituaries -- Ephemera.
Box 1882: Realia series: Phase box containing window display of Charles Gladding Civil War memorabilia. -- Phase box containing
copper-plate print portrait of Albert James Gladding. -- Phase box containing Charles Gladding's Civil War pistol.
Subject:
n-us-caGladding, Charles -- 1828-1894
Gladding, McBean and Company.
United States. -- Army. -- Dept. of the Tennessee.
United States. -- Army. -- Illinois Infantry Regiment, 72nd (1862-1865)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Biography
Note:
Material transferred from the collection: Civil War map of the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to CSL Rare Map Collection
(Call no. ** G3984.V8S5 1863 .S6). -- Window box display of Egyptian artifacts with descriptive notes and a Rosicrucian brochure,
to CSL California Rare Collection (Call no. ** DT83 .E49). -- Certificate of membership in the Society of the Army of the
Tennessee to CSL Textual File Collection (T.F.: Certificates: Lodges and Societies: Society of the Army of the Tennessee-filed
in F-Map).
Charles Gladding was born in New York, April 28, 1828. His parents died when he was very young. At age fourteen he went to
work on the Erie Canal. He traveled to Ohio where he became interested in the lime business, subsequently residing in Chicago,
Illinois, while engaging in the manufacturing of sewer pipe.
During 1861 and 1862 Charles donated time and money towards raising and equipping volunteer troops in the Civil War. He organized
Company K, 72nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry and was elected and commissioned First Lieutenant. He accompanied the regiment
to Paducah and Columbus, Kentucky. Charles also took part in the expedition to, and capture of, Island Number 10, under General
Pope, and was afterward assigned to the brigade of General Crocker in the Army of the Tennessee. He participated in General
Grant's campaign to Holly Springs, Mississippi, Lake Providence and the Yazoo River expeditions. He served during the final
assault at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and was present at the surrender of General Pemberton. He continued in expeditions to Natchez,
Mississippi before resigning and being honorably discharged from the military, September 15, 1863.
In these letters, Charles mentions William who is the brother of Charles' wife, Ann Bloomfield Gladding, to whom these Civil
War letters are written. The letters reveal that William was wounded, losing part of his left hand during the Battle of Vicksburg.
In addition, Charles inquires and makes reference to Mr. George Chambers who was married to Ann's sister Elizabeth. George
Chambers later became one of the three principal partners in the founding of Gladding, McBean and Company. On August 5, 1863,
Charles' wife, Ann Bloomfield Gladding, died in Chicago, Illinois. She left behind her husband, Charles Gladding and three
small children: Albert James Gladding, George Lincoln Gladding, and Flora Eleanor Gladding.
Charles visited California in 1875. After investigating a piece of clay from Lincoln, in Placer County, he returned to Chicago,
only to permanently relocate to California where he formed a partnership with himself, Peter McGill McBean and George Chambers,
to establish the terra cotta pottery works firm, Gladding, McBean and Company. The manufacturing plant was located in Lincoln
and the marketing office in San Francisco. Charles became a member of the California Commandery of the Military Order of the
Loyal Legion of the United States, the George H. Thomas Post of the Grand Army of the Republic and a member of the Gold Hill
Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons. Respected in the community as an "enterprising and wide-awake" citizen, he was noted
as generous and unselfish, responding generously when called upon to aid a charitable purpose.
January 17, 1894, Charles Gladding died suddenly while on an extended trip to Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. He left
behind a widow, Sarah Gladding, and the adult children from his first marriage. Charles Gladding's ashes were returned to
San Francisco in an urn and placed in a niche in a granite columbarium at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California.
Charles Gladding Civil War letters, 1863-1900.
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.
Type:
biographyPhysical Description:
print
3 manuscript boxes : ill. ; 15 x 12 x 3 1/2 in.
Language:
English
Identifier:
MANUSCRIPT 1880-1882
Origin:
CaliforniaCopyright Note:
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.