Manuscripts Department
           Library of The University of North Carolina
                         at Chapel Hill

                 SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION

                               #38
                     JAMES B. BAILEY PAPERS
                            Inventory

Abstract:     James B. Bailey (1820-1864), his wife Mary N.
           Bailey, and their children, including their son, C.
           O. Bailey, moved from Hickory Bend, a plantation near
           Montgomery, Ala., to Alachua County, Fla., near
           Gainesville, in 1852.  There, Bailey became active in
           local politics as county treasurer (ca. 1857),
           candidate for commissioner of roads, and member of
           the county's Central Committee, which coordinated 
           mobilization for the Civil War.  During the war,
           Bailey served as Superintendant of Labor for the
           Engineers Department of Eastern District Florida.  C.
           O. Bailey attended West Military Institute in
           Nashville, Tenn.
           Chiefly personal and business correspondence, the
         collection also contains financial and legal papers,
         school reports, and other materials.  Much of the 
         personal correspondence is from friends and relatives  
         in Alabama.  Subjects include social and economic 
         conditions, especially near Montgomery, Ala.; family
         news; and the Civil War, especially activity near
         Tullahoma, Tenn., reported by William H. Ogbourne in
         1863, and in the letters of C. O. Bailey with the Army
         of Northern Virginia near Richmond in 1864.

Index Terms:  Alabama--Social life and customs--19th century.
           Alachua County (Fla.).
           Bailey, C. O., fl. 1860s.
           Bailey, Mary N., fl. 1820s-1860s.
           Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
           Confederate States of America. Army of Northern
              Virginia.
           Florida--Politics and government--19th century.
           Gainesville (Fla.).
           Montgomery (Ala.).
           Nashville (Tenn.)--Politics and government--19th
              century.
           Ogbourne, William H., fl. 1860s.
           Plantations--Alabama.
           Slavery--Florida.
           Tullahome (Tenn.).
           West Military Institute (Nashville, Tenn.).

Size:        About 200 items (0.25 linear feet).

Provenance:  Received from Mrs. A. C. Means before 1940.

Access:      No restrictions.

Copyright:   Retained by the authors of items in these papers,
             or their descendants, as stipulated by United States
             copyright law.

    Correspondence is from four rather distinct periods.

    1847-1851. Chiefly copies of James B. Bailey's outgoing
business letters, written at Hickory Bend in Alabama, which offer
detailed information about his financial situation.  There are
also two letters to William H. Ogbourne (his brother-in-law?)
severing ties between the two families because of Ogbourne's
attentions to Mrs. T. H. Bailey.

    1853-1859.  Chiefly letters to Mary N. Bailey in Florida
from friends and relatives in Alabama.  These letters describe
the exodus of her former neighbors, moving to Florida, Arkansas,
and Texas; planting conditions for corn, peas, potatoes, and
especially cotton; yellow fever epidemics in Montgomery; and
other news of family and friends.  Several of these letters are
from William H. Ogbourne in Montgomery to his sister.  Scattered
business letters of James B. Bailey continue.  Letters from James
to Mary in 1859 document his trip north to Washington, DC, New
York, and Montreal.

    1860-1864.  Letters from C. O. Bailey attending the West
Military Institute in Nashville, Tennessee on the eve of
secession; and Civil War correspondence of James and his son.  In
1860, C. O. Bailey wrote from school describing Union sentiment
in Nashville conflicting with the widely secessionist views of
students.  James B. Bailey's correspondence for this period
documents his activities as a member of the Central Committee of
Alachua County, particularly their responsibility for supplying
uniforms to newly organized regiments in the area.  Bailey died
in March 1864.  Letters containing the most detailed information
about life in the trenches are from William H. Ogbourne, camped
near Tullahoma, Tennessee in 1863, and C. O. Bailey, with the
Army of Northern Virginia near Richmond in 1864.

    1872-1885.  Correspondence of the descendants of James B.
Bailey, possibly his grandchildren.  These letters focus
primarily on family matters and contain little information about
postwar adjustment.

    Undated correspondence documents James B. Bailey's candidacy
for commissioner of roads and includes letters of his postwar
descendants.

    Financial and Legal papers include deeds to land near
Gainesville, Florida (Bailey's connection to these documents is
unclear); tax receipts; and miscellaneous accounts.  Civil War
materials document Bailey's activities as Superintendant of Labor
for the Engineers Department of Eastern District Florida,
including lists of slaves assigned to the department, showing
their names, ages, and owners' names.  A few papers relate to
Bailey's estate.

    Other papers include school reports of Maggie Bailey at East
Florida Seminary (1871-1872), poetry, recipes, and an undated
clothing list with names and measurements possibly of Civil War
soldiers.

         Correspondence
Folder 1   1847-1855
       2   1856-1859
       3   1860-1861
       4   1862-1864
       5   1872-1885
       6   Undated
       7    Financial and Legal Papers, 1843-1883
       8    School Reports
       9    Other Papers
                           SHELF LIST


    Box 1 (only)