Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

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

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Alfred Chapman Papers, #1545, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Bedford Brown of Arlington, Va., November 1948.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Brown, Bedford, fl. 1876.
• Chapman family.
• Chapman, Alfred, 1813-1876.
• Chapman, Mary Edmunds Kinney, fl. 1850-1852.
• Confederate States of America--Officials and employees.
• Confederate States of America--Politics and government.
• Confederate States of America. War Dept.
• Families--Virginia--Social life and customs.
• Jennings, Paul, b. 1799.
• Madison, James, 1751-1836.
• Orange County (Va.)--History.
• Orange County (Va.)--Social life and customs.
• Staunton (Va.)--History.
• Staunton (Va.)--Social life and customs.
• United States. Office of Indian Affairs--History--19th century.
• United States. Pension Bureau.
• United States. War Dept.--History--19th century.
• Virginia. Militia--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.
• Washington (D.C.)--History.
• Washington (D.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852.

• Bedford Brown Papers (#92), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Bedford Brown Papers, Duke University Library, Durham, N.C.

Alfred Chapman (1813-1876), native of Orange County, Va., was an official of the United States and Confederate war departments. Before the Civil War, Chapman practiced law at Staunton, Va.; and was employed as a clerk in the United States Pension Bureau and the United States Office of Indian Affairs. In 1861 he began working for the government of the Confederate States of America.

The collection includes scattered family and professional papers, chiefly 1845-1869, of Alfred Chapman. Included are early papers of Chapman's ancestors in Orange County, Va.; payrolls of Virginia militia units during the Revolutionary War; family and business correspondence of Chapman at Staunton, Va.; about 40 letters from Chapman to his wife, Mary Edmunds Kinney Chapman, 1850-1852, while he was in Washington, D.C., working in the pension and Indian offices, about family matters, his work, and other topics. Among the letters is a brief recommendation letter, 23 June 1851, written by Daniel Webster on behalf of his former slave Paul Jennings, whom he had freed in 1847. Jennings had originally been owned by President James Madison. There are also very scattered papers pertaining to Chapman's appointment in the Confederate government and its operations, and letters, 1876, to Mrs. Bedford Brown, Alexandria, Va., from her son.