Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

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 Clyde Hughes Collection of Smith, Wheeler, and Taylor Family Papers #4819, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed 2007) available.

• Reel 1: Entire collection

Acquisitions Information

Received from Eric M. and Mary F. Hughes of Whispering Pines, N.C., in July 1996 (Acc. 96108).

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.

Processed by: Meg Phillips, January 1997

Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, April 2005

Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid and microfilming of this collection.

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.

• Andersonville Prison.
• Ashley County (Ark.)--Social life and customs.
• Baker's Creek, Battle of, 1863.
• Bradley County (Ark.)--Social life and customs.
• Brown, George.
• Coffeeville (Miss.)--Social life and customs.
• Confederate States of America. Army. Arkansas Battalion, 1st.
• Corinth (Miss.)--Social life and customs.
• Family--Arkansas--Social life and customs.
• Family--Mississippi--Social life and customs.
• Hughes, Clyde.
• Mississippi--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Plantations--Arkansas.
• Shiloh, Battle of, Tenn., 1862.
• Smith family.
• Smith, Ransom S.
• Taylor family.
• Taylor, John W.
• Taylor, Stewart.
• Teachers--Mississippi--History--19th century.
• Wheeler family.
• Wheeler, Joseph.

The Smith, Wheeler, and Taylor families were from Ashley County, Ark.; Bradley County, Ark.; and Coffeeville, Miss. Ransom Smith, a planter, served in the Arkansas 1st Battalion, Company B, during the Civil War. Smith seems to have been a moderately successful planter both before and after the war. John Taylor also served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. George Brown of Bradley County, Ark., was a teacher before and after the Civil War.

The collection consists of letters, financial and legal material, notebooks, and printed material of the Smith, Wheeler, and Taylor families and their neighbors in 19th-century Arkansas and Mississippi, that were collected by Clyde Malcom Hughes. The bulk of the material is from Bradley County, Ark., and Ashley County, Ark., in southeastern Arkansas and Coffeeville, Miss. Although some documents date from as early as 1837 and as late as 1969, most were generated from the 1860s to 1880s. Smith family papers, which comprise about half of the collection, include letters, financial and legal papers, and seven small notebooks that document R. S. Smith's accounts with laborers and related expenses. Smith family Civil War materials include letters and an account book, probably kept by Ransom Smith, for the 1st Arkansas Battalion, Company B, C.S.A. There are also a few materials, 1852-1865, of the Joseph Wheeler family of Bradley County, Ark., and a group of Civil War letters of various members of the Taylor family of Coffeeville, Miss. A letter written by John W. Taylor in Corinth, Miss., dated 11 April 1862, gives a detailed description of his experience in the Battle of Shiloh. Another, dated 20 May 1863, describes the Battle of Baker's Creek, and another written by Stewart Taylor on 22 August 1865 anticipates the hardships of Reconstruction. Other Civil War material can be found in a file of miscellaneous letters. George Brown, a teacher both before and after the Civil War, is represented by tuition bills, lists of school rules, certificates of eligibility to teach, and related materials. Printed material includes advertising flyers describing cotton gins and other machines and a postcard with a drawing of Andersonville Prison. Papers relating to Clyde Hughes include correspondence concerning this collection and printed advertisements for guns.