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Collection Number: 00605

Collection Title: Polk, Brown, and Ewell Family Papers, 1803-1896.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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Size 2.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1000 items)
Abstract The collection documents white members of the Polk family of North Carolina and Tennessee and the Campbell, Brown, and Ewell families of Tennessee, and people enslaved by them on family plantations, especially in Haywood County and Dyer County, Tenn. Enslaved people are documented in bills of sale and correspondence that concerns their forced labor and acts of resistance from the perspective of enslavers. Polk family papers include correspondence between William Polk (1758-1834) of Raleigh, N.C., and his son Lucius Junius Polk (1802-1870) of Maury County, Tenn., regarding the management of family land in Tennessee, cotton growing, agriculture, and Tennessee and national politics. Campbell family papers consist of a few legal and financial documents and correspondence of Liszinka Campbell Brown Ewell (1820-1872) and her brother George Washington Campbell Jr. regarding family matters, European travel, plantation life, and conflict and war with indigenous people of North America. Brown and Ewell family papers consist of correspondence and military papers of Lieutenant General Richard Stoddart Ewell and Major George Campbell Brown relating to their service in the Confederate Army, imprisonment at the close of the American Civil War, and defense of Ewell's military record (particularly at First Manassas and Gettysburg). There are also business and financial papers regarding the management of plantations owned by Lizenka Campbell Brown Ewell and plantations she and Ewell developed after the war, including Spring Hill plantation in Maury County, Tenn., and Melrose and Tarpley plantations in Bolivar County, Miss. Topics include cotton growing, sheep raising, problems with securing labor and the possibility of recruiting Chinese and Irish laborers, and legal and financial concerns. There is also scattered correspondence for the Polk and Campbell families from 1803 to 1887. Volumes kept by Campbell Brown concern household expenses for the Spring Hill plantation and memoranda during his military service.
Creator Polk (Family : Polk, Frances Ann Devereux, 1807-1875)



Brown (Family : Brown, Campbell, 1840-1893)



Ewell (Family : Ewell, Richard Stoddert, 1817-1872)
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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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 Polk, Brown, and Ewell Family Papers #605, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of antebellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Lucius P. Brown of Spring Hill, Tenn., in 1934.
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.
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Processed by: Elizabeth Pauk, July 1991

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, May 2021

Conscious Editing by Nancy Kaiser, December 2020: Updated collection overview, subject headings, biographical note, scope and content, and contents list.

This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

The Polk family was originally from North Carolina. Colonel William Polk (9 July 1758 14-January 1834) of Raleigh, N.C., owned extensive acres of land in North Carolina, as well as over 100,000 acres of land in Tennessee. He had several children by his second wife, Sarah Hawkins Polk (fl. 1801-1806), including sons Lucius Junius Polk (1802-1870) and Leonidas Polk (1806-1864). Lucius Junius Polk, residing in Maury County, Tenn., acted as his father's agent in that state, managing his land and supervising his plantations. Around 1829, he married Mary Eastin Polk (active 1840-1860), and they had several children, including Sarah Rachel, Eliza, George Washington, and Susan ("Susie") Rebecca (b. 1847).

George Washington Campbell (8 February 1769 17-February 1848) was born in Scotland and immigrated to Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1772. He later moved to Knoxville, Tenn., where he became a lawyer and judge, U.S. senator, secretary of the treasury under James Madison, and diplomat to Russia. He married Harriet Stoddert, daughter of Benjamin Stoddert, and had several children, including George Washington Campbell Jr. (d.1857) and Lizinka Campbell (1820-1872). (Lizinka Campbell's name is given as "Leczinksa" by some sources, but her family consistently used the spelling "Lizinka.") Lizinka Campbell married James Percy Brown in 1834 and had two children, Harriet ("Hattie") Stoddert Brown and George Campbell ("Campbell") Brown (d.1893). James Percy Brown died in 1844, and Lizinka Campbell Brown inherited his estate and that of her brother, who had died in Europe in 1857, including the Spring Hill plantation in Maury County, Tenn.

Richard Stoddert Ewell (8 February 1817-25 January 1872) was born in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., the son of Dr. Thomas and Elizabeth Stoddert Ewell. He was the cousin of Lizinka Campbell Brown. His brother was Benjamin Stoddert Ewell (10 June 1810-19 June 1894), professor and president of the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Richard Stoddert Ewell graduated from West Point in 1840 and served in the Mexican War. Upon the secession of Virginia from the Union in 1861, he resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and joined the Confederate Army as a brigadier general. He commanded a division under Stonewall Jackson in the 2nd Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. In August 1862, he lost his leg at Groveton. He returned to command the 2nd Corps on the death of Jackson in May 1863. He was relieved of command in May 1864 due to injury and was appointed to command the defense of Richmond. After the evacuation of the Confederate capital, he fought again with the Army of Northern Virginia until his capture at the Battle of Saylor's Creek in April 1865. He was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Warren in Massachusetts until July 1865. In 1863, he had married his cousin and close friend, Lizinka Campbell Brown. After his release, they returned to her Spring Hill plantation in Maury County, Tenn., where they established a successful farm, along with plantations in Bolivar County, Mississippi.

Major George Campbell Brown, Ewell's assistant adjutant general (A.A.G.) and the son of Lizinka Campbell Ewell, married Lucius Junius Polk's daughter Susan after the war, and helped his mother and step-father manage the Spring Hill plantation and land in Tennessee and Mississippi. Upon the deaths of Ewell and his wife in 1872, he took over the running of the Spring Hill plantation until his death in 1893.

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The collection documents white members of the Polk family of North Carolina and Tennessee and the Campbell, Brown, and Ewell families of Tennessee, and people enslaved by them on family plantations, especially in Haywood County and Dyer County, Tenn. Enslaved people are documented in bills of sale and correspondence that concerns their forced labor and acts of resistance from the perspective of enslavers. Polk family papers include correspondence between William Polk (1758-1834) of Raleigh, N.C., and his son Lucius Junius Polk (1802-1870) of Maury County, Tenn., regarding the management of family land in Tennessee, cotton growing, agriculture, and Tennessee and national politics. Campbell family papers consist of a few legal and financial documents and correspondence of Liszinka Campbell Brown Ewell (1820-1872) and her brother George Washington Campbell Jr. regarding family matters, European travel, plantation life, and conflict and war with indigenous people of North America. Brown and Ewell family papers consist of correspondence and military papers of Lieutenant General Richard Stoddart Ewell and Major George Campbell Brown relating to their service in the Confederate Army, imprisonment at the close of the American Civil War, and defense of Ewell's military record (particularly at First Manassas and Gettysburg). There are also business and financial papers regarding the management of plantations owned by Lizenka Campbell Brown Ewell and plantations she and Ewell developed after the war, including Spring Hill plantation in Maury County, Tenn., and Melrose and Tarpley plantations in Bolivar County, Miss. Topics include cotton growing, sheep raising, problems with securing labor and the possibility of recruiting Chinese and Irish laborers, and legal and financial concerns. There is also scattered correspondence for the Polk and Campbell families from 1803 to 1887. Volumes kept by Campbell Brown concern household expenses for the Spring Hill plantation and memoranda during his military service.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Papers of the Polk and Campbell families, 1803-1859.

90 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Enslaved people are documented in the context of human trafficking and punishment of acts of resistance. Chiefly correspondence between members of the Polk family of North Carolina and Tennessee, and correspondence and papers of the Campbell family of Tennessee.

1803-1848

The correspondence is between Lucius Junius Polk of Maury County, Tenn., and his father William Polk of Raleigh, N.C., regarding the former's management of his father's lands in Tennessee. The letters discuss conflicts with enslaved people and overseers; growing cotton and corn; the establishment of a hemp farm and attempts to build a cotton gin; raising hogs; blacksmithing; and farm machinery and equipment. Other topics include problems with land disputes and with other agents in Tennessee; Tennessee state politics and national elections; conducting business and legal matters in Tennessee; and family news from Tennessee and North Carolina. There are other letters, including several to Lucius Junius Polk from his brother Leonidas Polk and his mother Sarah Hawkins Polk, and letters between Lucius Junius Polk's wife Mary Polk and her family, discussing family news, politics, the election of Andrew Jackson, and one comparing Martin Van Buren and John C. Calhoun.

Other papers include documents for land purchases in Tennessee and Mecklenburg County, N.C.; a printed copy of a political speech by George Washington Campbell in 1809; a certificate of indenture between George Washington Campbell and John Overton (1766-1833); a bill of sale for enslaved people; and a letter to David Hubbard on an appointment to the Choctaw Commission.

1852-1859

Letters about enslaved people describe an insurrection and attempts to self-emancipate by enslaved people and express views on slavery, overseers, and enslaved people from the perspective of Lizinka Campbell Brown. Correspondence with her cousin and fiance Richard Stoddert Ewell, then a captain in the United States Army in New Mexico, concern a variety of other topics too. The letters describe his possible appointment as U.S. Army Paymaster; politics and secession; conflict and war with indigenous people of North America; and William Walker's return from Nicaragua. There are also several letters between other members of the Ewell and Brown families.

Letters to Lizinka Campbell Brown from her brother George Washington Campbell Jr., describe his travels in Europe, 1852-1857. There are also letters from George Washington Campbell Jr. to other family members and friends, and a letter to Lizinka Campbell Brown regarding her brother's death in France of tuberculosis.

Correspondence of the Polk family for this period consist of letters from Lucius Junius Polk to his daughters and to various individuals regarding business matters and land purchases, and one from his brother Leonidas Polk in Philadelphia.

Folder 1

Correspondence and papers, 1803-1810

Folder 2

Correspondence and papers, 1823-1826

Folder 3

Correspondence and papers, 1827-1829

Folder 4

Correspondence and papers, 1830-1839

Folder 5

Correspondence and papers, 1840-1848

Folder 6

Correspondence and papers, 1852-1855

Folder 7

Correspondence and papers, 1856-1859

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Papers of the Brown and Ewell families, 1860-1896.

881 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Personal, military, business, and financial papers of Richard Stoddert Ewell, his wife Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell, and her son Campbell Brown Ewell, with some letters of the Polk family.

1860-1865

In 1860, Lizinka Campbell Brown and her two children, Harriet ("Hattie") Stoddert Brown and George Campbell ("Campbell") Brown, traveled to Europe. There are letters to their aunt, Mrs. David Hubbard, in Alabama from August 1860 to January 1861, describing their travels. In April 1861, Lizinka Campbell Brown received a letter from W. H. Stephens of Jackson, Miss., on the subject of secession.

The military papers of Richard Stoddert Ewell begin with the First Battle of Manassas, 21 July 1861. These papers include field notes; official reports of Ewell to Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard and Stonewall Jackson for various battles; general orders and communications from Ewell's commanding officers, including Beauregard, Jackson, and Robert E. Lee and their assistant adjutant generals, regarding troop movements, a spy in the Army of Northern Virginia, courts martial, prisoners of war, logistics and tactics. Ewell's assistant adjutant general and soon-to-be stepson, Campbell Brown, corresponded with his mother Lizinka Campbell Brown, describing the battles of Winchester, Seven Pines, Cross Keys, First Cold Harbor (Gaines Mill), and the progress of the war. There are also letters from Richard Stoddert Ewell to Lizinka Campbell Brown on the progress of the war.

After the loss of his leg at Groveton, 23 August 1862, Ewell was relieved of command until May 1863, when he was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of Stonewall Jackson's 2nd Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. There are a few documents for this period, including a letter from Campbell Brown to Lizinka Campbell Brown describing the general's convalescence, and letters to and from General Ewell in early 1863 regarding his attempts to regain his field command.

After May 1863, there are letters from Campbell Brown to his mother and sister describing the Army of Northern Virginia's march into Pennsylvania, Ewell's reports for the Gettysburg campaign, and letters from Ewell to his new wife, Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell.

For 1864, Ewell's papers include family correspondence, letters regarding a proposal to conscript enslaved people into the Confederate Army, and field messages and general orders for the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania regarding enemy movements and tactics. After the Battle of Spotsylvania in May 1864, Ewell was injured again. Lee relieved him of his command and replaced him with General Early. After this event, there are letters and official documents relating to his attempts to return to active duty, Lee's refusal, and Ewell's appointment to the command of the defense of Richmond. There are also official reports to Ewell from various subordinates on the Battle of Spotsylvania and letters from Ewell to his wife on the war and the Union's plans to capture Richmond.

For 1865, there are frequent letters between Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell in Alabama and her daughter Harriet ("Hattie") Brown in St. Louis, who wrote to one another regarding family news and their feelings and opinions on the war. After Ewell and Campbell Brown's capture by Federal troops on 6 April 1865 at the Battle of Saylor's Creek, Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell worked hard for their release. She herself was arrested in St. Louis and her lands in Tennessee were confiscated by the Federal government. Documents from this period include letters to and from various family members and a letter to Ulysses S. Grant from Richard Stoddert Ewell expressing his sorrow at Lincoln's assassination.

While in prison, Campbell Brown and Richard Stoddert Ewell both wrote to Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell about conditions in the prison and their legal problems. Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell corresponded with President Andrew Johnson, asking for pardons for herself and for her husband and son, and for the recovery of her land in Tennessee. There are also the official documents for Ewell's oath of allegiance to the Federal government and his pardon in July 1865, and for Lizinka Campbell Brown's pardon and the return of her lands.

After their release from prison in July 1865, the Ewell and Brown family returned to Spring Hill, Tenn. Documents for this period include correspondence from Campbell Brown to family members about the state of Ewell's lands in Tennessee, assessing damage to the house and property, and letters to Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell from her agents in Haywood County and Dyer County, Tenn., describing the management of her land in those counties.

There are also several of Ewell's reports for the evacuation of Richmond and his actions in various campaigns of the war. After the war, many Confederate veterans began to publish books and articles about their war activities. Ewell became involved in defending his reputation following the publication of Robert Lewis Dabney's Life of Jackson, which slighted Ewell's performance at First Manassas. A great deal of the material after 1865 concerns Ewell and Campbell Brown's defense of Ewell's actions at Manassas, Gettysburg, and during the evacuation of Richmond.

There is also correspondence with friends, old acquaintances, and family members after the war. Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell and General Ewell started a successful farm at Spring Hill, and they purchased two plantations, Tarpley and Melrose, in Bolivar County, Miss. Campbell Brown assisted the Ewells with the building of their new home at Spring Hill, and he traveled frequently to western Tennessee and to Mississippi in connection with their land and plantations there. There are financial papers for both Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell, who continued to hold property in her own name, and for Richard Stoddert Ewell, including receipts for household expenses, business receipts, promissory notes, attorney's fees, and letters from Ewell's New York bankers. Correspondence includes letters from the agents managing the Mississippi plantations, and from Ewell and Campbell Brown during their visits to Mississippi, concerning the problems of setting up and running the plantations and hiring laborers to pick cotton, and the possibility of recruiting Chinese and Irish laborers to work on the plantations. There are also circulars and advertisements for agricultural items and correspondence relating to wool, cotton, flour and other crops.

Lizinka Campbell Ewell and Richard Stoddert Ewell died within a day of each other in 1872. The material for 1872 consists of designs for their tombstones and obituaries and letters of condolence from family and friends. In 1873 and 1874, the Brown family collected reminiscences from friends and colleagues of Richard Stoddert Ewell for a proposed biographical sketch. From 1875 to 1896, the material is generally letters to Campbell Brown concerning the operation of the Spring Hill farm, local politics, family matters, and his continued attempts to vindicate Ewell's war record, particularly at Gettysburg. Campbell Brown corresponded with General Joseph E. Johnston, Henry Jackson Hunt, and General Fitzhugh Lee on Ewell's actions at Manassas and Gettysburg; and with other officers on the proposal to conscript enslaved people into the Confederate Army. There are also two letters from Benjamin Ewell, describing his attempts to keep the College of William and Mary open after the war, and a booklet on the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Newspaper clippings for this period include obituaries for Richard Stoddert Ewell and Lizinka Campbell Brown Ewell, articles on the Gettysburg Campaign, agricultural articles by Campbell Brown, and a retrospective on the career of Robert E. Lee.

There are several Polk family letters for the period from 1870 to 1887, mostly to Eliza Polk, sister of Campbell Brown's wife Susan Polk Brown, from various family members, including one from her brother George W. Polk regarding his expedition to the headwaters of the Brazos River in Texas in 1874.

Folder 8

Correspondence and military papers, 1860-1861

Folder 9

Correspondence and military papers, 1862

Folder 10

Correspondence and military papers, 1863

Folder 11

Correspondence and military papers, 1864

Includes description of Ewell's proposal to conscript enslaved people into the Confederate Army.

Folder 12

Correspondence and military papers, January 1865-April 1865

Folder 13

Correspondence, May 1865

Folder 14

Correspondence, June 1865

Folder 15

Correspondence, July 1865

Folder 16

Correspondence, August 1865-September 1865

Folder 17

Correspondence, October 1865-December 1865

Folder 18

Correspondence, 1861-1865 (undated)

Folder 19

1866

Folder 20

January 1867-May 1867

Folder 21

June 1867-December 1867

Folder 22

1868

Folder 23

January 1869-March 1869

Folder 24

April 1969-June 1869

Folder 25

July 1869-November 1869

Folder 26

December 1869

Folder 27

January 1870-February 1870

Folder 28

March 1870-June 1870

Folder 29

July 1870-September 1870

Folder 30

October 1870-December 1870

Folder 31

January 1871-February 1871

Folder 32

March 1871

Folder 33

April 1871

Folder 34

May 1871-July 1871

Folder 35

August 1871-October 1871

Folder 36

November 1871

Folder 37

December 1871

Folder 38

1872

Folder 39

1873

Folder 40

1874

Folder 41

1875-1879

Includes discussion of Ewell's proposal to conscript enslaved people into the Confederate Army.

Folder 42

1880-1887

Folder 43

1891-1896

Folder 44

Undated

Folder 45

Map of the Battle of Fredericksburg

Folder 46

Newspaper clippings

Extra Oversize Paper Folder XOPF-605/1

Oversize papers

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Volumes, 1863-1885.

18 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Memorandum and account books, kept by Campbell Brown and possibly Lizinka Campbell Ewell.

The 1863 and 1865/1892 volumes, belonging to Campbell Brown, have scattered entries of memoranda for Brown's duties as AAG to Richard Stoddert Ewell, including notes of military movements, a short account of the Battle of Gettysburg, and a list of prisoners captured at the Battle of Saylor's Creek. The remaining volumes relate to the financial and business affairs of Spring Hill plantation, including household expenses, recipes, lists of accounts, farm and financial memoranda, and weather and agricultural notes.

Folder 47

Volume 1: Campbell Brown, 1863; Volume 2: Spring Hill plantation, 1865

Folder 48

Volume 3: Spring Hill plantation, 1865-1868; Volume 4: Campbell Brown, 1865, 1892

Folder 49

Volume 5: Spring Hill plantation, 1866-1867

Folder 50

Volume 6: Spring Hill plantation, 1866-1870

Folder 51

Volume 7: Spring Hill plantation, 1867; Volume 8: Spring Hill plantation, 1867

Folder 52

Volume 9: Spring Hill plantation, 1868

Folder 53

Volume 10: Spring Hill plantation, 1869

Folder 54

Volume 11: Spring Hill plantation, 1869-1871

Folder 55

Volume 12: Spring Hill plantation, 1870

Folder 56

Volume 13: Spring Hill plantation, 1872

Folder 57

Volume 14: Spring Hill plantation, 1879

Folder 58

Volume 15: Spring Hill plantation, 1881

Folder 59

Volume 16: Spring Hill plantation, 1883

Folder 60

Volume 17: Spring Hill plantation, 1884

Folder 61

Volume 18: Spring Hill plantation, 1885

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