Eugene B. Payne (Brig. General) Civil War Letters, ETC., 1862
Eugene Beauharnais Payne (1935-1910), photographed as seen here in Chicago by A. Hesler in 1863 and with his signature, wrote nineteen letters to Delia W. Payne, his spouse, from Arkansas, Iowa, and Missouri, February to May, 1862. In a letter of March 12, 1862, he describes the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, with a sketch map of the encounter accompanying a March 28 letter. In 1865 he was Lake County, Illinois' first soldier to achieve the rank of general.
With an information file, etc. this collection's extent is approximately .5 linear ft., shelved in Donnelley and Lee 003 (15.5.4).
Biographical/historical note:
According to the New York Times, April 8, 1910, 9, Payne was born in Seneca Falls, N.Y. on April 15, 1835. But in 1836 his family, led by his father, Thomas Hubbard Payne, bought land in northwest Fremont Township, Lake County Illinois (1885 Lake County, Illinois plat book). The large Payne family played crucial political and economic roles in the development of Lake County, as described in John J. Halsey's 1912 History of Lake County, Illinois (Waukegan, 1912, 432-51). As the son of a pioneer family, Payne studied in local schools and graduated from the Waukegan High School (Open Library undocumented online article on General Payne). In 1860 he was graduated from the law school of Northwestern University, a member of the first class, and was "admitted to the bar that same year," according to the Times obituary.
At the beginning of the Civil War he organized at Waukegan, Illinois, the first company of Union infantry troops in Illinois (37th Illinois Infantry Regiment) and he served with them until September of 1864 when he was discharged due to his dibilitating malaria (background note, Payne collection, Clements Library, U. of Michigan). That fall of 1864 he was elected to the Illinois state legislature (Halsey, p. 155). This group of letters at Lake Forest deals with Payne's early service and with his role as a participant in and witness to the crucial Battle of Pea Ridge (Arkansas), which prevented the Confederacy from taking Missouri and St. Louis. In 1903 he spoke about this encounter to the Loyal Legion, and this address was later published as a pamphlet.
Payne was wounded and ill following his participation in the July 1863 Vicksburg campaign and victory.. His service after the spring of 1862 is documented in the Payne collection at the Clements Library, U. of Michigan. The background note for that collection states that Payne thought that the December 1862 Prairie Grove battle as equally significant to that at Pea Ridge. By the end of the war, and after playing a role in an important Rio Grande campaign and returning in early 1864 to Illinois to recruit, he was mustered out in September 1864 at the rank of Brigadier General. He was the first soldier from Lake County, Illinois to achieve the rank of general.
After the war he served in the legislature to 1868, on the Republican ticket (Halsey, 158). The Times obituary says that he practiced law for seventeen years. The Open Library article reports that he lived and practiced in Waukegan and in Evanston, Illinois to 1887. In 1885 A.T. Andreas in his History of Chicago, v. 1, 203, lists Payne as a resident of Chicago, "among respected and beloved citizens" who fought with the 37th Regiment. Late in life, after retiring from the bar, Payne "was made an officer of the U.S. Pension Bureau," Washington, DC, according to the Times obituary; a biographical sketch from a Payne collection at the Clements Library, U. of Michigan, reports that he was employed as Special Examiner and Clerk for the Bureau of Pensions at Cleveland, OH. In addition to the several volumes he authored for that federal department, in 1903 his pamphlet on the 37th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and the Battle of Pea Ridge was published (15 pp.; a copy is in the information file). It had been read at a meeting in Washington of the Loyal Legion of the U.S., Washington commandery.
Note: A larger group of Payne materials is found at the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, in the Schoff Civil War Collection, Soldiers' Letters 65. The contents include a journal (or "scrapbook" as Payne referred to it), fourteen more CW era letters to his spouse, and some other documents relating to his service. See http://www.clements.umich.edu/WEbguides/Schoff/NP/Payne.html.
Physical description: the letters are handwritten in ink on thin paper, some with writing first one way on the page and then crossways across the paper again, making reading them difficult. The Pea Ridge battle map is clear (Folder 11, March 28, 1862). There is one small period photograph by a notable Chicago photographer also of Lincoln, A. Hesler, and a few small items of realia.
Accession and custodial information:
This purchase from the Argosy Book Store, Inc., New York, September 30, 1986, was accessioned (no. 88-2) and organized then by Assistant Librarian Martha Briggs, now of The Newberry Library, Chicago. The purchase had been preceded by a failed attempt to purchase Payne's Civil War diary, which went to the U. of Michigan's William Clements Library ( http://www.clements.umich.edu/Webguides/Schoff/NP/Payne.html ). (Acquisitions information for the Payne letters is found in the Special Collections reference files, under Payne.)
The biographical/historical note is provided by Arthur H. Miller, February 2010.
Contents:
PAYNE (Eugene Beauharnais) Papers
1862
19 Letters, 1 box
Acc. No. 88-2
Correspondence
Payne, Eugene Beuharnais to Delia W. Payne
Folder 1. 1862, Feb. 6 Otterville, Mo. 4p.
Payne is in Otterville en route to meet regiment further South.
Folder 2. 1862, Feb. 2 Dubuque, Iowa 4p.
Eugene Payne is returning to Springfield, Mo., to join regiment.
Folder 3. 1862, Feb. 4 St. Louis, Mo. 3.5p.
Payne briefly meets with his brother in train stagecoach.
Eugene Payne is going in search of his regiment.
Folder 4. 1862, Feb. 13 Linn Creek, Mo. 4p.
Eugene Payne describes his slow march roward “Old Price”, the Southern
Army’s general of the region. He writes about the landscape around him,
and the battles which lie ahead.
Folder 5. 1862, Feb. 16 Lebanon, Mo. 4p.
Payne tells about distance traveled and the rigor of marching.
He also describes Price’s retreat.
Folder 6. 1862, Feb. 19 Springfield, Mo. 4p.
Payne finally arrives in Springfield, Mo.,
after a 120 milde march by foot. He will
now travel by horse.
Folder 7. 1862, Mar. 7 Camp Halleck, Ark. 4p.
He describes 250 mile march of regiment.
They will catch up with Price’s troops, but predicts no fight.
He comments on the good and bad sides of war. He states
Missouri is a wasteland.
Folder 8. 1862, Mar. 9 Sugar Creek, Benton County, Ark. 2p.
Regiment at Sugar Creek. Rumors claim Union
Victory at Manassus and Memphis. No fighting, high prices.
Describes the people in Ark.
Folder 9. 1862, Mar. 12 Sugar Creek, Ark. 6p.
The battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., Mar. 7-8, 1862, take place. His brother,
Fred Payne, dies. Payne suffers from superficial wounds,
and plans to resign.
Folder 10. 1862, Mar. 21 Benton County, Ark. 8p.
Payne appears to be depressed. He has served one year,
lost two brothers. Describes soldier life.
Folder 11. 1862, March 28. Cross Hollows, Ark. 13p.
Payne is missing his Delia terribly. He plans to send $150
to her account. Curiously, no one is being permitted to leave the camp.
He borrowed a map of the battlefield which he plans to copy. His
“darling brother” is dead. Map enclosed.
Folder 12. 1862, April 2. Cross Timbers, Ark. 4p.
Payne is delighted to have received numerous letters from his wife.
He dreams of their future home. He justifies his right to have money in
his pocket from this war. Proclaims his undying love to Delia. Price
retreats to Arkansas.
Folder 13. 1862, April 11. Cassville, Mo. 4p.
He is anxiously waiting Delia’s letters. He is suffering from boredom
and gloomy weather. He may be moved to Chicago.
Folder 14. 1862, April 17. Cassville, Mo. 4p.
Payne is feeling anxious. He has been waiting at the Army camp so long without
orders, news or mail. He writes romantically to his wife about their future abode.
Folder 15. 1862, April 22. Cassville, Mo. 4p.
Incomplete
Folder 16. 1862, April 29. Cassville, Mo. 3.5p.
Payne spices up his camp life by going Indian hunting.
However, he complains that fighting Indians is like “hunting wildcats”,
and decides not to do it again. He is still waiting for his news orders.
Folder 17. 1862, May 8. Cassville, Mo. 4p.
Payne is still camped out in Missouri, waiting for action.
He describes to his wife how he may get a position of Major
if certain things work his way. He may visit her in St. Louis.
Folder 18. 1862, May 13. Cassville, Mo. 6p.
Payne describes the fact that he will be in Cassville for the summer.
It is safe for his wife to come so he writes in detail everything she must
do to arrive safely.
Folder 19. 1862, May 16. Cassville, Mo. 4p.
Payne sends his wife a telegram with the word “come” written upon it.
She shall now start her journey to see her husband once again.
Payne will also receive a promotion to Major in two or three weeks.
Folder 20. 1862, February 2-19. Typed manuscripts 6 letters
Photographs
Folder 21. 1863
Payne, Eugene Beuharnais Carte de Visite, taken by "A. Hesler," Chicago.
Memorabilia
Folder 22. Cufflinks, buttons, badges, ribbons, etc… some relating to
the Civil War and its veterans organizations.
21 items.