56 Orders of General Court Martial, Courts of Inquiries and Letters Commenting on Said Courts (1820-37)

Fifty-six (56) original documents being court martials, courts of inquiry, and letter s dated from 1820 to 1837. Some of the items bound in this book either are signed by future Civil War Confederate & Union generals or are letters concerning historic personages. Many of these items ARE NOT AVAILABLE in any library or archive. See itemized descriptions below. This book may have been bound for John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) as we can find only one similar collection given to the Boston Library as part of the John Quincy Adams bequest. Binding & Condition: Original marbled boards with diced calf leather which has been recently re-backed in modern calf with raised bands, red leather label, and gilt lettering on spine. Original boards worn but still quite lovely. Previous owners bookplate behind front cover. There is a strip in the gutter behind front & back boards. Age-toning to the original end sheets. Overall VERY GOOD condition internally and externally. Items listed individually: ITEM#1: February 7, 1820. Court Martial Col. William King, of the 4th regiment of infantry. 10pp. Signed in ink by D Parker Adjutant & Inspector General. The pages are age-toned with the signature in ink staining the text of the three of the leafs. ITEM #2: December 19, 1820. Court Martial of Col. Joseph L. Smith. 14pp. Signature in ink of D. Parker Adjutant and Inspector General. ITEM #3: November 15, 1822. Court Martial of Second Lieutenant E. Harding, of the 2nd regiment of artillery. 7pp. ITEM #4: April 28, 1826. Court Martial of Colonel Talbot Chambers of the 1st Regiment of Infantry. 9pp. Signed in ink by R. Jones. Colonel Talbot Chambers was the Commanding Officer in the Creek Nation in 1825. At one point Zachary Taylor reported to him but he was court-martialed for apparently being drunk on his watch many times. He was found guilty and cashiered out of the Army in 1826, which sentence was approved by President John Quincy Adams. ITEM #5: August 26, 1826. Court Martial of Lieutenant J.B. Triplet of the 4th Regiment of Infantry. Charges Drunkenness on Duty and General Drunkenness. 6pp. Signed in ink by R. Jones, Adjutant General. ITEM #6: December 30, 1826. Court Martial of Major Samuel Babcock of the Corps of Engineers. 21pp. Signed by John Quincy Adams in print. Although Major Samuel Babcock was convicted and court martialed, Babcock re-entered the Army and help with the construction of Fort Pulaski, in Savannah, Georgia. Young Robert E. Lee, newly graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, was appointed to serve Major Samuel Babcock in Savannah. Because of Babcock's ill health, Lee ran the actual construction of the Fort Pulaski for a year, until Lt. Joseph Mansfield replaced Babcock. ITEM #7: January 19, 1827. Court Martial of 2nd Lieutenant J. D. Burnham of the 3rd Regiment of Artillery. 5pp. Signed in ink by R. Jones Adjt. General. ITEM #8: Febuary 26, 1827. Court Martial of Lieutenant George S. Wilkins of the 3rd regiment of artillery. 5pp. Signed in ink by R. Jones Adjt. General. ITEM #9: September 13, 1827. Court Martial of 1st Lieutenant Joseph C. Hall of the U.S. Marine Corps. 4pp. Joseph C. Hall was commissioned 3 March 1819. Born Maryland. Stationed Navy Yard, District of Columbia, commanding. He was found not guilty and was ordered back to duty. ITEM #10: September 26, 1827. Court Martial of Captain Jacob Schmuck of the 4th Regiment of Artillery. 11pp. Captain Jacob Schmuch was reprimanded but was ordered back to duty. Later, in 1835, the state of Maryland General Assembly ordered that the Governor of Maryland procure a ornamental sword and present it to Captain Jacob Schmuck in honor of his distinguished and gallant services to the US. This court martial is signed in ink by R. Jones. ITEM #11: December 29, 1827. Three Court Martials. 16pp. First the court martial of Thomas Sydenham Bryant, Assistant Surgeon in the Army. Dr. Bryant went on to write the book Examinations in Anatomy and Physiology in 1835. The second court martial is of 2nd Lieutenant David Hunter of the 5th Regiment of the Infantry. He was found guilty of Dueling and remitted to be "cashiered". David Hunter (July 21, 1802 -- February 2, 1886) was born in Washington on 21st July, 1802. He graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1822 and saw action in the Seminole War (1838-42) and the Mexican War (1846-48). David Hunter was a Union general in the American Civil War. He achieved fame by his unauthorized 1862 order (immediately rescinded) emancipating slaves in three Southern states and as the president of the military commission trying the conspirators involved with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. This court martial is important evidence of Hunter's early and undocumented career. The third court marial is of 1st Lieutenant Stewart Cowan of the 3rd Regiment of the United States Infantry. These orders are signed by John Quincy Adams (in print). ITEM #12: January 24, 1828. Court Martial of 1st Lieutenant H.W. Fitzhugh of the 2nd Regiment of the Artiller, Assistant Quartermaster. He was found not guilty, given his sword and told to report for duty. This is signed by Major-General Brown (in print) and hand signed in ink by R. Jones, Adjutant General. ITEM #13: September 4, 1828. Court Martial of Captain Elijah Boardman of the 2nd Regiment of the United States Infantry. Although the court found him guilty this guilty charges is rejected by John Quincy Adams as being contradictory and unspecific. Signed by Adams in print. Boardman is ordered to report for duty. This is signed in ink by T.L. Jones, Adjutant General. ITEM #14: September 13, 1828. 8pp. The Court Martial of Brevet Second Lieutenant Ephraim Kirby Smith of the 2nd Regiment of Infantry. Ephraim Kirby Smith was born in Connecticut in 1807. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, he died in combat during the Mexican-American War in 1847. Ephraim Kirby Smith was the older brother of Edmund Kirby Smith, a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, who was notable for his command of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy after the fall of Vicksburg. SIGNED IN INK by Samuel Cooper then Aide de Camp of Major General Macomb. Samuel Cooper (June 12, 1798 -- December 3, 1876) was a career U.S. Army officer and the highest ranking Confederate general during the American Civil War. Rare signature of this Civil War general. ITEM #15: October 28, 1828. Court Martial of Captain Eneas Mackay of the 3rd Artillery, Assistant Quarter Master. 8pp. Signed by R. Jones Adjutant General. ITEM #16: March 17, 1829. Court Martial of 1st Lieutenant George W. Mountz of the 4th Regiment of Infantry. 3pp. George Mountz was born October 08, 1807. He married Mary Ann Garner Dean Shimfessel about 1829. He died between 1870 and 1880 in powell County, Chapel Cemetery, Powell Co. Kentucy. ITEM #17: March 23, 1829. Court Martial of Private William Huston, alias William Hart, of Company D, 6th Regiment of Infantry. 3pp. Signed in ink by T.L. Jones Adjutant General. The court convicted him of desertion and sentenced him to be put to death. John Quincy Adams pardoned him but had the order read in every barracks. ITEM #18: April 28, 1829. Order No. 24. 2pp. This two page letter is signed by SIGNED IN INK by Samuel Cooper then Aide de Camp of Major General Macomb and future general of the Confederate States of America (CSA). The letter talks about the dissolution of a Court of Inquiry assembled at Boston in March 1829. ITEM #19: September 23, 1829. Court Martial of James Richardson, alias James Kelly of D Company, 6th Infantry. 5pp. Kelly was convicted of repeated desertion he was ordered to be shot. Richardson was pardoned by order of John Quincy Adams. ITEM #20: October 29, 1829. General Court Martial of Captain and Brevet Major R. B. Hyde, of the 7th Infantry. 10pp. SIGNED IN INK by Samuel Cooper then Aide de Camp of Major General Macomb and future general of the Confederate States of America (CSA).