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A large archive of the personal and professional correspondence of Brigadier General Eugene B. Payne (37th Illinois Infantry), consisting of approximately 550 autograph letters and associated documents and ephemera. The collection includes 82 letters of Civil War letters exchanged between Payne and his wife Adelia ("Delia") Wright, together with about 80 other personal letters dating from 1857 up through the 1860s. Also included are Payne's postwar mostly professional correspondence: consisting of over 350 letters written to Payne from 1865 up through the 1890s, when he was elected a member of the Illinois State Legislature (1864-68), practiced law, and became a U.S. Pension Examiner based in Washington, D.C., and Cleveland, Ohio. The collection includes an 1863 tintype portrait of Payne taken in the field, and a small group of letters written to Payne from Medal of Honor winner General John Charles Black, a longtime friend and fellow soldier in the 37th Regiment, dating from when Black was U.S. Commissioner of Pensions in 1885-89. The tintype is removed from the original case and has some abrasion to part of the image, else the letters, documents and ephemera are very good or better overall; with the Civil War letters and selected letters and associated materials neatly laid into plastic sleeves in five three-ring binders. A descendent of Thomas Paine, Eugene Beauharnais Payne was born in 1835 at Seneca Falls, New York. He briefly practiced law after graduating from Northwestern University in 1860 and helped organize the 37th Illinois Volunteer Regiment "The Fremont Rifles" in 1861. He served as 2nd Lieutenant of Co. H., 1st Illinois Zouaves; Captain of Co. C., 37th Illinois Volunteers, and later as Major and Colonel of the same regiment. During the war he fought in the battles of Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove. He also participated in Union raids along the Mexican border during the Tennessee Campaign, and in General Bank's Red River Campaign. He left the army at the end of 1864 and returned to his legal practice in Illinois, where he also served in the state legislature, and later became a member of the review board for the Bureau of Pensions in Washington, D.C. Of the 82 Civil War letters, 42 were written by Payne to Delia, and 40 by Delia to Payne. Payne and Delia were deeply in love, and the letters reveal the extent to which Payne was willing to go (including feigning illness) in hopes of obtaining a furlough. (They were married on January 26, 1862). Here Payne is writing from his camp at Boonville, Missouri, on Christmas Day, 1861: "God grant that our mutual prayers may be answered & I be allowed ere long to fold my beloved one once more to my heart . / [Uncle Sam's] authority here in Missouri is a little mixed. Sometimes it is Union & sometimes it is secesh. Our troops here have accomplished but one success . this was the taking of 1,340 prisoners by 340 of our [men] . There are 7 companies of the 8th Iowa Reg. here with Lt. Col. Mathias commanding, & our two companies "C" & "H" under myself. I have the best Company in the state, best drilled & best in everything ." But more often than not, events on the field kept Payne busy with his regiment, chasing after Confederate General Bedford Forrest during the Tennessee Campaign, or helping Union General Nathaniel Banks in his retreat to New Orleans during the Red River Campaign. Here Payne is writing from his camp at "Hull's Plantation" in Mississippi on May 8th, 1864: ". we are encamped in the door yard of a once wealthy planter (now a rebel colonel). Tis a very beautiful place . One week ago today we started out from Memphis after old Forrest who was reported at Bolivar. On Tuesday our advance guard found and attacked Forrest with a part of his force at Bolivar. He skirmished for about one hour & then retreated towards Corinth . We followed on after Forrest to Ripley about 20 miles S.W. of Corinth, when finding from prisoners whom we took that Forrest had reached the Secesh.
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