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William Babcock Hazen Papers

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Creator
Belknap, William W. (William Worth), 1829-1890
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
Greely, Adolphus Washington
Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 1822-1893
Hazen, William Babcock, 1830-1887
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888
Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852
Names
Lincoln, Robert Todd
Place
Greenland -- Exploration
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Topic
Arctic regions -- Discovery and exploration -- 1880-1890
Eskimos -- Greenland
Provenance
In 1985, the Smithsonian received from the Estate of Fredrick McLean Bugher, grandnephew of General Hazen's wife Mildred McLean Hazen, manuscripts and letters concerning General Hazen. Part of the collection was rescued by a private individual from a Lorton, Virginia land fill and sold to the Smithsonian in 1987 in two sections. The first section contained material about the career of General William Babcock Hazen as chief signal officer of the United States Army. The second section contained manuscript materials related to Hazen's duties on the frontier and Indian tribes covering the period of 1855 to 1860, and from 1866 to 1880. Also included are family letters and land holdings in the Midwest.
Creator
Belknap, William W. (William Worth), 1829-1890
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
Greely, Adolphus Washington
Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 1822-1893
Hazen, William Babcock, 1830-1887
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888
Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852
Culture
Inuit -- Greenland
See more items in
William Babcock Hazen Papers
Sponsor
Digitization of this collection was made possible by Andrew and Anya Shiva.
Summary
Papers document General William Babcock Hazen's military career, primarily through correspondence, photographs, and publications.
Biographical / Historical
General William Babcock Hazen was born September 27, 1830 in West Hartford, Vermont. Four years later, the family moved to a farm outside Hiram, Portage County, Ohio where he attended school with James A. Garfield. Hazen's goal was service in the Army, and he wrote his congressman for admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Hazen graduated in 1855, twenty-eighth out of a class of thirty-four. After graduation, General Hazen was assigned as Brevet Second Lieutenant, Company D, Fourth Infantry, Redding, California. After arriving in California, he was ordered to Fort Lane in the Oregon Territory. Lieutenant Hazen was authorized to establish a command at Grand Ronde and build a blockhouse that became the post Fort Yamhill, located west of Portland, Oregon. On April 20, 1857, he was transferred to Fort Jones, California, and then ordered to join the Eighth Infantry, Fort Davis, Texas. Hazen was transferred to Fort Inge, Texas, to protect a road from San Antonio to Eagle Pass. During a chase, Hazen was wounded by a bullet that was not removed. The lingering effect of the bullet wound would cause him frequent pain. During the period of service in Texas, Hazen reportedly gained leadership experience, practical military knowledge, and considerable confidence in his own abilities. Following twelve months of convalescence, Hazen was nominated assistant instructor of military tactics at West Point on January 28, 1861. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on April 1861 and captain on May 14, 1861. Colonel James A. Garfield influenced the appointment of Hazen as colonel in command of the newly organized forty-first Ohio Volunteer Regiment. Hazen quickly transformed the regiment's inexperienced personnel into a firmly disciplined body. The intensive training paid large dividends later in the war, and he always held the regiment in high regard. As brigade and division commander, General Hazen led troops in many important battles and campaigns: Shiloh (Place of Peace), Stones River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Resaca, Picketts Mill, Jonesboro, Fort McAllister, and Bentonville. On December 13, 1864, Hazen was appointed a major general of volunteers in recognition of long and faithful service and the capture of Fort McAllister. It was after the performance of his troops at Fort McAllister that a friendly relationship developed with General William T. Sherman. With the capitulation of the Confederate armies in spring of 1865, Hazen's division and the Army of the Tennessee left North Carolina where they saw their last fighting. The destination was Washington, D.C., site of a two-day grand review of the victorious Union Armies. On May 19, 1865 Hazen was elevated to commander of the Fifteenth Corps. After a thirty day furlough, he held command of the District of Middle Tennessee until the following summer. In July 1866, Hazen returned west. In August 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant granted Hazen indefinite leave to observe the Franco-Prussian War. He viewed several battles and personally interviewed Otto von Bismarck and General Helmut von Moltke. Observations and research convinced Hazen that the United States Army was mismanaged and lacked tactical and logistical organization. Before returning to the Sixth Infantry command, Hazen married Mildred McLean, the twenty-one year-old daughter of prominent Cincinnati Enquirer owner Washington McLean. A son John was born in 1876, but died at the age of twenty-two in 1898. In June 1877, Hazen was appointed military attaché to the United States Legation in Vienna, Austria, and assigned as military observer of the Russo-Turkish War that had started in April 1877. In 1878 Colonel Stanley accused Colonel Hazen of perjury and cowardice in the Civil War and requested a court-martial. Colonel Hazen retaliated by formally requesting that Stanley be arraigned by a court-martial on charges of publishing and circulating libelous material against him. On March 19, 1879, General Sherman reluctantly recommended that both generals be arraigned by the same court-martial. The New York Tribune reported "inasmuch as by the decisions of the court-martial Hazen has secured a substantial vindication." Hazen returned to Fort Buford. While on detached service in Washington, D.C., Hazen actively campaigned for James A. Garfield for president. On August 24, 1880, General Albert James Myer, Chief of the Army Signal Corps, died, opening up a staff position subject to presidential appointment. President Rutherford B. Hayes, after consulting with President-elect Garfield, announced the promotion of Hazen to the rank of brigadier general and appointment as chief signal officer. One of Hazen's lasting legacies in this new role was advancing the development of meteorological science in the Army Signal Corps. In May 1880, Lady Franklin Bay in northern Canada was chosen as the site for a signal service polar station, one of several conducted by eleven nations for the first International Polar Year (1882-1883). The initial two-year expedition set out in 1881 under the command of Regular Army First Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, a Civil War veteran from Massachusetts. The twenty-five man party did not get relief from the long winter in 1882, and a second rescue attempt was disrupted by ice. In September 1883, Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln, decided it was too late to send another relief party and they were left to spend a third winter in the Arctic. The demoralized party was forced to march south in search of supplies and landed at Cape Sabine, spending the next eight months in desperate circumstances. In June 1884, rescuers finally reached them and found only Greely and seven others alive. The remaining expedition members froze or starved to death. Hazen never forgave Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln for his inaction with the Greely Arctic Expedition, and in 1884 Lincoln censured Hazen for his criticism. Hazen replied to Lincoln by letter, which was returned with a warning to keep the matter private. Hazen went to the press and stated in a published account that he wrote such a letter. He immediately found himself ordered before another court-martial, resulting in a reprimand by President Chester A. Arthur for "unwarranted and captious criticism." Greely supported Hazen's position. In 1885, Hazen produced A Narrative of Military Service, a report devoted to the defense of his Civil War record and personal reputation. Health problems-diabetes and recurring pain from his bullet wound-forced Hazen to obtain a 12-month leave of absence from his military service. On January 13, 1887, he attended a White House reception where he caught a cold. He died on January 16, 1887, at the age of fifty-six.
Extent
4 Cubic feet (11 boxes)
Date
1855-1909
Custodial History
The collection was transferred to the Archives Center from the Armed Forces History Division (now Division of Political and Military History) on August 20, 1987.
Archival Repository
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier
NMAH.AC.0427
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Cartes-de-visite
Correspondence
Diplomas
Legal documents
Military commissions
Citation
William B. Hazen Papers, 1855-1909, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Arrangement
This collection is divided into six series. Series 1, Biographical Materials, 1885-1867 Series 2, Correspondence and Military Forms 1856-1886 and undated Series 3, Correspondence to General William Babcock Hazen, 1861-1887 Series 4, Correspondence of Hazen Family, 1858-1909 Series 5, Photographs, 1864-1881 Series 6, Publications, 1865-1886
Processing Information
Processed by Robert Ageton (volunteer), September 2004, and Katrina Schoorl (intern), 2010; supervised by Craig Orr and Alison Oswald, archivists. Collection digitized by Noah Stewart, digital imaging technician, 2022.
Rights
Rights situation uncertain, but most of the collection is probably in the public domain due to its age.
Genre/Form
Cartes-de-visite
Correspondence -- 1850-1900
Diplomas
Legal documents
Military commissions
Scope and Contents
The General William Babcock Hazen Collection, 1856-1905, consists of approximately four cubic feet of material. Collection materials include biographical, correspondence (military and family), documents on the Greely Arctic Expedition, photographs, stereographs, and material on General Hazen's book, A Narrative of Military Service.
Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1503513405047-1503513405058-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep867016537-49d3-4a96-8de1-9147aeba33c3

In the Collection

Pages

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  • Icebergs, 1881

  • Unidentified children

  • Receipt book August 29, 1881 to December 9, 1881

  • Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 1864-1867

  • Louisville, Kentucky, 1865

  • Farm

  • Secretary of War William W. Belknap

  • Extracts from the evidence before the Commission Upon Certain Bureaus Referring to the Signal Corps, Washington City, 1886

  • Private letters of Hazen, 1878

  • Greely Expedition, Cape Sabine

  • Extracts ... Affecting the Signal Corps of the Army 1884-1885, Washington City: Signal Office, 1885

  • A Bill Against the Efficiency of the Signal Service (Introduced by Senator John A. Logan) from the Maritime Register, December 27, 1882

  • Mrs. Mildred McLean Hazen Wife of General Hazen Letters

  • President Franklin Pierce, 1866

  • War Department, Signal Service, U.S. Army, History of the Propositions To Transfer The Signal Corps To The Interior Department, Washington, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1883

  • The Necessity of a Completed Organization For the Signal Corps., Washington City 1884

  • Augustus Saint-Gaudens Memorial "Grief", undated

  • Mrs. William Henry Harrison, undated

  • Cathedral and Three Churches in Guatemala, Central America, undated

  • New Year Card Greeting, undated

  • Wichita Agency, 1869-1871

  • Ship, 1881

  • Miscellaneous Land Transactions in Kansas and Nebraska, 1882

  • Memory of General McPherson

  • To John Hazen

  • Miscellaneous Land Transactions in Nebraska, 1880

  • Letters from Sally R. Hitt (S.R.H.), 1892; 1894; 1895; undated

  • (Probate Reference, 1887, 1888, and 1890)

  • Fort Inge, Texas, 1858-1859

  • An Answer To The Recommendation of the Secretary of War (In his current annual report) That The Weather Bureau of the Signal Corps Be Separate from the Army. (About June 1, 1883 written note).

  • Bank Building?, undated

  • Coal Mining, 1881

  • Inuit Greenland Kayaks and Skinboat, 1881

  • (England's Land Forces in a Continental War in Europe by the I.R. Captain Julius Debalack)

  • A Narrative of Military Service

  • James A. Garfield to William Babcock Hazen : telegram.

  • General View of Santa Barbara, undated

  • Blank letter and envelope forms, undated

  • Old Soldiers-Pension Requests and Payments/ War Damage, 1879-1885

  • Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 1869-1874

  • Europe, Mrs. Hazen?, Franz Joseph 1, Palais de Justia?

  • Yosemite (Three Brothers-4480 feet.), undated

  • (Unnumbered) General Hazen's reply to the second comptroller, Washington City, 1886 with a stamped note on cover page.

  • Military Forms (subsistence), 1882-1886

  • Nieces, 1869-1886

  • Resolution 1. Recent Resolutions and Comments on the Signal Service of the Army, January - February 1882, cite statements by various organizations to retain the service of the Weather Bureau in the Army.

  • Freddy Bugher, 1880-1886

  • Opinions of the Enlisted Men of the Signal Corps Upon Its Military Status in summary, "We believe that the transfer of the Weather Service to one of the civil departments will greatly impair its present efficiency ..." 1882

  • Mrs. Hazen, John Hazen?, 1881

  • Medicine Creek, Kansas, 1869

  • A Bill Senate 691. & H.R. 2253. To Increase The efficiency of the Signal Corps of the Army, undated

  • Stillman Hazen Father of General Hazen, 1865

  • Mausoleum-W. McLean, undated

  • Signal Corps

  • Insert relative to the Army appropriation bill that contains a provision to the effect that no officer shall remain absent from the regiment on duty in Washington for a longer period than three years, 1883

  • General Hazen - End of Civil War - Louisville, Kentucky, July 4, 1865

  • Fort McAllister, Georgia, 1864

  • Captains - One Union Captain (unknown) and two Captains, Post Civil War (unknown), undated

  • Washington, D.C., 1870-1886

  • President William McKinley, 1897

  • Correspondence to General Hazen from A.D. Armstrong, Attorney

  • Correspondence (loose pages)

  • On The Trail To Pike's Peak, undated

  • Letters and Miscellaneous Material, 1862-1895

  • State Weather Service-proposed by the Chief Signal Officer along with a specimen "act" of the State of Iowa, 1882

  • Stephen A. Douglas, 1858

  • Hazen-Garfield "Post Traders"

  • Receipt book June 11, 1885 to January 7, 1886

  • Observer, 1877, Russo-Turkish War

  • Land Grant for William Hazen : certificate.

  • Correspondence, Indian Affairs, 1869-1871

  • 2648-2650 Nebraska signed by President Grant, 1871

  • Sculptress, undated

  • Copy of Letter to Senator Maxey, Washington City, July 20th, 1883, by General Hazen regarding reorganizing of the Signal Corps and referring to the Army Register for his Army record.

  • Press Sketches-General W. B. Hazen, Chief Signal Officer, U.S.A., title on a leather bound 12.5 in. x 9 in. book with the following title inside: Press Sketches of the Life And Services of General W.B. Hazen, Chief Signal Officer, U.S.A. - Private Edition - 1887

  • Civil War Charges-Court Martial (Re: General Stanley)/R. B. Hayes

  • Ledger Book of Ideas? undated

  • El Capitan, Yosemite Valley

  • Receipt book December 7, 1884 to May 30, 1885

  • Miscellaneous Land Transactions in Kansas and Nebraska, 1881

  • Miscellaneous Letters and Forms (Freedmen Funds)

  • Loose cancelled checks - October 20, 1868 - January 8, 1887

  • Clothes, 1882-1884

  • To John Hazen, 1891 - 1896

  • Mrs. Hazen to son John Hazen, 1891-1894

  • Emeline L. Hazen Sister?

  • Unknown list of names, undated

  • Note: A clipping from the Washington Sunday Herald, January 28, 1883 "A Forgery And A Slander" regarding the argument in favor of a transfer of the Weather Service to the Interior Department

  • Minnie M. Hazen Cousin?(about bridge burners), 1865

  • Dog and Sled, 1881

  • President and Mrs. Harrison, 1892

  • Fort Larned, Kansas, 1871

  • Military Forms, 1869-1871

  • 83152 Nebraska signed by President Abraham Lincoln, 1861

  • Inuit--Greenland Families, 1881

  • Four unknown men and one boy, undated

  • Home expense Washington, D.C., 1879-1887

  • Military Posts and Civil War Battles location map, undated

  • Greely Expedition, Hazen draft brief, undated

  • Daniel Webster, 1842

Pages

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Commissions by Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1863
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