George B Cockrell Papers
George B. Cockrell Collection, 1737-[1803-1865] ca. 1904; n.d.
Accession Numbers: 80-1422.2
Extent: 1 box
Access: open for research
Processed: August 1998, by Leanne Garland, Archivist
Acknowledgments: The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for providing funding to identify, process, and create finding aids and machine-readable cataloging records for the archival collections in the repository. Special thanks are extended for support given by Dr. Edwin S. Gleaves, Coordinator of the Tennessee Historical Records Advisory Board, of the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and the late John H. Thweatt, Deputy Coordinator.
The George B. Cockrell Collection includes material spanning the years 1737 to circa 1904, the bulk dates spanning the years 1803 through1865. The collection was presented to Lincoln Memorial University shortly after WWI by Major George B. Cockrell, C.S.A., who lived for a number of years at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, following the industrial development of 1890. Major Cockrell secured the private papers of a number of leading local citizens in Claiborne County, Tennessee, and Lee County, Virginia, consisting of letters, invoices, orders, and requisitions of these citizens in connection with their private business and with the Civil War around Cumberland Gap. Letters and documents of both armies are represented in Cockrell’s collection of Civil War sources.
Among the 18th century documents are various statements of accounts, receipts, a letter written by Stephen Renaud, Kensington, March 25th, 1779, and the handwritten wills of: George Williams of Fairfax County, Virginia (1780) and a resident of the County of York (1737).
A related manuscript collection, the George B. Cockrell Papers, consisting of personal and business papers donated by Major George B. Cockrell, is available for research.
Subjects relative to the collection
The following sketches of several correspondents represented in the collection include:
Trigg Family
Consists of various letters of the Trigg family. Several letters concern efforts to recruit a regiment in Kentucky and Tennessee in the spring and summer of 1862.
Lt. Col. Ed C. Trigg, and his brother, Lilburn, active in this movement, were sons of Judge Connally F. Trigg, prominent Whig, formerly of Virginia, who moved into East Tennessee several years before the war, and was appointed by President Lincoln as U.S. District Judge. Judge Trigg was one of East Tennessee’s outstanding leaders who opposed secession along with Johnson, Maynard, and Nelson.
Judge Trigg’s letters from Cincinnati in the spring and summer of 1863 originated while he was a refuge there during the occupation of East Tennessee by the Confederates.
John W. Johnston (1818-1889)
Was born at Panicello, near Abingdon, Virginia, September 9, 1818. He was educated at the Abingdon Academy and the South Carolina College, at Columbia, S.C., and studied law at the University of Virginia (licensed in 1839). He was Commonwealth attorney for Tazewell County for two years; member of the senate of the State of Virginia during the years 1846-47 and 1847-48; judge of the circuit court of Virginia; elected a United States Senator from Virginia as a Conservative, and took his seat January 28, 1870. Johnston was reelected in 1871 and in 1875. He died at Richmond, Virginia, February 27, 1889. Includes four (4) letters to M.D.B. Lane (see above); some contain references to the effort to have Virginia re-admitted into the Union.
M.B.D. Lane
Special purchasing agent for General Zollicoffer (see the letters of Judge Johnston and various Civil War vouchers and receipts). Later, he became a Judge in Jonesville, Virginia (1875).
John G. Newlee (1808-1873)
Miller, blacksmith, and merchant of Cumberland Gap. The Iron Furnace and Mill at Cumberland Gap were acquired by John G. Newlee sometime between 1845 and 1850. It became known as the Newlee Iron Works at that time: consisting of a blast furnace, foundry, fleming mill, store house, and a block of land: 800 acres situated within Cumberland Gap. According to the Virginia Census of 1840, Newlee was tabulated in Lee County, Virginia in 1840. During the years 1850 through 1873, he was listed every year on the recording of the taxable persons in the Fourth Civil District, the Cumberland Gap area. Newlee was noted as holding 800 acres of land, and other property notes, money, notes, insurance accounts, stocks and land.
In June 1862, the Confederate forces captured Cumberland Gap, demolishing the Newlee Iron Works; rebuilding of the buildings and furnace near the end of the war was begun when it was leased to Charles Peyton. Today, Newlee’s iron furnace is non-extant, but for the rock chimney structure of the furnace located on the grounds of the National Park Service, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.
Fayette McMullen
Born in Scott County, Virginia. Received an academic education, was a stage driver by profession Elected a representative from Virginia to the Thirty-first, Thirty-second, Thirty-third, and Thirty-fourth Congresses as a Democrat. Appointed by President Buchanan to serve as governor of Washington Territory (1857-1861). Elected a representative from Virginia to the Second Confederate Congress, serving to the end of the Confederacy.
Also included in the George B. Cockrell Collection are: a letter of James H. Wilson, Lieutenant Colonel and Assistant Inspector General, of the staff of Ulysses S. Grant ((Wilson became a Brigadier General of U.S. Cavalry, and was in charge of the operations to capture Jefferson Davis). It is relative to an inquiry concerning drunken soldiers (June 19, 1863). Another item, a certification by General George W. Morgan, pertains to the destruction of the property of John G. Newlee, miller and blacksmith at Cumberland Gap, during the occupancy of that post from June 17, 1862 to September 18, 1862.
Sources:
*Summers, Lewis P. History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786; Washington County, 1777-1870. (1929)
*A Biographical Congressional Directory: 1774 to 1903. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903.
*O’Donnell, William C. “John G. Newlee, Owner of the Iron Furnace.” The Claiborne Progress. Wednesday, March 19, 1986, B7.
Folder Listings
The collection consists of material in 20 folders, housed in one box, located on A-6. A detailed listing of folder headings follows:
Box 1
f. 1: Bromley Taylor (letter, Jan. 9, 1864) 9; 9; 1 item.
f. 2: Civil War letters and documents (Confederate States of America) 9; 9; 9 items.
f. 3: Civil War letters and documents (Federal–Union) 15 items.
f. 4: Civil War letters and documents (miscellaneous) 11 items.
f. 5: Envelopes–inclusive dates ca. 1863-ca. 1892; n.d. 31 items.
f. 6: John G. Newlee (miscellaneous papers) 9; 9; 6 items.
f. 7: Johnson, John W. (letters) 9; 9; 4 items.
f. 8: Lane, M.B.D. (miscellaneous papers) 25 items.
f. 9: Letter concerning the Mexican Army (n.d.) 9; 1 item.
f. 10: Letters and handwritten documents–inclusive dates: 1737-1799; n.d. 11 items.
f. 11: Letters and handwritten documents–inclusive dates: 1803-1838; n.d. 38 items.
f. 12: Letters and handwritten documents–inclusive dates: 1841-1859; n.d. 40 items.
f. 13: Letters and handwritten documents–inclusive dates: 1870-1878; n.d. 16 items.
f. 14: Miscellaneous letters and documents (1861-1868; n.d.) 15 items.
f. 15: Miscellaneous printed items (1860-1891; n.d.) 11 items.
f. 16: Newspaper (American Plough-Boy, Jan. 30, 1833); 9; 1 item.
f. 17: Slaves (early documents concerning)–inclusive dates: 1779-1844; 9; 2 items.
f. 18: Trigg Family; #9; 16 items.
f. 19: Vouchers, receipts, and invoices (military, Civil War)–1800-1860; n.d.; 33 items. 9;
f. 20: Vouchers, receipts, and invoices (miscellaneous)–1860-1869; n.d.; #9; 12 items.
George B. Cockrell Papers, 1874-1904
Accession Numbers: 80-1422.1; 80-1539
Extent: 1 box
Access: open for research
Processed: August 1998, by Leanne Garland, Archivist
Acknowledgments: The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for providing funding to identify, process, and create finding aids and machine-readable cataloging records for the archival collections in the repository. Special thanks are extended for support given by Dr. Edwin S. Gleaves, Coordinator of the Tennessee Historical Records Advisory Board, of the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and the late John H. Thweatt, Deputy Coordinator.
The George B. Cockrell Papers include correspondence, business papers (invoices, receipts, and bills of sale), and miscellaneous printed and handwritten items. The collection was presented to Lincoln Memorial University shortly after WWI by Major George B. Cockrell, C.S.A., who lived for a number of years at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, following the industrial development of 1890.
A related collection, also donated by Major Cockrell, the George B. Cockrell Collection includes material spanning the years 1737 to circa 1904. Major Cockrell secured the private papers of a number of leading local citizens in Claiborne County, Tennessee, and Lee County, Virginia, consisting of letters, invoices, orders, and requisitions of these citizens in connection with their private business and with the Civil War around Cumberland Gap. Letters and documents of both armies are represented in Cockrell’s collection of Civil War sources.
The papers consist of material in 6 folders, housed in one box.
Box 1
f.1: Business documents #9; 10 items.
f.2: Correspondence (1874); 1 item.
f.3: Correspondence (1900-1904; n.d.) #9; 31 items.
f.4: Correspondence and land survey (1880-1899; n.d.) #9; 15 items.
f.5: Envelopes–inclusive dates: 1899-1904; n.d. 27 items.
f.6: Letters and handwritten documents (n.d.) 9; 5 items.
f.7: Miscellaneous (certificates; ephemera; etc.) #9; 10 items.