Daniel N. Speer papers, 1851-1899

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Summary

Creators:
Speer, Daniel N. (Daniel Norwood), 1836-1893
Abstract:
Personal and military correspondence of Daniel N. Speer.
Extent:
114 items including ephemera
Language:
The records are in English .

Background

Scope and content:

The largest portion of the collection consists of personal and military correspondence that Daniel N. Speer kept during his Civil War service. Also included are pieces of correspondence of John F. Moreland, his father-in-law, and documents dealing with family slaves.

Speer's letters to his wife discuss the life in the Confederate Army, including the organization of the 4th Regiment of Georgia Infantry Battalion; the defenses of Skidaway Island and its evacuation; the organization of the 60th Regiment of Georgia Infantry; the Maryland campaign of 1862, including the battle of Antietam, the campaign in Virginia in the summer of 1863. The letters from Speer's wife and in-laws describe their life in LaGrange, Ga. Also included are a few letters by his brother John A. Speer. Speer's military correspondence includes letters, orders, and communications, both incoming and outgoing, that cover the period from July 7, 1861 to March 1865 and deal mostly with logistics and transportation.

Biographical / historical:

Daniel Norwood Speer (1836-1893) was born into a prominent Georgia planter family; his parents William Alexander Speer (1810-1862) and Martha Jane Norwood Speer (1816-1888) had moved to Troup County, Ga. from Abbeville, S.C. Speer graduated from Oglethorpe College in 1858, and opened a law practice with his brother John Andrew Speer (1833-1879) in LaGrange, Ga. On July 5, 1860 he married Aurelia Roberta Moreland (1842-1905), daughter of Dr. John Fletcher Moreland (1817-1878) and Sarah Ann Amoss (182201877). In September 1861, Speer enlisted in the Confederate army as Captain of the 4th Battalion of Georgia Infantry (Fannin's Greys), a regiment of the state guards organized by William H. Stiles. The unit was employed on building defenses on Skidaway Island. In March, 1862, the Confederate forces evacuated the island, and the battalion became Co. B. of the 60th Regiment of Georgia Infantry; Speer was commissioned Captain of Co. S. On Jan. 10, 1863, he was promoted to Acting Quartermaster of Lawton's Brigade, and in April received the rank of a major. In the fall of 1863, Speer was assigned to the staff at the headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi Department. He was paroled on June 4, 1865, at Alexandria, La. After the war, Speer returned to his law practice in LaGrange. From 1880 to 1884, he served as the State Treasurer; he was one of the original financiers of the Exposition Cotton Mills Company.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Cowan's Auctions, November 2014.
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged chronologically. It is housed in two boxes.

Rules or conventions:
Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Website