Consists of two fragments regarding the Alabama-Kearsage engagement.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Consists primarily of letters to and from William Dayton.
Arranged by Dayton's relation to the correspondence.
Barbey, J. P. & Co, 1862 February 14
Block, Daniel, 1862 January 22
Brancy, M. A, 1861 September 9
Brownell, A. H, 1862 March 12
Brun, N. L, 1861 September 30
Carter, I. D. B, 1861 May 18
de Circourt, Comte A, 1862 March 28
de Don Bongeul, Général, 1861 May 20
de Rayvenal, Eugène, 1861 October 11
Gould, E. Sherman, 1861 October 11
Gould, Edward S, 1861 October 17
Gould, Robert H., 1861 June 17
Various Letters, undated
Grund, F. I, 1861 June 12
Iselin, William, 1861 December 8
Lindsley, Dr. Harvey, 1861 July 27
MacGowan, D. I, 1862 February 20
Malespine, Mons, 1863 December 4
Perry, Horatio S, 1861 December 28
Roerer, Frederick, 1862 February 24
Smith, George A, 1861 November 2
Sumner, F, 1861 September 21
Rough Drafts of despatches, undated
Viollier, Louis, 1861 September 18
Andrade, Mrs. E., Paris, undated
Belmont, August, 1861 November 22
Beylard, Dr. E, 1864 July 6
Bigelow, John, undated
Blunt, Mrs. Ellen Key, 1862 March 20
Cercle de l'Union, 1861 October 27
Cowley, Lord, 1862 December 5
Dayton, Alfred B., 1864 April 1
de Conchet, Heuillel, undated
Dudley, Thomas H., 1861 December 13
Catlin, George, 1862 December 11
Ellis, Anne, London, 1800s March 14
Fox, General Charles, Paris, undated
Frémont, Col., London, 1861 June 6
Grandin, E. H., Tours, 1862 May 18
Hill, T. W., Trenton, 1861 May 13
Howden, Lord, Paris, 1862 December 5
Hoy, James, New York, 1864 June 24
Judd,—, Berlin, 1861 December 12
Mulinex,—, Paris, undated
Murat, Prince, undated
Peirse, E., Paris, undated
Pierrepont, Edward, 1864 October 6
Ridgeway, John L., Paris, undated
Rose, James, Palermo, 1862 April 24
Taylor, Thomas, Havre, 1861 July 11
Webb, J. W., Petropolis, 1864 July 5
Ziegler, F, 1864 May 1
Unidentified correspondence, undated
Consists rimarily of official documents such as those concerning property of William Dayton, insurance policies, salaries, and passports.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Consists primarily of correspondence of William Dayton Jr., 1842-1866, and the papers of Annie Lewis Dayton, 1883-1884.
Arranged alphatbetically by author.
Bigelow, John, 1864 December 10
Cist, Lewis, 1842 August 12
Dayton, Ferdinand V., 1864 June 24
Green, Charles Ewing, 1864 June 24
Unidentified, undated
Arthur, John, 1865 January 17
Blunt, Ellen Key, Paris, December 12
Green, Charles Ewing, 1864 June 4
Hay, John, Paris, 1882 October 29
Hunt, John S., Havre, 1865 January 4
Munroe, Marian, Paris, undated
Pitoin Anié, Paris, 1865 March 14
Smyth, I.K., undated
U.S. Treasury Department, Controller's Office, Washington, 1861 November 30-1864 December 2
Alby, Felix, 1865 March 1
Arthur, John, & Co, 1864 December 14
Aspinwall, W. H, 1865 January 2
Brooks, James W, 1865 February 15
Bowles,—, 1865 March 10
[Dayton, James B.], 1865 January 31
Dudley, Thomas H., 1865 January 14
Ellis, The Misses, 1865 March 9
Evans, Dr. Thomas, 1865 February 27
Green, Caleb, 1865 February 6
Green, Charles, 1865 February 6
Haussmann, Baron, 1865 January 26
Hunt, John S., 1865 January 3
Mastey & Bychaud, 1865 March 7
Murphy,—, 1865 March 10
Pitoin,—, 1865 March 12
Seward, William H., 1865 January 5
Stanton, Edwin M, 1865 March 16
Stryker, Thomas J, 1865 January 24
William Lewis Dayton Jr., Speech on Alabama-Kearsarge engagement, 1842 August 12-1885 April
William Lewis Dayton Jr., Papers Relating to Court Cases, The Hague, 1842 August 12-1885 April
- Scope and Contents
The Dayton Papers consist, for the most part, of correspondence and documents illustrative of the role of Dayton as U.S. minister to France (1861-1864) during most of the Civil War. Included are diplomatic dispatches, legation accounts, personal correspondence, documents pertaining to household affairs in Paris (insurance policies, leases, etc.), and material relating to his sudden death. In addition, there is a box of others' papers, most of which contains correspondence written to and by his son, William Lewis Dayton Jr., Class of 1858, who served as second secretary in the Legation of Paris during his father's lifetime and who was later himself minister to the Hague 1882-1885, together with a few papers concerning other members of the family.
An item of historical interest is William L. Dayton, Jr.'s eye-witness account (in a 30-page letter) of the naval battle (June 19, 1864) between the Union steamer Kearsarge and the Confederate steamer Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg, France, which he observed from shore after delivering a dispatch to the Kearsarge's Captain Winslow. There are also catalogs of Dayton's law and general libraries in Trenton, New Jersey.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Dayton, William L. (William Lewis), 1807-1864
Born in Somerset County, New Jersey in 1807, Dayton attended Trenton Academy and graduated from Princeton College with the Class of 1825. He studied law and became a practicing attorney in Freehold, New Jersey. In 1842, Dayton was tapped by Governor William Pennington to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat, and he was then elected for a full term as a Whig. After a defeat for reelection in 1850, a failed bid for vice president in 1856, and a failed bid for president in 1860, Dayton was appointed U.S. minister to France (1861-1864). While in Paris, Dayton suffered from depression and other physical ailments, and he was unable to stop Napoleon III from invading Mexico. He suffered an untimely death in Paris in 1864.
- Acquisition:
The Collection of materials known as the William Lewis Dayton Papers, which was for some time on deposit in the Manuscripts Division of the Princeton University Library, was given to the Library in November of 1953 by A. Dayton Oliphant, Class of 1910, a collateral descendant of Dayton and a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
- Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
- Credit this material:
William L. Dayton Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/8g84mm267
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-6
- Bibliography
Material from the Dayton Papers has been used in the following articles: Dictionary of American Biography "Americans in Paris," a catalogue of a Princeton Library exhibition, Princeton University Library Chronicle, XVII, 4 (Summer, 1956), Nos. 86-110. "A Diplomat's Mailbag: William Lewis Dayton in Paris, 1861-1864," ibid., XX, 3 (Spring 1959).
The following books have been consulted in the course of arranging the papers: Dictionary of American Biography United States Diplomatic Correspondence, Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 1861-1869. Bigelow, John. Retrospections of an Active Life. New York, 1909. 3 vols. 1083.179 Jordan, H. Donaldson, and E. J. Pratt, Europe and the American Civil War. 1931. 1084.27.502 Owsley, Frank Laurence, King Cotton Diplomacy, Foreign Relations of the Confederate States of America. Chicago, 1931. 1084.75.692 Wilson, Beckles, America's Ambassadors to France, 1777-1927. 1928. 1096.974 Material from the Dayton Papers has been used in the following articles: "Americans in Paris," a catalogue of a Princeton Library exhibition, Princeton University Library Chronicle, XVII, 4 (Summer, 1956), Nos. 86-110. "A Diplomat's Mailbag: William Lewis Dayton in Paris, 1861-1864," ibid., XX, 3 (Spring 1959).
- Subject Terms:
- Diplomatic and consular service, American -- 19th century.
Diplomats -- France -- 19th century.
France -- Foreign relations -- United States -- 1852-1870.
Insurance, Fire -- France -- 19th century.
Private libraries -- New Jersey -- Trenton -- 19th century. - Genre Terms:
- Diplomatic documents -- United States -- 19th century.
Insurance policies -- France -- 19th century.
Leases -- France -- Paris -- 19th century.
Passports -- United States -- 19th century.
Wills -- United States -- 19th century. - Names:
- College of New Jersey (Princeton, N.J.). Class of 1825.
College of New Jersey (Princeton, N.J.). Class of 1858.
Alabama (Steamer : 1850)
Kearsarge (Screw sloop-of-war)
Dayton, William L. (William Lewis), 1839-1897
Dayton, William L. (William Lewis), 1839-1897 - Places:
- United States -- Foreign relations -- France -- 1861-1865.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Naval operations.
United States -- History, Naval -- To 1900.