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Adam Badeau Manuscript

An inventory of at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: KM
Date: Apr 1989

Biographical History

Adam Badeau was a soldier, diplomat, and military secretary to Ulysses S. Grant. Born in New York City on December 29, 1831, he joined the military in 1862 and served as aide to General Thomas W. Sherman until he was wounded in 1863. In March of 1864 he was appointed military secretary to General Ulysses S. Grant and eventually promoted to colonel. He was with Grant until March 1869 and was present at the Confederate surrender at Appomattox; he retired from the army with the full rank of captain and the brevet rank of Brigadier-General. From 1869 to 1881 he was in London, first as secretary of legation and then as consul-general, with a leave of absence granted by the state department from 1877-1878 to accompany General Grant on his tour round the world. He later served as consul-general at Havana, from 1882 to 1884. He died in 1895.

Badeau assisted Grant in the preparation of Grant's Memoirs and authored a number of books and articles on military subjects. His published works include The Vagabond, a collection of essays (New York, 1859); a three-volume Military History of Ulysses S. Grant (1867-1881); Conspiracy: a Cuban Romance (1885) ; Aristocracy in England (1886); and Grant in Peace, a biographical profile of the General (1886).

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Adam Badeau Manuscript is an undated single item, "War Stories for Children: the Merrimac and the Monitor." The manuscript, which recounts the 1862 Civil War battle of Hampton Roads between the two ironclad warships, consists of 30 handwritten pages with numerous corrections and annotations. Edited to read "War Stories for Boys and Girls," the manuscript begins thus:

In the first year of the Civil War, at Norfolk, in Virginia, and at the same time in Brooklyn, in the State of New York, there was building a ship unlike any that had ever been seen in this world. Up to that time the navies of every nation had been made of wood, and when a wooden shipis struck in battle, every child knows it may be set on fire, or so torn to pieces that unless the rush of water into her hole is instantly stopped, the ship must sink. This is what makes a sea-fight so terrible.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Subject Headings

Persons

Badeau, Adam, 1831-1895.

Corporate Bodies

Merrimack (Frigate)
Monitor (Ironclad)

Subjects

Authors, American.
Hampton Roads, Battle of, Va., 1862, Juvenile literature.
Soldiers, United States.

Places

United States, History, Civil War, 1861-1865, Naval operations, Juvenile literature.

Genres and Forms

Manuscripts for publication.

Occupations

Authors.
Soldiers.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Adam Badeau Manuscript
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Table of Contents

Writings

Inventory