Corydon E. Fuller journals, 1856-1859

Summary

Creator:

Fuller, Corydon E., b. 1830

Abstract:

Corydon Fuller's journals document the travels of a young bookseller (from the Northern Midwest) in Arkansas, bordering areas in Louisiana, and in Mississippi in the years preceding the Civil War.

Extent:

416 pages (2 volumes)

Language:

English

Sponsor:

James S. Schoff Civil War Collection

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Rob S. Cox, October 1996

Background

Scope and Content:

Corydon Fuller's intriguing journals (marked "Vol. 6th" and "Vol. 7") follow the path of the young itinerant bookseller in a fascinating series of situations and places. A college graduate, Fuller wrote both well and copiously, recording the events and his impressions with impressive clarity and depth.

As a man prone to some reflection on the political and social issues of his day, Fuller's journals are a valuable resource for study of the hardening sectional lines in the Trans-Mississippi South. By 1857, Fuller believed that an impasse had been reached, reflected both in his reporting of adamant Southern views on slavery and states' rights, and in his own hot-tempered opinions on moral right versus wrong.

Biographical / Historical:

Corydon Fuller was born on November 2, 1830, and spent his youth in several places in the Midwest, including Chardon, Ohio. After graduating from college, Fuller seems to have settled, at least temporarily, in Mishawaka, Ind. Here, on New Year's day 1855, he was married. It is unknown whether he and his wife, Mary, had any children, but they could count James and Lucretia Garfield among their friends.

For a time, Fuller was employed as an itinerant bookseller, peddling Colton atlases from door to door. He took this business southward in 1857, hoping to tap into the expanding market in the states of the old southwest. For seventeen months, he traveled Arkansas and bordering areas in Louisiana and Mississippi selling his wares, and recording his impressions of southern culture and law during the years in which the sectional crisis was approaching its apex.

Acquisition Information:

1975. M-1697 .

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Related Materials

For biographical information on Corydon E. Fuller and on mid-nineteenth century book agents, see: Bosse, David. A Canvasser's Tale; Tring, Hertfordshire: Map Collector Publications, 1991.

Contents List:

• 1857 April 13; Railroad trip Chicago to St. Louis
• 1857 April 14; Description of St. Louis
• 1857 April 15; Mississippi river towns
• 1857 April 16; Hickman, Ky.
• 1857 April 18; Memphis, Tenn.
• 1857 April 19; Napoleon, Ark.
• 1857 April 20; Helna, Ark.
• 1857 April 20; General Pillow's plantation
• 1857 April 20; Slaves
• 1857 April 24; Columbia, Ark., in decay
• 1857 April 25; Ark. schools
• 1857 April 27; Rabid southern sympathies of Dr. Holsten, member of Ark. secession convention
• 1857 April 29; Lake Village, Ark.
• 1857 April 30; Execution of a slave
• 1857 May 2; James A. Garfield
• 1857 May 3; King cotton
• 1857 May 3; Slavery: northern idea
• 1857 May 6; Runaway slave
• 1857 May 10; Sabbath, southern style
• 1857 May 17; Book-selling comments
• 1857 May 19; Southern morality
• 1857 May 21; Cruelty to slaves
• 1857 May 22; Methodist revival preacher
• 1857 May 23; Slave auction
• 1857 May 27; Poor whites
• 1857 May 28; Southern hypocrite
• 1857 May 29; Free masons
• 1857 May 31; Black-white relations
• 1857 June 5; Ignorant slave-owner
• 1857 June 13; Baptist meeting
• 1857 June 14; Methodist meeting
• 1857 June 18; Arkansas officials
• 1857 June 20; Book trade
• 1857 June 22; Attempted robbery
• 1857 June 28; Bible defense of slavery
• 1857 June 30; Gambling
• 1857 July 2; Plantations, Chicot Co., Ark.
• 1857 July 3; Nathan Ross, Arkansas state legislator
• 1857 July 4; Independence Day celebration
• 1857 July 9; Poor whites
• 1857 July 12; Southern Christianity
• 1857 July 15; Night in a swamp
• 1857 July 16; Political opinions
• 1857 July 18; Southern views on slavery
• 1857 July 21; Pro-slavery opinion
• 1857 July 25; Slaves' barbeque
• 1857 July 29; Little Rock
• 1857 August 1; Revival meetings
• 1857 August 6; Northerner residing in Mississippi
• 1857 August 7; James A. Garfield
• 1857 August 8; Watermelons
• 1857 August 9; Cotton fields
• 1857 August 10; Runaway slaves
• 1857 August 12; Alabama lawyer curses
• 1857 August 16; Hardshell Baptist preacher
• 1857 August 19; Arkansas morality
• 1857 August 22; Miss. politician
• 1857 August 24; Arkansas vs. Michigan
• 1857 August 26; Imbibing
• 1857 August 27; Bigoted Methodist
• 1857 August 28; Ignorance
• 1857 August 29; Warren, Ark.
• 1857 September 3; Hampton, Ark.
• 1857 September 7; Arkansas morality
• 1857 September 8; Camden, Ark.
• 1857 September 12; Southern newspapers
• 1857 September 13; Tirade against slavery
• 1857 September 14; Land speculation
• 1857 September 18; Hunting deer with dogs
• 1857 September 19; Rattlesnake
• 1857 September 21; Picking cotton
• 1857 September 23; Mississippi politics
• 1857 September 25; Hunting runaway slave
• 1857 September 26; Slave lifestyle
• 1857 October 1; Hon. Albert Rust
• 1857 October 6; "Half-witted genius"
• 1857 October 10; Slaves murder white woman
• 1857 October 10; Mob justice
• 1857 October 14; Threat of highwayman
• 1857 October 16; Justification for slavery
• 1857 October 18; Hard-shell Baptists
• 1857 October 20; States' rights debate
• 1857 October 25; Banks threaten failure
• 1857 October 28; Murder
• 1857 October 29; Newspaper editor
• 1857 November 1; Stupid schoolboy
• 1857 November 3; Hate of North
• 1857 November 4; South Carolinian political views
• 1857 November 14; Guilt in Oct 10 incident doubted
• 1857 November 17; Louisiana planter family
• 1857 November 18; Picking cotton
• 1857 November 20; Louisiana barbaric justice
• 1857 November 22; Spiritualism
• 1857 November 26; Cincinnati Enquirer
• 1857 November 28; South Carolina poor whites
• 1857 December 6; Defamation of Fuller's character
• 1857 December 25; Christmas Day
• 1857 December 28; Flood
• 1858 January 1; 224-line poem
• 1858 January 8; Farm machinery
• 1858 January 10; James A. Garfield
• 1858 January 10; Tracking runaway slave
• 1858 January 13; Contract-breaker
• 1858 January 14; Folly of education (poem)
• 1858 January 21; Drunkard's death
• 1858 January 27; Funeral
• 1858 February 2; Southern school
• 1858 February 4; Contempt for South
• 1858 February 6; Arkansas roads
• 1858 February 15; Princeton, Ark.
• 1858 February 16; Arkansas and Louisiana citizens
• 1858 February 21; Liquor in Camden, Ark.
• 1858 February 27; James A. Garfield
• 1858 March 4; Loneliness of northerner in South
• 1858 March 5; Disunion sentiment
• 1858 March 11; Slaveholding abolitionist
• 1858 March 12; Southern Gentleman and lady
• 1858 March 15; Slavery
• 1858 March 16; Blacks and religion
• 1858 March 21; Book on Davy Crockett
• 1858 March 28; Intense loneliness in slaveholding society
• 1858 March 31; Kansas: the promised land
• 1858 April 4; Methodist meeting
• 1858 April 11; Southern ignorance
• 1858 April 20; Slave whipped to death
• 1858 April 28; Mob-justice used on northerner
• 1858 April 29; Gambling with a Jew
• 1858 May 15; Arkansas judge's opinion on slavery
• 1858 May 21; Ignorant politicians
• 1858 May 23; Grave of Henry Clay's brother
• 1858 June 16; Magnolia, Ark.
• 1858 June 18; Schoolmaster
• 1858 June 20; Baptist sermon; Ignorance
• 1858 June 23; Homer, Louisiana
• 1858 June 23; Slave's punishment
• 1858 June 28; Offer of a teaching position
• 1858 July 2; Falcon, Ark.
• 1858 July 6; Anti-slavery Southerner
• 1858 July 7; Fair-skinned slaves
• 1858 July 13; Political leanings
• 1858 July 15; Methodists
• 1858 July 17; Southern political opinion
• 1858 July 18; Southern rights
• 1858 July 19; Slave punishments
• 1858 July 19; Slave murdered
• 1858 July 22; Southern "fire-eater"
• 1858 July 23; Baptists and Methodists on slavery
• 1858 July 27; Slave squeals on runaway
• 1858 July 31; Southern arrogance
• 1858 August 1; Tirade against slavery and entire South
• 1858 August 2; Funeral
• 1858 August 3; Calvinism
• 1858 August 5; Marie Saline Landing, Ark.
• 1858 August 19; Political argument and murder
• 1858 August 21; Fair-skinned slave
• 1858 August 26; Start of trip north to home

Subjects

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Subjects:

Abolitionists.
Agriculture.
Arkansas--Description and travel.
Arkansas--Social life and customs.
Baptist Church--Clergy.
Booksellers and bookselling.
Brigands and robbers.
Christmas.
Civilians--Confederate States of America.
Cotton.
Cruelty.
Executions and executioners.
Floods.
Fourth of July celebrations.
Freemasonry.
Fugitive slave.
Funeral rites and ceremonies.
Gambling.
Human behavior.
Hunting.
Justice.
Kansas.
Lawyers.
Lynching.
Methodists.
Miscegenation.
Mobs.
Murder--Arkansas.
Newspapers.
Patriotism--Confederate States of America.
Plantations--Arkansas.
Poetry.
Race relations.
Rattlesnakes.
Revivals--Arkansas.
Sabbath.
Schools--Southern States.
Secession--Arkansas.
Sectionalism.
Slave-trade.
Slavery.
Slavery and the church.
Slavery--Arkansas.
Slavery--Justification.
Slavery--Public opinion.
Slaves--Recreation.
Slaves--Religious life.
Slaves--Social conditions.
Soldiers--Religious life.
Southern States--Religious life.
Spiritualism.
State rights.
Stealing.
United States--Politics and government--1861-1865.
Women.

Formats:

Diaries.

Names:

Crockett, Davy, 1786-1836.
Garfield, James A., 1831-1881.
Pillow, Gideon Johnson, 1806-1878.
Princeton (Ark.)
Rust, Albert, 1818-1870.

Places:

Camden (Ark.)
Cincinnati (Ohio)
Columbia (Ark.)
Falcon (Ark.)
Hampton (Ark.)
Helena (Ark.)
Hickman (Ky.)
Homer (La.)
Little Rock (Ark.)
Little Village (Ark.)
Little Village (Va.)
Magnolia (Ark.)
Marine Saline Landing (Ark.)
Memphis (Tenn.)
Napoleon (Ark.)
St. Louis (Mo.)
Warren (Ark.)