Alfred Sully papers

The Alfred Sully Papers document the career of an United States Army officer who served on the western frontier. Although the collection spans the years 1816-1974, the bulk of the material dates from 1842-70.

Series I, Correspondence, contains letters between Alfred Sully and family and colleagues. Military Papers, Series II, consists of army records and Sully's financial papers. Both series are arranged chronologically. Sully's private notes, his artwork, and photographs can be found in Series III, Personal Papers. Series IV, Family Papers documents Langdon Sully's research for No Tears for the General. This series also contains a few miscellaneous papers related to Albert W. Sully, Alfred Sully's son by his second wife.

Correspondence (Box 1) contains both family letters and communications between officers. There is very little information on Sully's experiences in Florida and Mexico. In the 1840s, Sully's letters to his father Thomas Sully and his sisters describe garrison life in northern New York, while his correspondence with other officers focuses on recruiting duty in Buffalo. Later letters portray California before and during the gold rush. Sully praised Spanish society, including the old missions, and denounced the lawlessness resulting from mass immigration. A major problem for the army was the desertion of troops to the gold mines. Bitter complaints about military salaries are a recurring theme in his letters. Sully's letters from 1850 are filled with news of his new wife, her wealthy, aristocratic Spanish family, and the birth of their son. In March 1853 Sully wrote about Indian troubles in the Sierra Nevadas blaming "rascally whites" and "Pikes county men" for the uprisings.

Although there are not many letters for the period 1854-60, the correspondence for 1861 provides an interesting view of the frontier just before the Civil War. As a regular army officer, Sully complained about civilians being given commands and understood the resignations of southern officers. His letters describe the assembling of Union and Confederate troops and early skirmishes. In 1865 Sully was ordered to Washington where he searched for a command. Again his letters home criticize the army, bemoaning the politics of promotion and command. Sully's letters from the battlefield narrate events and comment on General McClellan's command.

Series I contains few family letters after 1862. Sully's correspondence in 1863-64 with General Pope and fellow officers discusses the "North Western Indian Expeditions." He also communicated with Spencer Baird of the Smithsonian Institution, for which he collected specimens during his campaigns. Indian affairs dominate Sully's letters for this period. A letter from Pierre Jean De Smet in 1866 discusses Indian missions. Correspondence for 1865-66 documents Sully's fight against charges of mistreating Indians brought by Walter A. Burleigh, an Indian agent, and involving an officer of inferior grade, Col. S. W. Pollock.

Sully's correspondence is sporadic after 1866. He sent a long autobiographical letter to a Pennsylvania historian on July 2, 1872. In 1877 Sully's letters to his wife describe his role as outfitter for General Howard's campaigns. To his sister Blanche he wrote about family life at Fort Vancouver.

Series II, Military Papers (Boxes 2-4) contains a variety of records: orders, reports, accounts, receipts, invoices, muster rolls, official letters, commissions, legal papers, and Sully's financial papers. As army officers often purchased supplies on the basis of future reimbursement, it is difficult to distinguish private bills from official records. Little of this material was used by Langdon Sully when writing No Tears for the General.

Most of the papers for 1842-45 are personal in nature, such as receipts for clothing, art supplies, and liquor. For 1846 there are recruiting records: expense accounts and orders. This series also provides a great deal of information on army life in early California. Sully kept records on garrison equipment, transportation expenses, and civilian labor.

Similar information can be found for the 1860s, when Sully was on the northern plains. Affidavits, letters of complaint, and special orders document the investigation of Sully for abusing Indians. These legal records describe the 1864 "North Western Indian Expedition" and life around Fort Randall, Dakota Territory. Sully commanded the Brackett's Minnesota Volunteer Cavalry, the 6th and 7th Iowa Cavalry, 2d Nebraska Cavalry, and the 4th U.S. Volunteers; however the papers only refer to the Iowa and Minnesota regiments. There is less information about 1865, although one report describes the topography of the area the expedition traversed (Box 2, folder 55).

Military Papers record the interaction between the federal government and the Indians of the Dakota Territory. Sully's written testimony to the Doolittle commission documents his opinion of federal Indian policy (Box 2, folder 53). Among the papers for 1865 are reports of a conference between Governor Newton Edmunds and the Two Kettles band, and Sully's meeting with the Rees (Arikara), Gros Ventres (Hidatsa), and Mandans. Finally, there are some records of the commission investigating the Fetterman Massacre.

As Superintendent of Indians for the Territory of Montana 1869-70 Sully was in charge of agencies for the Crow, Flathead (Salish), Blackfeet (Siksika), Gros Ventres (Atsina or Arapaho), and Bannock. The papers document buying, transporting, and distributing supplies to the Indians. There are contracts for the construction and maintenance of agencies, as well as reports on camp equipment.

Series II contains five maps. Sully owned a nineteenth century photoreproduction of a Virginia map made by the army engineers which he probably used during the Civil War (Box 8, folder 131). Also in collection is the map "Indian Territory with part of the adjoining state of Kansas, etc." printed by the Engineer Bureau of the War Department (Box 3, folder 56). Three other maps, all hand-drawn date from the 1860s-70s: "Map of region of country near the Yellowstone" showing the head of the river, a series of maps in notebook form, and a map of the conjunction of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington (Box 3, folder 69, Box 8, 136).

Series III, Personal Papers (Boxes 5 and 9) consists of notes, a watercolor, and photographs. The notes concern the reorganization of the army and other miscellaneous topics. Sully was an amateur painter, and the collection contains his framed watercolor depicting a Mexican battle as well as photographs of Sully's oil paintings. Other photographs depict scenes from Sully's years in the Dakota and Montana Territories.

Papers relating to Albert W. Sully and Langdon Sully can be found in Series IV, Family Papers (Boxes 6-7). Langdon Sully, author of No Tears for the General, transcribed many of Sully's letters and some of his military papers and collected material from the National Archives.

Oversize box 8 consists mostly of military papers.

The restricted fragile papers in Box 10 consist of originals for which preservation photocopies have been made.

Two other collections in the Yale Collection of Western Americana contain materials related to Alfred Sully's career. The George Washington Patten collection contains original drawings and watercolors by Alfred Sully. More information on the "North Western Indian Expeditions" can be found in the Records of the Quartermaster Department of the 4th U.S. Volunteers ("Galvanized Yankees"), who served under Sully.