American Historical Ephemera and Photography

Small archive containing papers associated with multiple members of the McAllister family of Juniata County, Pennsylvania, and Covington, Virginia, but primarily with Captain Thompson McAllister (1811-1871), his wife Lydia Addams McAllister (1819-1902), and their family. Collection includes approx. 50 letters spanning ca 1850s-1880s, approx. two dozen miscellaneous documents of a financial and personal nature such as family receipts and account statements, and a copy of the last will and testament of Lydia McAllister's father, Abraham Addams (1780-1849). Notable in the archive is a letter written just after the start of the Civil War by Thompson McAllister's younger brother, Major General Robert McAllister (1813-1891), and two documents related to the operation of the Covington and Ohio Railroad, a venture in which both Thompson and Robert McAllister were involved.

Correspondence in the archive is mostly of a personal nature, though some business-related letters are included. A letter of 4 February 1860 written from "Section 18 C & O RR" describes ongoing issues with labor at the location, noting the negative effect of strikes, Holy Days, and whiskey on work as well as other financial matters. A document dated 19 December 1860 docketed "Proceedings of Meeting" outlines decisions made "At a meeting of contractors on the Covington & O.R.R. & others [sic] friends of the improvement at Calaghans...." Among the items addressed were the appointment of Thompson McAllister as chair of the committee, the establishment of a bank to relieve the contractors "from the heavy loss of State bonds which they at present sustain," and the approval of a reduction in wages for "common labor on the road...."

Civil War-date letters (approx. 4) include a fiery three-page letter from Robert to Thompson dated 16 April 1861, just four days after Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter. Robert writes first with regard to their shared interest in Section 18 of the C&O Railroad, then about the imminent conflict. The letter reads, in small part: "The question of the day is not republicanism, it is not democracy, nor is it the slavery question. But it is simply this, shall these traitors be permitted to brake [sic] up this government, the best the world has ever seen." Robert McAllister continues saying that there is talk of raising a company and he will join the fight. The he poses a fateful question to his slave-holding brother: "...permit me to ask you what side are you taking in this trial now before us - you can do much for our country if you go with the matter right. And God forbid that you raise your arms in rebellion against us...." A later letter of October 1870 to Thompson McAllister and signed by his siblings indicates the war did drive a wedge between the family members. The siblings express their desire for "the restoration of fraternal feeling and friendly intercourse alike" and their hopes for a visit with one another. Also of note is a "Proposal for court to take Confederate property / April 1864" which proposes ways of raising funds for the "support of families of soldiers in the field" and to handle horses, wagons, and other Confederate property abandoned in the wake of "recent reverses."

[With:] Approx. 20 loose covers, several bearing the printed return address "Return to M'Allister & Beaver, Attorneys at Law, Bellefonte, Pa." and two being war-date covers addressed to Thompson and Lydia's son, William M. McAllister (1843-1929), who served with Carpenter's Battery, a Confederate artillery battery organized at Covington, Virginia.

Captain Thompson McAllister was born in Juniata, Pennsylvania, one of thirteen children of The Honorable Major William McAllister (1775-1847) and Sarah Thompson McAllister (1783-1862). He married Lydia Miller Addams of Millerstown, Pennsylvania, in 1839, residing initially near Chambersburg, PA. He served one term (1847-1849) in the Pennsylvania Legislature before removing to Covington, Virginia, in 1849 after the purchase of more than 2,000 acres there. The 1850 U.S. Federal Slave Schedule indicates that Thompson enslaved two females, while ten years later the 1860 Slave Schedule shows that number had increased to seven men, women, and children. In addition to operating his plantation, Thompson became a strong advocate for the Covington & Ohio railway, and was engaged in its construction with his brother Robert when Virginia seceded. In March 1861, Thompson McAllister raised and largely equipped a volunteer company known as "The Alleghany Light Infantry," a company that would become Co. A, 27th Virginia, one of the five original regiments in the "Stonewall Brigade." He would resign his commission in August 1861 due to illness, but not before facing his brother Robert at the Battle of Manassas (First Bull Run).
At the onset of the war Robert McAllister enlisted on 5/21/1861 as a lieutenant colonel and was commissioned into Field & Staff New Jersey 1st Infantry. By the close of the war Robert McAllister had risen to the rank of Major General by Brevet in the Field & Staff NJ 11th Infantry. He took part in all but two engagements of the Army of the Potomac and was twice wounded including while in command at Gettysburg. Following the war, both men returned home, Robert to New Jersey and Thompson to Virginia. Thompson McAllister would die at his Covington, Virginia, home "Rose Dale" in 1871.