| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Barnett, James |
| Title: | James Barnett Papers |
| Dates: | 1845-1906 |
| Extent: | 1.20 linear feet (3 containers) |
| Abstract: | James Barnett (1821-1911) was an Army officer, of Cleveland, Ohio, who was active in various nineteenth century philanthropic and charitable endeavors. The collection consists of correspondence, history, notes, and other papers, relating to Barnett's service with the 1st Ohio Light Artillery in Tennessee during the Civil War; diaries (1862-1865) of Philander B. Gardner, of Berea, Ohio, Addison F. Stockham, of Hambden Ohio, and Newton D. Strong, of Strongsville, Ohio, members of Barnett's regiment; correspondence relating to the Dept. of Ohio, Grand Army of the Republic; correspondence and other papers (1878-1899) relating to the Bethel Associated Charities, particularly Bethel Union Relief Dept.; and correspondence, statements, and annual reports (1890-1895) of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company. |
| MS Number | MS 2702 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
James Barnett (1821-1911) was an officer who served with great distinction in the American Civil War and a highly venerated civic leader in Cleveland, Ohio, who was a founding member and trustee of the Western Reserve Historical Society. Born in Cherry Valley, Ostego County, New York, on June 21, 1821, he arrived in Cleveland at the age of four with his parents Melancthon and Mary (Clark) Barnett. He received his education in the local public schools and then entered the hardware business, first with the firm of Potter and Clark for three years, and then with George Worthington and Company where he became senior partner in 1871 at Mr. Worthington's death.
On June 12, 1845, Barnett married Maria H. Underhill, the daughter of Dr. Samuel Underhill of Granville, Illinois, with whom he had three daughters. Mary C. Barnett married Major Thomas Goodwillie; Carrie M. Barnett married Alexander Brown, Esq.; and Laura Barnett married Charles J. Sheffield.
In 1840 James Barnett joined the Cleveland Grays, which later became the Cleveland Light Artillery, one of the first companies to report for duty at the outbreak of the Civil War. He was made colonel in 1859 and held that rank at the beginning of the war. The Cleveland Light Artillery was ordered to Columbus, Ohio, on April 20, 1861, from whence began their distinguished career. The company took part in the battle at Phillipi on June 3, 1861, where they are alleged to have fired the first artillery for the Union Army in the Civil War. At the end of their three months' service for the state of Ohio, the Artillery was mustered out on June 26, 1861, and immediately mustered into the United States Army for an additional three years. The resultant company, the Ohio First Light Artillery, served with distinction in the campaigns of West Virginia and Tennessee.
James Barnett himself was awarded especial honor "at the severe battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Stone's River, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Nashville, receiving high praise from Gens. [William S.] Rosecrans and [George H.] Thomas. . ." After being mustered out on October 20, 1864, Barnett volunteered again to act as an aide to General Thomas, whom he assisted during the battle of Nashville. He served both General Rosecrans and General Thomas as chief of artillery on their respective staffs. On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier-General "for gallant and meritorious services during the war."
After the war, Barnett returned to his business life and became prominent in social, civic, and charitalbe affairs in Cleveland, Ohio. His interests expanded from hardware to banking, iron manufacturing, and railroads, in particular the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway Company of which he was elected a director in march 1875; this railroad joined, in June 1889, with the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railway Company and the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Chicago Railway Company to form the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company, of which General Barnett was a director from 1895-1898. He was a loyal member of the Grand Army of the Republic from the formation of the Memorial Post in 1881 until his death in 1911. General Barnett served two years on the Cleveland City Council from 1873-1875 and also as police commissioner. He was president or director of a wide variety of charitable organizations, among them the Soldiers and Sailors' Orphans' Home in Xenia, Ohio; the Cleveland Humane Society; and the Garfield National Memorial Association. General Barnett also served prominently in the Bethel Associated Charities, a Cleveland charitable organization formed by the consolidation of the Cleveland Bethel Union and the Society for Organizing Charity in 1886. A member of the Bethel Union since 1874, Barnett served as president of the Associated Charities for approximately fifteen years and retained the title of honorary president until his death.
One of the projects that consumed the latter part of his life was the preparation of a history of the Ohio First Light Artillery. Toward this end he contacted as many members of the various batteries as he could reach and sent out several circulars soliciting materials to aid in the project. He also maintained close relations with Colonel Wilbur F. Hinman whose services were "secured, by the survivors of the First Ohio Light Artillery, to write up a history of its batteries." Evidently, the book was never completed.
Proclaimed the first citizen of Cleveland "on the occasion of the presentation of his portrait by Samuel Mather, to the Chamber of Commerce in April, 1907," General Barnett died on January 13, 1911.
The James Barnett Papers, 1845-1906 and undated, consist primarily of personal and business correspondence, reminiscences, sketches, and manuscript chapters of a history of the Ohio First Light Artillery. Also included are diaries; one bound volume containing stable reports, a muster roll, lists of recruits, reserves, and officers, and a brief listing of accounts; miscellaneous earnings reports and business documents; and muster rolls. The bulk of the correspondence covers the Civil War era or the 1880s, when Barnett was especially active in civic matters, campaigns for aid to veterans, and the Grand Army of the Republic.
It should be noted that this collection contains numerous letters written by General Barnett addressed to his wife, to Colonel Wilbur F. Hinman, and to Major A. J. Williams, and several letters from other persons to Hinman and to Charles H. Randall, chairman of the committee to collect subscriptions to fund the preparation of the regimental history. These materials may have been returned to General Barnett in the course of this work.
Materials gathered to aid in the preparation of the First Light Artillery's history consist of reminiscences in letter or essay form by numerous members of the company and various official and personal records, including the diaries of three individuals, a bound volume belonging to General Barnett, muster rolls, and other miscellaneous documents. Several manuscript chapters of the book are also included.
Barnett's interest in the Bethel Associated Charities and in the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company is represented by a small amount of correspondence and official documents relating to the two organizations. materials related to the Bethel Associated Charities include correspondence, committee listings, copies of miscellaneous minutes, receipts for contributions made by General Barnett, and documents relating to various projects. These materials include letters to General Barnett as Director of Charities and Correction Warden in Cleveland. The Railway Company items include company correspondence to stockholders, correspondence in relation to official railroad matters, and miscellaneous earnings reports from 1904-1905.
The material in this collection center largely around the American Civil War, particularly General Barnett's involvement as reflected in his letters to his family, and the role of the Ohio First Light Artillery as reconstructed in the recollections of its members and the chapters on the various batteries. Other major topics include the activities of the Grand Army of the Republic and General Barnett's efforts on behalf of veterans of the Civil War. The information on the Bethel Associated Charities and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company may be of only limited value because it is not very extensive. But the collection on the whole is quite representative of a distinguished officer of the Civil War who went on to achieve outstanding respect in civic and business circles.
None.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 2702 James Barnett Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gift of Alexander C. Brown in 1946; gift of N. F. Lukens; and gifts of other donors.
Processed by Anne S. Keyes in 1979.
Series I: Personal Correspondence 1845-1905 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Personal correspondence 1845 1860-1864 1869 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Personal correspondence 1872 1875-1887 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Personal correspondence 1888-1890 1892-1893 1895-1896 1901-1905 undated | |||||||||
Series II: Ohio First Light Artillery 1861-1894 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Battery A 1888-1889 1892 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Battery B 1888 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Battery C 1889 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Battery D 1889 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Battery E 1880 1888-1889 1894 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Battery F 1888-1890 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Battery G 1864 1888-1890 | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 11 | Battery H 1880 1883-1884 1888-1889 | |||||||||
| 2 | 12 | Battery I 1864 1880-1882 1888-1889 undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 13 | Battery K 1861 1880 1888-1889 undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 14 | Battery L 1888-1890 undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 15 | Battery M ca. 1881 1888-1889 undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 16 | Miscellaneous official documents relating to the Civil War undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 17 | Diaries of Philander B. Gardner, of Berea, Ohio and Battery E 1862-1865 | |||||||||
| 2 | 18-19 | Diaries of Addison Stockham,of Hambden, Ohio, and Battery G 1862-1865 | |||||||||
| 2 | 20 | Diaries of Newton G. Strong, of Strongsville, Ohio, and Battery G 1862-1870 | |||||||||
| 2 | 21 | Bound volume belonging to James Barnett, variously employed as a record of stable reports, a muster roll, a list of recruits, an outline of the organization of the 1, and a brief listing of accounts 1862 | |||||||||
Series III: Book Manuscript undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 22 | Draft for the introduction and miscellaneous notes undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 23 | Chapter on Battery A undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 24 | Chapter on Battery B undated | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 3 | 25 | Chapter on Battery C undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 26 | Chapter on Battery F undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 27 | Chapter on Battery G undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 28 | Chapter on Battery H undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 29 | Chapter on Battery I undated | |||||||||
Series IV: Charitable and Business Interests 1875-1905 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 3 | 30 | Bethel Associated Charities correspondence, including committee listings, receipts for contributions made by General Barnett, copies of miscellaneous minutes, and documents relating to various projects 1875-1876 1878 1880-1882 1884-1889 1898-1899 undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 31 | Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company correspondence, including company correspondence to stockholders, correspondence in relation to official railroad matters, the letter informing General Barnett that he was elected as a director to serve from 1895-1898, and miscellaneous earnings reports 1889-1892 1895 1904-1905 | |||||||||
Series V: Miscellaneous Material dates vary |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 3 | 32 | Copies of newspaper clippings dates vary | |||||||||
| 3 | 33 | Handwritten copies of newspaper articles dated as noted and a copy of a eulogy for William V. Sked (1815-1888); also includes one clipping, possibly a page tron from a book undated | |||||||||