Finding aid prepared by Laura A. Hess
Clinton Jones True papers
1861-1892
University of Kentucky Special Collections
Collection is arranged by format.
Housed with multiple collections.
Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
62M99: [identification of item], Clinton Jones True papers, 1861-1892, University of Kentucky Special Collections.
0.66 Cubic feet
2 boxes
Clinton Jones True served in the Civil War as a captain in the 40th Regiment and a colonel in the 53rd Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. After the Civil War, True was appointed consul on the island of St. Thomas by President Ulysses S. Grant. After disappearing in the early 1880s, True was later declared legally dead.
The Clinton Jones True papers consist of various military papers, correspondence, a copper engraving, and broadsides relating to the life of Clinton Jones True. Letters concerning health, money, and other personal matters from True to his wife, Harriet, , comprise the bulk of the correspondence. Also present are several letters between Harriet M. True and her attorneys regarding the settlement of True's estate after his disappearance on the island of St. Thomas. Important military documents include True's commissions and discharge papers, as well as muster rolls of the 40th and 53rd Regiments of the Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. The copper engraving is of an unknown man in military uniform.
Items of particular note in the collection include two Civil War broadsides. One is a broadside issued by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands on June 25, 1866. It concerns Clinton Jones True announcing his assumption of duties as Superintendent of the Bureau in the 10th District (Mason, Fleming, Bracken and Nicholas County). The circular lists the rules and regulations governing the condition and conduct of those recently held as slaves. The other broadside announces the recruitment of 50 men for Camp Dick Robinson, Kentucky, on September 2, 1861, to serve under General Anderson.
PA62M99, Clinton Jones True Photographic Collection, 1862-1892, University of Kentucky Special Collections.