Collection Title: Henry C. Burnett Letter
Series Number: MS10-22
Processed and Cataloged by: Processed by Dieter C. Ullrich on May 24, 2010.
Date Listed: May 24, 2010.
Date Span: 1861
Size of Collection: 0.10 linear feet.
Number of Boxes: 1 legal size file folder; 1 item.
Type of Material: Correspondence.
Condition of Material: Fair with minor foxing and fading due to aging and improper storage.
Arrangement: Chronological arrangement.
Biographical / Historical Information: Henry Cornelius Burnett was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1855 to 1861 and a Confederate States Senator from 1862 to 1865. He was born in Essex County, Virginia on October 5,1825. As a child he relocated with his parents to Cadiz, Kentucky. He was educated at local schools and later South Kentucky College in Hopkinsville. He began a law practice at Cadiz in 1847. In 1850, he was elected clerk of the circuit court of Trigg County. He ran and was elected representative of the 1st District of Kentucky in 1854. Burnett was expelled from Congress on December 3, 1861 for participating in succession conventions and recruiting for the Confederacy. He served as a Confederate senator from February 19,1862 to February 18, 1865. Following the war he was charged with treason but never tried. He died of cholera on September 28,1866.
Scope and Content: Collection consists of letter written by United States Congressman Henry C. Burnett to John F. Galbraith of Madisonville, Kentucky on February 9, 1861. The letter describes Burnett’s concerns over peace measures, President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to suppress rebellious states and his support for the “Crittenden propositions”. A transcription of the letter is included with the collection.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Burnett, H. C. 1825-1866 (Henry Cornelius)
United States – Politics and government – 1861.
Legislators – United States – Kentucky.
United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Personal narratives.
