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Biography/History:
Micajah F. Berry was born in the Anderson district of South Carolina in 1826. He is listed on the 1860 federal census as a Molino, Tippah County, Mississippi, farmer with land valued at $18,000 and personal property valued at $38,700. Berry and his wife, Aletha, were the parents of four children: Luiza, Colton, Bettie, and Mattie. His mother, Elisabeth, was also living with the Berrys in 1860, and she owned personal property worth $3,400.
Mississippi governor John J. Pettus commissioned Berry as a major and aide-de-camp to Major General Jefferson Davis in the state militia on September 4, 1861. However, soon after Davis became president of the Confederacy, Berry was assigned by General Samuel Cooper, adjutant and inspector general, to superintend conscription at the camps of instruction at Enterprise, Clarke County, Mississippi, on May 16, 1862. He was later commandant of the camps of instruction at Enterprise. Berry was commissioned as a major and assistant adjutant general in the provisional army of the Confederate States of America on July 2, 1862. He also served as a brigadier general in the Mississippi State Troops under the command of Major General T. C. Tupper. Berry briefly served as assistant inspector of conscription in Savannah, Georgia, before reporting for duty under the commandant of conscripts at Macon, Mississippi. He was paroled at Meridian, Mississippi, on May 13, 1865.
After the war, Berry became a land agent in Pachuta, Clarke County, Mississippi, buying and selling sizable tracts of timberland in Clarke and Jasper counties during the 1880s and 1890s. Politicians, such as United States senator James Zachariah George, United States representative John Sharp Williams, and Mississippi governor Robert Lowry, sought Berry’s counsel, influence, and support in local politics. Berry was commissioned as a special land agent (uncompensated) by Governor Lowry on November 28, 1883.
Scope and Content:
This collection contains correspondence and documents pertaining to the Confederate military service of Major Micajah F. Berry of Molino, Tippah County, and Pachuta, Clarke County, Mississippi. There are also letters from various family members and friends; letters to Berry from United States senator James Zachariah George, United States representative John Sharp Williams, and Mississippi governor Robert Lowry; and letters from Berry’s clients regarding the negotiated purchase or sale of tracts of timberland in Mississippi, especially in Clarke and Jasper counties, during the 1880s and 1890s. Of additional interest are commissions of Mississippi governor Robert Lowry appointing Berry to various offices; tax-collector’s deeds, warranty deeds, and land-purchase options associated with Berry’s land agency; and financial records concerning Berry’s business and personal activities.
Series Identification:
This series consists of the following chronologically arranged documents pertaining to the Confederate military service of Major Micajah F. Berry:
Commission (parchment) signed by Governor John J. Pettus appointing Major Micajah F. Berry as aide-de-camp to Major General Jefferson Davis, Army of Mississippi, on September 4, 1861.
Letter of General Samuel Cooper, adjutant and inspector general, War Department, Confederate States of America, Richmond, Virginia, to Major Micajah F. Berry, assistant adjutant general, Mississippi, assigning Berry to the Camps of Instruction to superintend the conscription of soldiers under the Confederate Act to Further Provide for the Public Defense (April 16, 1862); dated May 16, 1862.
Letter (manuscript copy) of George Wythe Randolph, secretary of war, Confederate States of America, Richmond, Virginia, to Major Micajah F. Berry, assistant adjutant general and assistant conscription superintendent, appointing Berry to the provisional army of the Confederacy, effective July 1, 1862; dated July 2, 1862.
Commission of George Wythe Randolph, secretary of war, Confederate States of America, appointing Micajah F. Berry as a major in the Adjutant General’s Department, effective July 1, 1862; dated July 2, 1862.
Letter of Major Micajah F. Berry, Molino, Tippah County, Mississippi, to General Samuel Cooper, [s.l.], accepting an appointment in the provisional army of the Confederacy; dated July 19, 1862.
Oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America of Major Micajah F. Berry that was signed at Jackson, Mississippi, on July 21, 1862.
Special Orders No. 37 of Major General T. C. Tupper, Mississippi State Troops, Jackson, ordering Brigadier General Micajah F. Berry to minimally staff all companies of minute men in his brigade with volunteers, or conscripts, if necessary; dated September 16, 1862.
Letter of introduction of Major General T. C. Tupper, Mississippi State Troops, to James Alexander Seddon, secretary of war, Confederate States of America, recommending Major Micajah F. Berry (also a brigadier general in Mississippi State Troops). The letter is also signed by the following Mississippi officials: John J. Pettus, governor; C. A. Brougher, secretary of state; A. I. Gillespie, auditor of public accounts; and T. J. Wharton, attorney general; dated November 21, 1862.
Special Orders No. 8 of Brigadier General Ruggles, First Military District, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, Headquarters in the Field, Okolona, Mississippi, appointing Major Micajah F. Berry commandant of the Camps of Instruction, Enterprise, Mississippi; dated June 8, 1863.
Orders No. 2. of Major A. H. McLaws, Office of Inspector of Conscription of Georgia, to Major Micajah F. Berry, Savannah, Georgia, ordering him to Thomasville, Georgia, to supervise and report on several courts-martial, as well as to ascertain the interference of Clinch’s Cavalry and Hood’s Cavalry in matters of conscription in Tattall County, Georgia; dated February 17, 1864.
Letter of Major Micajah F. Berry, assistant adjutant general, Savannah, Georgia, to Major A. H. McLaws, Inspector of Conscription, State of Georgia, requesting a thirty-day furlough to return to Mississippi to salvage the remnants of his estate that was recently overrun by Union troops (approval of Major McLaws on the verso); dated March 7, 1864.
Letter of Major A. H. McLaws, Augusta, Georgia, to Major Micajah F. Berry, Savannah, Georgia, thanking him for his outstanding military service; dated April 29, 1864.
Special Orders No. 62 of Colonel John S. Preston, superintendent, Bureau of Conscription, Richmond, Virginia, relieving Berry of duty in Georgia and ordering him to report for duty with the commandant of conscripts in Macon, Mississippi; dated June 8, 1864.
Letter of Major A. H. McLaws, Augusta, Georgia, to the commandant of conscripts in Mississippi, highly recommending Major Micajah F. Berry who was transferring from Savannah, Georgia; dated July 8, 1864.
Tax-in-kind receipt of Major Micajah F. Berry, Jasper County, Mississippi, for seventy-five bushels of corn; dated February 14, 1865.
Parole of honor of Major Micajah F. Berry, assistant adjutant general, signed at Meridian, Mississippi; approved by Colonel Henry Bertram, Twentieth Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry; dated May 13, 1865.
Oath of allegiance to the United States of America of Micajah F. Berry, signed at Enterprise, Mississippi, on July 7, 1865.
Broadside printed under the authority of Brigadier General Micajah F. Berry, Mississippi State Troops, ordering the mustering of companies and regiments in Coahoma, DeSoto, Itawamba, Lafayette, Marshall, Panola, Pontotoc, Tippah, Tishomingo, and Tunica counties in north Mississippi, n.d.
Box 1, folder 1
Box 2, folder 1 (oversize)
This series primarily consists of incoming letters to land agent Micajah F. Berry regarding the negotiated purchase or sale of tracts of timberland, especially in east Mississippi and west Alabama, during the 1880s and 1890s. Of additional interest are two letters written to Berry by United States senator James Zachariah George of Mississippi. In the first letter, dated May 13, 1885, George requests a frank appraisal of the political climate in Jasper County, Mississippi, especially regarding the upcoming senatorial election. In the second letter, dated April 18, 1886, George advises that Mississippi senators were precluded by Senate rules from interfering in federal judicial appointments in Alabama. One letter, dated July 15, 1885, written to Berry by Mississippi governor Robert Lowry asks for local political support in his renomination bid for the upcoming gubernatorial election. Another letter, dated May 23, 1896, written to Berry by United States representative John Sharp Williams seeks his influence in "getting out the vote" in the eastern part of Jasper County, Mississippi, and discusses the political implications of the "free silver" controversy in Congress.
Box 1, folders 2-42
This series consists of three commissions of Mississippi governor Robert Lowry appointing Micajah F. Berry to various offices. The first, dated October 19, 1883, appoints Berry as a delegate to the National Cotton Planters’ Association of America convention in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on November 21, 1883; the second, dated November 28, 1883, appoints Berry as a special land agent for Mississippi without compensation; and the third, dated August 8, 1884, appoints Berry as an honorary Mississippi commissioner to the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, in December 1884. Accompanying the 1884 commission is a printed cover letter from Governor Lowry.
Box 1, folder 43
This series consists of various deeds signed by the chancery clerk of Pontotoc County, Mississippi, for tracts of land sold at public auction for non-payment of taxes in the years 1895 and 1897.
Box 1, folder 44
This series consists of various warranty deeds for tracts of land in Jasper, Lauderdale, and Scott counties in Mississippi that were conveyed to the Richardson Land and Timber Company of Davenport, Iowa, for the year 1896.
Box 1, folder 45
This series consists of various options to purchase tracts of land in Jasper, Newton, Scott, and Smith counties in Mississippi that were negotiated by Micajah F. Berry in the years 1891, 1895, and 1896.
Box 1, folder 46
This series consists of miscellaneous invoices and receipts concerning the business and personal financial activities of Micajah F. Berry in the 1880s and 1890s. Of interest are invoices from the department store, Marks Rothenberg and Company, and the wholesale grocers, Threefoot Brothers and Company, both located in Meridian, Mississippi.
Box 1, folder 47
This series consists of miscellaneous cancelled checks of Micajah F. Berry from the Berney National Bank, Birmingham, Alabama, for 1887 and the Bank of Pontotoc, Pontotoc, Mississippi, for 1898.
Box 1, folder 48