General Orlando M. Poe collection

The collection, donated to the University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections in 1986 by Poe’s family, consists of 80 cabinet card portraits of military officers, most dating from the Civil War era; one Civil War-era stereocard; one cabinet card of Thomas Nast; three mounted albumen prints; one engraved portrait of W.T. Sherman; two 5 x 8 inch glass plate negatives of General Poe; a list of “delinquencies and demerits” accrued by Poe while attending the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1854-1855; an account book of Poe’s expenses while a West Point cadet (1852-1856); Poe’s picture of the hook used by Sherman’s Army; the Register of the officers of the Army of the United States, dated August 1836; Eleanore Poe’s visiting list “Washington, March 1869-” and diary with household accounts and references of personal correspondence (1863-1870); and letters from Poe’s son, Charles (“C.C. Poe”), written to his parents and brother Orlando Warner "Winnie" Poe, the bulk of which dates from 1884-1887. The photographic material is in Photographic Archives and the manuscript material is in Rare Books.

Two of the three mounted prints and the stereocard are of Poe with fellow soldiers and officers; one mounted print is of Poe with his West Point classmates. The 80 cabinet cards of generals are likely from the same set. All the cards have cream-colored fronts, no photographer’s stamp or name, and they all have a small, beveled, reddish gold edge. Seven of the generals are identified as CSA (Confederate States of America) and the rest are USA (Union generals). Many include “Corps of Engineers” or “Corps of Topographical Engineers.”