Correspondence

Scope and content:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1830-2011, is comprised of more than 300 individual letters. The majority of the earlier ones involve Sarah "Sallie" Scott Bassett and/or her husband R.H. Bassett. Together their combined correspondence comprises eight folders and spans the years 1850-1913.

These letters cover the years of the American Civil War and shed light on how the conflict affected their lives. In addition to letters from Captain R.H. Bassett, there are dozens of notes written home to Sallie from her brother Garrett Scott, brother-in-law Noah Bassett, and her cousin John Nix. All of these men spent time serving in the 4th Texas Regiment of the famed Texas Brigade. While their letters contain minimal military focused discussions, they do highlight camp life, personal struggles of being separated from each other, personal and public incidents, and family news. The military discussion is really limited to mention of the dead and wounded from battles and engagements. However, R.H. does write a letter to Sallie as he arrives on the battlefield at Gettysburg. He expresses excitement to build off the Confederates successes that afternoon. Battles and engagements discussed include Antietam (September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville (April 30 to May 6, 1863), Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863), and Chickamauga (September 18–20, 1863).

Lizzie Scott Neblett was the older sister of Sallie Bassett and many letters between the sisters not previously examined, both before and after the American Civil War, can be found within this collection. Their letters shed light on relationship struggles, farm life, local news, and family connections.

While few in number, the surviving letters of Lizzie and Sallie's father, James Scott, provide significant insight into Texas prior to its in 1846. In the first, James writes his wife, Sarah, from the convention in Austin, Texas, where the debates about joining the United States were taking place. He offers few specifics as "Nothing in which you would take any interest has occurred here and therefore I will not say anything about the proceedings…" In second of these letters, James is writing to a Colonel B. Rush Wallace and gets far more political in discussion and tone. He talks at length about concern over the merits of becoming Whig or Democrat once they are thrust into the existing political climate of their new nation.

Of particular interest is an 1888 letter written by Ida Carter, presumably William M. and Belle Bassett Blackley's "Black Mamy," is addressed to a Col. Bassett Blackley, in care of W. M. Blackley. Carter begins the letter "Dear Little Bassett." This letter seems to suggest that the Blackleys did in fact have another child, Bassett Blackley, prior to Belle. If that is the case, Bassett Blackley may have died in childhood.

Of the twentieth-century correspondence, most of it was sent or received by Chas Blackley. While his letters span most of the century, the bulk are centered between the years 1930-1944. The letters that Chas Blackley wrote while visiting Europe in 1934 are of particular interest due to the changing political climate with the rise of the Nazis in Germany. Through his correspondence, diaries, and photographs there is an opportunity to see an American view of this transformative time. In one letter to his sister, Mary, dated August 21, Chas Blackley writes of the hanging of Nazis in Vienna, Austria for a failed coup that took place mere weeks before his arrival and that it "has retarded history making considerably." He also spoke of the Heimwehr, the home guard, patrolling the streets with their rifles and "keeping a sharp to windward."

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