Book
- Object Name:
- Book
- Object ID:
- 1993.003.06
- Place of Origin:
- New York, NY
- Date:
- 1861
- Description:
- Bible. Leather-bound Civil War-era Bible. Front cover detached. Ink inscription inside front cover: "Col. M.W Tappan / Camp Union, Concord, / May 17, 1861. / Carried by my / father during the / Civil War. / Helen Tappan Goodenough". Published 1858 by American Bible Society, New York.
- Material:
- Paper
Leather - Dimensions:
- W-3.65 L-5.9 D-1.8 inches
- Provenance:
- Inscription on the inside of the front cover states that the Bible was carried by Colonel Mason Weare Tappan in the Civil War.
Mason Weare Tappan was born in Newport, NH, October 20, 1817; died in Bradford, NH, October 24, 1886. His father, a well-known lawyer, settled in Bradford in 1818, and was a pioneer in the anti-slavery movement. The son was educated at Kimball Union Academy, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1841, and acquired a large practice. He was early identified with the Whig party, and afterward was a Free-soiler and served in the legislature 1853-55. He was elected to Congress as a Free-soiler, by a combination of the Whigs, Free-soilers, Independent Democrats, and Americans, at the time of the breaking up of the two great parties, Whigs and Democrats. He served from1855 to 1861, and was a member of the special committee of thirty-three on the rebellious states. On February 5, 1861, when a report was submitted recommending that the provisions of the constitution should be obeyed rather than amended, he made a patriotic speech in support of the government. Mr. Tappan was one of the earliest to enlist in the volunteer army, and was colonel of the 1st New Hampshire regiment from May to August, 1861. Afterward he resumed the practice of law, and held the office of attorney-general of the state for ten years preceding his death. He was a delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalists' convention of 1866, and presided over the New Hampshire Republican convention in 1886. In the presidential election of 1872 he supported his life-long friend, Horace Greeley. Interred at Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
Note that Mason Tappan papers are in the manuscripts collection at NHHS. - Credit Line:
- Gift of Viola R. Goodenough
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