Materials do not circulate, but may be used in the State Archives search room. Materials will be retrieved from and returned to storage areas by staff members.
Under the Copyright Act of 1976 as amended in 1998, unpublished manuscripts were protected at a minimum through December 31, 2002 or 70 years after the author’s death. Researchers are responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).
None.
John Salmon (Rip) Ford, born in 1815, was a soldier and political figure in the Texas Republic and the state. Over the course of his military career he fought in the Texas Revolution from 1836 to 1838, served as a captain in the Texas Rangers from 1850 to 1851, and was a colonel of the Second Texas Cavalry from 1862 to 1865 during the Civil War. Politically he was active both nationally and locally, serving as a United States congressman in 1844 and as a Texas state senator in 1852 and again from 1876 to 1879. Ford also edited newspapers in Brownsville and Austin, was a superintendent of what would become the Texas School for the Deaf, and a charter member of the Texas State Historical Association. He died in 1897.
Source:
The bulk of the papers consist of military correspondence between John Salmon (Rip) Ford and fellow Confederate Army officers in the field and copies of Ford’s published memoirs; there is also a small selection of personal correspondence from his post-army career. Also present are general and special orders, and troop and barracks records primarily from the Civil War period (1860-1865); the collection as a whole is dated 1838, 1844, 1858-1866, 1870-1876, 1883-1896, undated. The correspondence consists of letters to officers of other regiments in the field discussing troop movements, supply chains, spies in Matamorus, Mexico, and other military matters. Personal post-Civil War correspondence details family matters and wartime reminiscences. Correspondents include Santos Benavides, Captain John J. Dix, and Governor Pendleton Murrah. Ford’s seven-volume memoirs cover his family history and his career from 1851 to 1883 and include descriptions of the battle of the Alamo, several Indian wars in which Ford fought as a Texas Ranger, Ford’s Civil War service, and his political and editorial activities thereafter. General and special orders date from April 1863 to January 1865 and cover everything from basic troop discipline to military policy and marching orders. Troop and barracks records date from 1861 to 1865 and consist of officer election certifications, court martial proceedings, weapons, supply and property invoices and receipts for Ringgold Barracks, troop passport lists and furlough letters, a list of general staff in the battalion of George H. Giddings, Ringgold Barracks guard reports, reports from army scouts and spies, printed military orders from headquarters in Houston, Shreveport, Galveston and Brownsville, and some special orders and photocopied mail route maps.
The collection contains three complete sets of Ford’s memoirs and also duplicate sets of bound correspondence and general and special orders.
These papers are maintained as received, arranged in three series and four subseries by record type; subseries are arranged in ascending chronological order from the earliest start date.
(Identify the item and cite the series), John Salmon Ford papers. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These papers were appraised by State Archives staff in the late 1930s.
Bulk of the collection initially processed by State Archives staff in the late 1930s.
DACS-compliant finding aid and XML markup completed in August 2011 by student volunteer, Chloe Edwards.
Accession number: 1964/196
These papers were donated to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by Sam Lanham on June 2, 1965, and by other, earlier, unknown donors.
Correspondence of John Salmon Ford consists primarily of transcribed and bound or Photostat copies of Civil War-era military correspondence detailing troop movements, supply chains and other military matters, as well as one file from Ford’s time as a Texas Ranger and one file of post-Civil War personal correspondence concerning family matters and wartime reminiscences, dating 1838, 1844, 1858-1866, 1870-1876, 1883-1896, undated, bulk 1863-1865.
These records are arranged in their original order as received from the donor.
(Identify the item), Correspondence, John Salmon Ford papers. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Military records of John Salmon Ford consist of general and special orders detailing troop movements and supply issues, records of officer elections and a court martial, troop furloughs and passports, scout reports, and barracks supply and weapons invoices, dating 1860-1865, 1869, undated.
These records are maintained in their original order, arranged in four
subseries by record type.
(Identify the item and cite the subseries), Military records, John Salmon Ford papers. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
These are transcribed, bound volumes of general and special orders issued by Ford and his subordinates, some printed Photostat general orders and some original special orders, dating 1860-1865, 1869.
Troop records include Photostat copies of certifications of officer elections in companies under Ford’s command, court martial proceedings, troop furlough passes and passport lists for troops crossing the Mexican border, records of the general staff of Colonel George H. Giddings’ battalion, and acceptance of an officer’s resignation, dating 1861, 1863-1865.
These are Photostat copies of guard reports and supply, weapons and property invoices and receipts from Ringgold Barracks, dating 1861, 1863-1865, undated.
These are Photostat copies of written reports from army scouts and spies in Matamoros, Mexico and hand-drawn reconnaissance maps of mail routes and Union encampments, dating 1864-1865, undated.
Ford’s unpublished memoirs date about 1883 and cover a period from 1700 to
1883, transcribed and bound in seven volumes; the archives holds three
complete copies and one partial set. The undated folder
The volumes are arranged in their original order as recieved from the donor.
(Identify the item), Memoirs, John Salmon Ford papers. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.