{"value"=>"<p>General correspondence is arranged alphabetically by last name. The bulk of the correspondence dates from the height of Tilden's public career in the 1860s through the 1880s. Not surprisingly, it emphasizes Tilden's political connections through exchanges with local power brokers, state party members, and national representatives. Tilden's social relations are documented through his correspondence with William Cullen Bryant, Montgomery Blair, Charles A. Dana, Abram S. Hewitt, Francis Kernan, Daniel Manning, Daniel Magone, Manton Marble, Charles O'Conor, Samuel J. Randall, Dean Richmond, Horatio Seymour, and John and Martin Van Buren. Correspondence and letterpress books belonging to George W. Smith, Tilden's confidential secretary from 1866 until his death, are also notable for their scope, and contain many letters and responses written by Smith on Tilden's behalf.</p> <p>Tilden communicated regularly with New York City mayors Fernando Wood, John T. Hoffman, A.Oakey Hall (later vilified by Tilden as a member of the Tweed Ring), William F. Havemeyer, William Wickham, and others. Exchanges with Democratic National Committee chair August Belmont; with fellow New York State Assembly members Smith M. Weed and William B. Ogden; and with New York State Lieutenant Governors William Dorsheimer and Allen C. Beach are all notable representations of Tilden's affiliation with New York politicians, as are his communications with his predecessors in Albany, Governors Silas Wright, Horatio Seymour, and John A. Dix.</p> <p>The activities of Tammany Hall, of which Tilden was a longstanding member, are documented both prior to and following the Tweed Ring scandal through mailings and circulars, as well as through correspondence with Grand Sachems Isaac Vanderbuck Fowler, John Morrissey, John \"Honest John\" Kelly, and Augustus Schell. Also included in the General Correspondence files are letters to and from Tammany members who would later fall into disgrace, including Peter B. Sweeney, Richard Connolly, and William M. \"Boss\" Tweed himself.</p> <p>As Tilden's career advanced beyond the New York arena, his political network extended to include figures of national prominence, including Democratic National Committee Chair Robert M. McLane and delegate Benjamin F. Butler; U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCullough, U.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont; U.S. Attorney General Jeremiah Black; Senator William Bigler; and William Maxwell Evarts, who served as counsel to Rutherford B. Hayes during the election of 1876. During the years of Reconstruction, Tilden also corresponded regularly with Union Army Generals-cum-politicians George B. McClellan, Henry Warner Slocum, and Wager Swayne.</p> <p>Tilden's long-standing association with his fellow lawyers and jurists are reflected in his correspondence with his law partner Nelson J. Waterbury; his predecessor in the New York State Assembly Amasa Parker; American Bar Association president William Allen Butler; Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont; Supreme Court Justice Noah Haynes Swayne; and his compatriot in the prosecution of the Tweed Ring, Wheeler H. Peckham.</p> <p>Many industrialists known to Tilden through his financial endeavors are present in this series, including S.L.M Barlow, Peter Cooper, Azariah C. Flagg (whom Tilden represented both in corporate and political lawsuits), Jay Gould, Abram S. Hewitt, Howard Potter, merchant seaman Robert B. Minturn, and Henry Fox Taintor, Tilden's \"partner in war\" on the Tammany Ring.</p> <p>A respected writer and orator, Tilden cultivated relationships with a number of distinguished authors and journalists, including Poultney Bigelow, Anthony Bleecker, George Ticknor Curtis, Horace Greeley, Louise Livingston Hunt, Joseph Pulitzer, and economist David A. Wells, whose views on taxation informed Tilden's own assessments on the subject. Other prominent figures appearing in Tilden's correspondence include epicurean and lobbyist Samuel Cutler Ward; charity worker Louisa Lee Schuyler, inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, and his socialite daughter Leila Morse Rummel.</p> <p>Additional letters from many of Tilden's political compatriots may be found elsewhere in the General Correspondence series, particularly within the Tweed Ring, New York State Assembly, and Gubernatorial correspondence. These files were maintained separately from the General correspondence files.</p>"}