Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1852-1857. (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
0.75 cu. ft. (23 folders in 2 partial boxes).
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Willis Arnold Gorman was born in Kentucky on January 12, 1816. His early career was as a lawyer and state legislator (Democrat) in Indiana. During the Mexican War he raised and commanded an Indiana rifle battalion and an infantry regiment, and subsequently was elected to two terms in the U.S. Congress. President Franklin Pierce appointed him Governor of Minnesota in May 13, 1853, and he served in that office until 1857. He was subsequently a delegate to the state constitutional convention (1857) and was elected to the first state legislature (1858).
At the outset of the Civil War he commanded the First Minnesota Infantry Volunteers (April-October, 1861) until his promotion to brigadier general. Following his discharge from military service in 1864, he practiced law in St. Paul in partnership with Cushman K. Davis. In 1869 he was appointed St. Paul city attorney, and held that office until his death on May 20, 1876.
Sources: Minnesota Biographies, pp. 267- 268; Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, Vol. I, p. 14; William Watts Folwell, A History of Minnesota (St. Paul, rev. 1956), Vol. I, pp. 377-383; Theodore C. Blegen, Minnesota, A History of the State (1963), pp. 171, 240-242, 293.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Accession number(s): none; 2001-46
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Subject files and correspondence of territorial governor Gorman. A large proportion relate to territorial officers' appointments and commissions. Letters received and sent address the following topics: concerns of federal civilian agencies, military and Indian affairs in general, the 1855 treaty with the Winnebago Indians, land sales, the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad Company, and other territorial affairs. Also present are a legislative diary (Jan. 27-March 6, 1857), pardon records, petitions regarding local government organization, reports from territorial officers, and requests from other states for return of fugitives.
Gorman's governorship spanned a period of both tangible and speculative growth in the state's infrastructure and economy, with numerous railroads, educational institutions, and corporations being chartered, new counties established, new towns incorporated, and several Indian treaties ratified. The surviving records contain only sketchy information on these developments, and do not appear to contain any significant documentation on an abortive 1857 scheme to remove the state capital from St. Paul to St. Peter.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by topic; thereunder chronologically within each folder.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Preferred citation: [Indicate the cited volume and page or item and folder title here]. Minnesota Territorial Archives. Records of territorial governor Willis Gorman. Minnesota Historical Society. State Archives.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Name access points
- Minnesota Territory. (Subject)
- Gorman, Willis Arnold, 1816-1876. (Subject)
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
PALS ID No.: 0800011304
Archivist's note
RLIN ID No.: MNHV90-A1172
Archivist's note
Finding aid prepared by Lydia Lucas.