Assistant Librarian Mackenzie, 1861 by Sue Mackenzie Thornton

I am embarrassed to say that this article courtesy of Sue Mackenzie Thornton has been sitting in my computer files for more than a few years. I've been long meaning to share it at an appropriate time - and given that it's Library Week 2024 - I shall do so today. It's an unknown story - and if the 79th Highlanders re-enactors return to the Beaufort History Museum during my remaining tenure, I'll have something "new to us" to highlight. Some of you may quibble about the differences in the source materials when it comes to the man's name. As any experienced family historian can attest, variations in name must be weighed against other sources to decide whether or not Lochlan McKinsey is the same person as Loughlin Mackenzie is the same person as Lachlan Mackenzie. Standardization in the spelling of personal names is more of an 20th century practice than a 19th century one.

Lachlan Mackenzie (1838-1864), Civil War Beaufort Librarian by Sue Mackenzie Thornton, edited by Jake Thornton (2017?) 

Allan Mackenzie, a Scottish immigrant, and his wife Maria Martling had ten children. Four of their sons, and two of their sons-in-law joined the 79th New York Highlanders Infantry during the Civil War. One of these sons, Lachlan would spend some time in the Beaufort Library. 

Following is his roster obtained from The New York Military Museum and Veterans Research Center.

His regimental return for December 1861 contained a puzzle. What was a soldier doing serving as an assistant librarian?

A call to Grace Morris Cordial, manager of the Beaufort Collection at the library helped solve the puzzle. The New York Public Library, Irma and Paul Milstein Division as well as online research provided further pieces for the puzzle.

When the Union occupied Beaufort on November 7, 1861, they took control of everything including the library. The following excerpt from The Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens by his Son Hazard Stevens, Volume II, pp. 367-368 provides some details.

Brigadier General Stevens of the 79th Highlanders opened the library to his soldiers and intended to care for it, returning the books to Beaufort after the conclusion of the war. So Lachlan participated in Steven's plan to both protect the books and lend them to the men. But as the rest of the Stevens excerpt indicates, he was overruled and the books were seized. 

A New York City auction of the Beaufort books was met with many negative editorials such as the following in the November 14, 1862 New York Evening Post. The New York Public Library, Milstein Division provided this newspaper article as well as the subsequent one. 

But the tale of the books took a positive turn. The Beaufort Collection history available on the Beaufort Library website quotes from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly that a letter from New Yorker William H. Fry to President Lincoln was instrumental in having Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase cancel the sale. Newspaper editorials such as this one probably also aided cancellation efforts. 

This November 22, 1862 Cincinnati Commercial Tribune article, a reprint of a November 5th New York Times article, records the escape of Beaufort's books from the auction block. The collection was sent to the Smithsonian Institute for safe storage. 

In February 1865, Harper's Weekly published this January 24, 1865 Alexander Gardner photo which is available at the Smithsonian Archives. 

The photo above illustrates the negative twist that occurred next in the Beaufort Library story, as an incorrectly installed stove on the second floor of The Smithsonian caused a fire which spread to the upper room housing the collection and all the books were burned.  

Lachlan Mackenzie whose military record supplied the puzzle at the beginning of this story, remained with the 79th until the end of his life, dying of Typhoid Fever in a Knoxville, Tennessee hospital on November 27, 1864.  

Lachlan is buried at Knoxville National Cemetery and his gravestone was created in March 1864 by 79th officer Hugh Young and his fellow stone masons.  

I wonder if Lachlan helped compile the auction list for the book sale that never happened. You can see a facsimile of that auction catalog on one of the Behind-the-Scenes tours we're hosting in honor of National Library Week. Check for any remaining slots by calling us: 843-255-6468. 

There is a lot more information about the Mackenzie brothers and their Civil War in the BDC's HISTORY-CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865-PERSONAL NARRATIVES - UNION vertical file. We have accounts from Charles Francis Adams, Clover Adams, Harrison M. Beardsley, James Bell, John Bell, Ephraim Bender, Norris Crossman, Robert Sedgwick Edwards, Harriet Ward Foote, John Frederic Holahan, William H. Johnson, George H. Johnston, Louis Kelsey, Charles Phineas Lord, Laughlin Mackenzie, Dr. Seth Rogers, Calvin Shedd, Stephen Minot Weld, Gottlieb Schahl, and some unknown correspondents.  

It'd be optimal if you make an appointment to come review the contents of the file and the other Civil War related vertical files that we make available inside our small facility: 843-255-6468; bdc@bcgov.net.