"Ship Constitution, Boston Harbor, 1814"., 10/01/1814-05/16/1926

The Loughborough Family Papers contains letters and Civil War documents of members of the Loughborough family arranged in seven folders in one box. Although a small collection, the Loughborough Family Papers contain an interesting peek at three interesting parts of American history: the sailing of the U.S.S. Constitution, the Civil War and the San Francisco Earthquake of April, 1906. In October 1814, Alexander Lufborough, a recent attendee of Georgetown College, was stationed on the U.S.S. Constitution in Boston, and the papers contain a letter by him to his father, Nathaniel Lufborough, after whom Loughborough Road is named. The letter mostly discusses the family. During the Civil War, James Henry Loughborough (2nd)and his wife Margaret C., both residents of Georgetown in the District of Columbia, joined the Confederate cause. James Henry was a member of the Confederate Army and was taken prisoner by the Union Army near Appomattox at the end of the war and Margaret C. did some work in the Department of the Treasury of the C.S.A. as a clerk, also towards the end of the war. Documents concerning James' release as a prisoner of war and two oaths of loyalty he signed are in the papers, as well a commission given to Margaret as a clerk for the Treasury Department and a travel pass she used to return to Washington at the end of the hostilities. There are also two letters from James Henry Loughborough (3rd) to his mother and sister, Margaret C. and Daisy, written from San Francisco soon after the major earthquake there in April, 1906. The letters describe life during the chaotic period following the quake, including martial law, fires,economic standstill, looting, and eating and sleeping in the streets. Also included in the papers is miscellaneous genealogical material and photos of the Loughborough family.