James Edmund Callaway was born July 7, 1834 in Trigg County, Kentucky. The Callaway family moved to Illinois in 1848. He became a lawyer in Tuscola, Illinois. After the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Callaway was selected by his peers to serve as captain for a company of volunteer soldiers. In June, Ulysses S. Grant mustered Company D of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers into the Union Army and assigned them to the Army of the West. Callaway received several field commissions during the Civil War, eventually reaching the rank of Colonel and serving as adjutant to General Grant. Calloway was honorably discharged from the Twenty-first Illinois Regiment immediately following the surrender of Confederate forces.
Callaway returned to practice law in Illinois and was elected to the Illinois legislature. In March 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him Secretary of the Montana Territory. He continued to serve as Territorial Secretary until 1877, when President Grant left office. Callaway was appointed United States Attorney for Montana’s First District in 1878 and 1879. He served as a delegate to the Montana constitutional conventions in 1884 and 1889. The 1889 convention promulgated the state’s first constitution. In 1885 Callaway won office to the territorial legislature and became the first Republican to serve as Speaker of the House in Montana. He served just one term in the territorial legislature.
James Callaway married Mary E. Link in 1866 and the couple raised four children. Upon his appointment as territorial secretary, Callaway settled his family in Virginia City. He established a law practice in that locale and continued to pursue this profession throughout his political career. He closed the law practice 1898 as a result of failing health. James E. Callaway died of heart failure on August 21, 1905. Llewellyn L. Callaway, oldest son of James and Mary, was born on December 15, 1868. He followed his father into the legal profession, establishing practices in Virginia City and White Sulpher Springs, Montana. Llewellyn L. Callaway died in 1951.
This collection includes general correspondence; legal, financial, and military documents; as well as newspaper clippings related to the activities and interests of James E. Callaway. General correspondence includes four topics: military communications, Montana territorial relations, personal business, and legal correspondence. Legal documents include the transcript of a case adjudicated by Llewellyn L. Calloway in 1902. The collection’s financial records are primarily hand-written copies of military supply requests / appropriations submitted by James Callaway during the Civil War. Military documents also include two officer muster rolls from 1865 and five special field orders issued by Callaway between 1863 and 1864. Newspaper clippings include an announcement in
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana--Missoula.
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to The University of Montana.
[Name of document or photograph number], Callaway Family Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
The materials in this collection remained with the Callaway family until donation to the K. Ross Toole Archives by James E. Callaway’s grandson.
Gift of Llewellyn L. Callaway, Jr., 1980 and 1984.
The collection was originally processed as two collections, SC 235 and SC 258. In 2003, the collection was re-combined and fully described. Newspaper clippings were transferred to acid free archival paper. Originals were discarded.
Dartmouth College holds two assemblages related to this collection: a petition signed by James E. Callaway among nine other captains requesting the resignation of the regiment’s colonel in 1861, and expense records for Llewellyn L. Callaway, Jr. (grandson of James E.) while a student at Dartmouth College, 1926-1927.
The Montana Historical Society retains a collection of personal papers from Llewellyn L. Callaway, Sr., including reminiscences, letters, and speeches from 1932 to 1950.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.