Letters to Marquis de Lafayette Lane from George Cowie and Robert S. Chew, 1864

This collection contains letters sent to Marquis de Lafayette Lane (1825-1872), also known as M. D. L., a lawyer and judge from Maine who served as US consul to Veracruz, Mexico, from 1862-1867. Most of the letters were written to Lane from his friend George Cowie, an officer in the US Treasury. Eleven letters are from his friend Robert S. Chew, a State Department clerk. There are also two letters to Lane from Assistant Secretary of State William Hunter, one from Commodore James Alden of the USS Susquehanna; and one from Cowie to Vice Consul Charles M. Proctor in Veracruz, whose death is referenced several times in Cowie’s 1863 letters. The last file of Cowie’s letters also contains three receipts related to Lane's Veracruz activities dated February 5, 1867, and signed by by A. O. Latham and H. Warrington. The letters to Lane discuss his salary and financial matters regarding the consul position, his requests for leave from Veracruz, and his concerns about getting sick. They also indicate that Lane tried to resign in 1866, before actually resigning in 1867. A number of letters are addressed to Lane in Standish, Maine, during periods of leave he was taking there with his family. Several letters contain references to the US Civil War or mention Mexico’s occupation by the French, which coincided with Lane's tenure as consul.