Legal Certificates, 1826-1842

This collection contains papers relating to the life and career of Enos D. Hopping (1805-1847), who was a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). It includes a twelve-page letter written to his wife in the United States from Matamoros, Mexico, describing his observations during the period of June 10-16, 1867, including his recovery from illness, news about the ongoing war with Mexico, his attendance at a nearby Mass, and his sometimes racist views of the Mexican population. Other materials include invitations; an 1848 letter regarding Mrs. Hopping's efforts to claim pension money owed to her late husband; a note regarding Enos Hopping's commission as brigadier general in the US Army, issued from the adjutant general’s office in Washington, March 6, 1847; an undated newspaper clipping about the Batavia funeral of Dean Richmond, a railroad magnate who died in 1866; and additional documents. The collection also includes certificates authorizing Enos Hopping to practice law in various roles in New York courts, as well as a quit-claim deed signed by Hopping as a witness; and certificates appointing Hopping as paymaster, adjutant, major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel of the the 147th Regiment of Infantry of New York and as brigadier general of the Twenty-seventh Brigade of Infantry of New York. Two of the legal certificates were signed by William L. Marcy, governor of New York.