Eight exercise books containing copies of letters, which were written by Stanley during a tour of Civil War America in 1864, undertaken in the period between his leaving Oxford and being called to the Bar. Most are addressed to his mother and sister, but were intended to be circulated and read together, providing a single picture. Stanley was very interested in examining the causes and course of the conflict from both the Union and Confederate perspectives, and secured introductions to leading political, military, social and intellectual figures through his father, who was a cabinet minister in Lord Palmerston’s government. Stanley prepared for his visit, assiduously recorded his observations and became a shrewder interpreter as he developed knowledge and confidence. Stanley spent much time in New York and Washington, and had several interviews with Secretary of State William Seward, who introduced him to President Abraham Lincoln. Stanley was the guest of General George Meade during a visit to the Army of the Potomac and dined with General Ulysses S. Grant. He visited the battlefields of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, a camp for black troops at Arlington Heights, Confederate prisoners of war at Fort McHenry, and a large military hospital outside Philadelphia.

Stanley reported at length upon conversations revealing Northern wartime opinion, and discussed the violent Anti-Draft Riots that convulsed New York City in 1863, and the views of the Copperheads (anti-war Democrats). He attempted to diffuse hostility towards Britain caused by its recognition of the South’s status as a belligerent. Stanley also had introductions to a galaxy of American literary figures including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was able to gauge Southern opinion during visits to Baltimore, and during a lengthy stay in Louisiana. Keen to observe slavery and the plantation system at first hand, he visited a sugar plantation near New Orleans, where conditions were said to have changed little since Emancipation. Travel by railway and steamship gave him the opportunity to hear the views of more ordinary Americans. Stanley’s letters reveal a keen interest in American education, and he visited many public, charitable and Negro schools, anticipating his future career as an educationalist. Finally, his travels also took him briefly to the province of Canada, where plans for the federation of British North America were gathering pace, in part in response to tensions created by the Civil War. In Quebec Stanley met the Attorney General George-Étienne Cartier, who played a critical role in the Confederation of Canada in 1867.