Nineteen manuscripts, 1842-1880, added to the papers of William E. Johnson include real estate transactions, correspondence from King’s Mountain Military Academy (York, S.C.), personal correspondence, a petition for pardon dated 18 August 1865, and other items.

Perhaps the most significant letter, 10 August 1880, is from Joseph B. Kershaw and concerns the Cash-Shannon duel. “You have asked my opinion as to what action should be taken by the sons of the late Col. Shannon, in relation to the letter said to have been written by Mr. W.B. Cash to our friend Captain John M. Cantey,” Kershaw writes, and “my deliberate judgment is that no action whatever is required of those gentlemen.” Furthermore, “Col. Shannon... vindicated himself by his death on the field....”