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Civil War and Reconstruction |
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Creating Two New Civil War Military Departments
EDWARD DAVIS TOWNSEND. [CIVIL WAR],
Printed Document Signed, “General Orders No. 34.” War Department, Adjutant General’s Office, Washington, D.C., April 4, 1862. 1 p., 5 x 7½ in.
Item #22956, $450
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Naval Commander Who Prevented Filibustering Expedition against Mexico, and Then Captured Slave Ships and Freed over 1,350 Slaves
THOMAS A. DORNIN,
Manuscript Letter Signed, U.S.S. Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia, April 4, 1855, to Mid. John Walker, U.S.N. 1 p.
Item #20956, $450
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American Tract Society Appoint Teachers for Freedman’s School on the Grounds of Robert E. Lee’s Former Plantation at Arlington, Virginia
J. M. STEVENSON,
Autograph Document Signed, [November 10, 1864]. “At a meeting of the Committee of the American Tract Society held Nov. 10th 1864 it was Resolved - that commissions be granted to Mrs. Flora M. Barning from Nov. 1st for 9 months and Miss Emily Wood & Miss Emily Stanwood from October 1st for ten months at $25 per month to assist Mr. H.E. Simmons in the Freemen's school, Greene Heights, Va...” 1 pp. Autograph Document Signed. Commission for Emily Wood “as an assistant to Mr. H. E. Simmons at Freedmen’s Village for ten months, from October first 1864....” November 10, 1864, Nassau St., New York. 1 pp. octavo.
Item #22486, $475
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Responding to Grant’s Postwar Request for a Report of Guns Captured at Fort Donelson, His First Success
[ULYSSES S. GRANT]. FRANKLIN D. CALLENDER,
Manuscript Letter Signed as Lt. Col of Ordnance and Brevet Brigadier General, to Adam Badeau, Grant’s Military Secretary, St. Louis, Arsenal, Mo., August 1, 1866. 2 pp., 7¾ x 9½ in.
Item #22955, $495
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21st Georgia Cavalry Soldier Orders his Slave Whipped
HENRY T. HARDEE,
Autograph Letter Signed, Camp Jackson October 18, 1863, pertaining to a negligent or mischievous slave who Hardee believes should be punished.
Item #12513, ON HOLD
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Fisk University Co-Founder John Ogden Asks Merriam Publishers if the Gift of a Pictorial Dictionary Was Meant for Him or the University
JOHN OGDEN,
Autograph Letter Signed, to George and Charles Merriam. Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 18, 1869. 1 p., 8½ x 5¼ in. On Fisk University letterhead.
In this brief note, Ogden thanks the famous Springfield, Massachusetts dictionary publishers the Merriams for a gift of a copy of their Pictorial Dictionary. Ogden references one “Mr. Gamble” as having stated that the volume was intended as a personal gift, but notes that the dictionary has “the name of our institution inscribed upon, or rather in it, from which I infer you intended it for the institution.” He then asks the Merriams to “decide the quarrel.”
Item #24172.01-.02, $550
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Ohio Reformers Use Rhode Island’s Dorr Rebellion
to Justify Their Own Behavior
[DORR WAR],
Pamphlet. The Dorr Movement in Ohio; Being an Examination into the Causes, Progress and Probable Effects of the Revolutionary Course of Locofocoism in the Organization of the General Assembly of This State, for the Session of 1848-49. [Columbus, Ohio]: Legg & Murray, Columbus, [1849]. Disbound. Inscribed in pencil on the title by H.A. Swift, the author, in presentation.
Item #22543, $550
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Lincoln’s Vice President Talks Local Politics
HANNIBAL HAMLIN,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Sidney Perham, Boston, May 4, 1866. 2 pp., 5 x 8 in., marked “Private” and docketed “H Hamlin.”
Lincoln’s first vice president, discusses local Maine politics regarding the replacement of a longstanding U.S. District Court Judge.
Item #22863, $600
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Vermont Cavalrymen Want to Get the Most for their Reenlistments
ADDISON W. PRESTON,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Senator Solomon Foot, December 17, 1863. 3 pp., 7¾ x 10 in.
After the patriotic fervor of 1861 filled Union armies with volunteers, the United States struggled to fill and expand Union armies. In March 1863, Congress passed the Enrollment Act, establishing a national draft to provide manpower for the Union Army. Drafted men could hire substitutes or pay a commutation fee of $300, and both policies were controversial, leading to the slogan, “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight.”
On October 17, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln called for 300,000 additional volunteers for the Union army, divided by the War Department into quotas for each of the respective loyal states. If a state did not meet its quota by January 5, 1864, a draft would fill the remaining quota for each state. The quota for Vermont was 3,300 men, in addition to the requirements of the July 1863 draft not completely filled. Active recruiting furnished more than 3,700 men by the end of January 1864, and more than 1,000 veterans, like those in Preston’s cavalry regiment, reenlisted in the field. On March 14, 1864, President Lincoln called for 200,000 more volunteers.
Item #23879.05, $600
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The Nation Mourns
[ABRAHAM LINCOLN],
Newspaper. Harper’s Weekly, May 6, 1865. 16 pp., complete, disbound.
Engravings include: Lincoln and son Tad at home. Scene at the death bed of President Lincoln. Funeral service at the White House. Ford’s Theatre. Attempted assassination of Secretary Seward. Citizens viewing the body at City Hall, New York.
Item #H-5-6-1865, ON HOLD
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Clothing the 1st Vermont Cavalry in the Civil War
COMPANY D, 1st VERMONT CAVALRY. [CIVIL WAR],
Manuscript Document Signed, June 1862: List of clothing distributed to 54 men, including 25 caps, 24 blouses, 50 trousers, 66 flannel shirts, 15 drawers, 19 bootees, 69 stockings, and 3 blankets. Each row signed by the soldier who received the items. 1 p., 15½ x 23¾ in.
Item #23879.02, $750
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Membership Certificate to the Naval Library
and Institute for Lt. Cmdr. George Dewey
[GEORGE DEWEY],
Printed Document. A lithographed membership certificate to the Naval Library and Institute. Signed by Charles Steedman, President, & witnessed twice by Oliver L. Fisher. Navy Yard, Boston, Mass October 15, 1871. 11½ x 16½ in.
Item #22023.01, $750
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The Success of Black Troops At Petersburg, Virginia, Under Butler
[CIVIL WAR],
Broadside. New England Loyal Publication Society No. 200. Boston, Mass., June 27, 1864. 1 p., 9 x 10¾ in.
“They grinned and pushed on, and with a yell that told the southern chivalry their doom, [they] rolled irresistibly over and into the work.”
Item #23626, $750
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General Schofield’s Personal Gettysburg Official Records
[GETTYSBURG; GEN. JOHN M. SCHOFIELD],
Books, 3 Volumes – The War of the Rebellion: Gettysburg Official Records, devoted to the Battle of Gettysburg. Owned by Union General John M. Schofield (with his stamp in first volume).
Item #23060, $750
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“The Excursion of the Bought Nominations”
Showing Balloon “Union League”
[CIVIL WAR],
Broadside, “The Excursion of the Bought Nominations, The Large Balloon ‘Union League,’ Will Start Immediately. The Balloon is managed by the Old Hunkers in the Ring.” [1864]. 4 ¾ x 8 ½ in.
Item #21986.04, $750
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Union Soldiers Recounts Conquest of Island No. 10
[ISLAND NO. 10],
Amos Downing, Autograph Letter Signed, to his brother (Philip Downing). Island No. 10. [New Madrid], Missouri, April 9, 1862. 4 pp. With autograph envelope.
A day after the Confederate surrender, Amos Downing gives his brother an exciting account of the Siege of Island No. 10 from the perspective of someone who may have served under Commodore Andrew Foote in the riverboat fleet that collaborated with General John Pope. Downing correctly identifies Fort Pillow, eighty miles to the south on the Mississippi, Memphis, and New Orleans as the next Union targets in the Mississippi Valley. His description of Confederate prisoners reveals a measure of discontent within Southern ranks. “The prisoners taken here are all Irish they say that they were force[d] in the service and are satisfied to be taken prisoner. They didnt know what to make of maters. They said first a big smoke and next a noise like thunder and next thing the devil himself would come among them and that was worst than fighting with sticks. They say the first shell killed fifteen men there lost is very heavy…”
Item #21890, $750
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Requesting Another Battery of Artillery During the Siege of Yorktown
CHARLES SMITH HAMILTON (1822-1891),
Autograph Letter Signed (“C. S. Hamilton”), as General U.S. Army, with additional autograph endorsements on verso by S. P. Heintzelman, James A. Hardie and William F. Barry. Div. Hd. Qrs., April 12, 1862. To Gen. S. Williams. 2 pp, 7¾ x 10 in., ruled paper, closed tear.
In the middle of the Civil War Siege of Yorktown, General Charles Hamilton fruitlessly asks for more artillery.
Item #20363.05, $800
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Ledger Report by Colored Sergeant, U.S.C.T.,
“Selling Government horse & bridle...” &c.
WILLIAM BUCKNER,
Manuscript Document Signed. July 18, 1864. “Report of Sergeant [William] Buckner of Co. B 46 U.S. Inf.” 2 pp. folio.
Scarce signed colored officer’s report listing several entries, including “selling of Government horse and bridle and saddles sold.” Report also mentions barrels of whiskey. William Buckner was a sergeant in the 46th Regiment of United States Colored Troops. From April through November 1864, this regiment was stationed in the District of Vicksburg at Milliken’s Bend. Sergeant William Buckner’s African American Civil War Memorial plaque number is C-59.
Item #21800, $800
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Gettysburg Doctor Returns to Civilian Practice after Helping in Army Hospitals
[BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG]. HENRY JANES,
Medical Director. Autograph Document Signed, releasing Dr. Robert Horner from further service at the expiration of his contract. Camp Letterman, near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, October 24, 1863, 1 p. 8 x 10 in.
“A. Asst Surg. Robt Horner is hereby relieved from duty at this place on account of the expiration of his contract…”
During the course of the Civil War, 5,532 doctors served for short terms in military hospitals after battles, typically at the rate of $100 per month for at least three months. Following the Battle of Gettysburg, Camp Letterman became the largest field hospital ever built in North America. By August 1863, all temporary field hospitals were closed, but Camp Letterman remained, with over 3,000 patients. Approximately 1,200 men were initially buried on site at Camp Letterman. It closed in November 1863, when the last remaining patients left.
Item #23817, $850
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Future Confederate Naval Commander
ARTHUR SINCLAIR,
Autograph Letter Signed to unknown. U.S.S. Pennsylvania, Norfolk, January 22, 1861. 1 p., 7⅞ x 9¾ in.
Three months before his home state of Virginia seceded, U.S. Naval Commander Arthur Sinclair writes to a Commander in the Navy.
Item #21767, $850
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