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Civil War and Reconstruction |
Celebrating a Report of McClellan’s Death
BENJAMIN PRENTISS (1819-1901),
Autograph Letter Signed (“Prentiss”) Columbus, [Kentucky], March 4, 1862. 1 p., 7¾ x 8¾ in.
Item #20740, $2,400
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Abraham Lincoln: Large 1861 Inauguration Chromolithograph
[ABRAHAM LINCOLN],
Chromolithograph. Presidents of the United States, [Philadelphia]: Published by F. Bouclet, lithographed by A. Feusier. Sheet size: 21 in. x 27 in. Image size: 24½ in. x 18¾ in.
Item #25965, ON HOLD
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“Copperheads Vigorously Prosecuting Peace: Is it the Peace YOU Want?”
[CIVIL WAR],
Broadside, “Copperheads Vigorously Prosecuting Peace. Is it the Peace You Want?” c. March 1863. 1 p., 15½ x 23½ in.
“Read what they say… Abraham Lincoln has usurped power, violated the Constitution, and put in peril the liberties of the people, but Jeff. Davis has not…. The South may make war on the North, but the North must not defend itself.... They have not a word to say in behalf of the Union, and our own imperiled liberties…”
The Peace Democrats, or Copperheads, were a vocal minority of Northern Democrats who opposed the Civil War and the administration of President Abraham Lincoln, and were willing to recognize an independent Confederacy. This anti-Copperhead broadside, probably printed for the 1863 Connecticut gubernatorial, turns the resolutions of the February 1863 Hartford Convention against the Copperheads.
At top, a caricature shows Copperheads attacking Lady Liberty, who is holding a Union shield. First published in Harper’s Weekly on February 28, 1863, over the title, “The Copperhead Party.—In Favor of a Vigorous Prosecution of Peace!” this cartoon came to symbolize all those who opposed the Lincoln administration’s conduct of the war.
Item #23005, ON HOLD
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Scathingly Anti-British Broadside Heralds Daniel Webster
[DANIEL WEBSTER],
Broadside announcing his upcoming arrival at Springfield, Massachusetts, April 7, [1851]. 1 p., 12 x 16½ in.
“Daniel Webster The Union Man, the Patriot, is to be with us To-morrow… Let us all meet to give him a welcome at the Depot… Let us show to the world that we have a ‘higher law’—a law above all party politics—the Divine Law of Patriotism!”
Item #24609, $2,900
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A Day After Grant’s Capture of Fort Henry, Confederate General Lovell Weakens New Orleans in a Futile Attempt to Shore Up Fort Donelson
MANSFIELD LOVELL,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Albert Sidney Johnston. New Orleans, La., February 7, 1862. 1 p., 8 x 11 in.
In February 1862, General Mansfield Lovell sends reinforcements to Albert Sidney Johnston, the chief Confederate commander in the West, so he can defend Nashville and Fort Donelson. The move was fruitless; Fort Donelson fell to Union troops a week after this letter was written.
Item #21776, $2,900
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“Black bellied Yankees” at The Battle of Fort Blakely
FREDERICK MORTIMER CRANDAL,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Julian E. Bryant. “Up the Alabama,” April 25, 1865. 4 pp.
A Union colonel, in command of the 48th Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops, writes to his friend, Col. Julian E. Bryant, of the 46th Regiment of U.S.C.T., recounting his regiment’s part in the Battle of Fort Blakely. “We have had hard marching & hard fighting. A week in trenches & a successful charge. The ‘Black bellied Yankee’ made their mark … everyone gives us credit for doing well & I think we did excellently well. … My loss was not very heavy, not over thirty all told. The other Regts in my Brigade suffered much more severely on the last charge, I being held in reserve & not being under fire but a few moments, they did gallantly…”
Item #21813, $3,000
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Currier & Ives Cartoon Mocks Stephen Douglas for Campaigning in 1860
[STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS],
“Taking the Stump, or Stephen in Search of His Mother,” Printed Political Cartoon. New York: Currier & Ives, 1860. 1 p., 17 x 13½ in.
This Currier & Ives political cartoon depicts Stephen A. Douglas, hat in hand, wearing a wooden leg and saying, “Gentlemen ‘I’m going to see my mother,’ and solicit a little help, for in running after a nomination, I fell over a big lump of Breckenridge, and have been very lame ever since.” Democratic Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise responds, “He looks like a smart little man, and if I were not Wise, I’d go my pile on him.” Behind Wise, Constitutional Union Party candidate John Bell says, “I think I’ll give him a trifle in New York currency.” In the background to the right, Southern Democratic candidate John C. Breckinridge stands with a cane and bandaged foot, and President James Buchanan offers him a wooden leg as well, saying, “Here, Breck, as Dug has taken the stump, you must stump it too.” Breckinridge replies, “Well old Buck, if you say so, I suppose I must, but I know it will be of no use, for I feel that I haven’t got a leg to stand on.” Meanwhile, Abraham Lincoln leans against a rail fence at the far right and says, “Go it ye cripples! wooden legs are cheap, but stumping wont save you.”
Item #27253, $3,500
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Prang & Co. Broadside with Maps of Early Civil War Hotspots
[Civil War],
“Maps of the Atlantic States, Forts Sumter, Pickens, Monroe and McHenry, in Connection with Norfolk and Gosport Navy Yard. Plans of Washington, Its Vicinity, Baltimore and Harper’s Ferry.” Boston: L. Prang & Co., 1861. 1 p., 26½ x 20½ in.
This bold broadside, published in Boston, consists of an overview map of the entire eastern United States, with free states hand-colored red; maps of Baltimore; the District of Columbia; Norfolk Harbor and Hampton Roads with Fort Monroe. The largest maps, extending half the width of the broadside each are of Charleston Harbor with details of its fortifications and of the Pensacola Navy Yard and Fort Pickens. The broadside also includes images of Andrew Jackson with the quotation, “The union must & shall be preserved”; Abraham Lincoln; Winfield Scott, with the quotation “Please God, I will fight many years for this Union, and that too, under the protective folds of the star spangled banner”; and Major Robert Anderson, “The Hero of Sumter” and Routes and Distances by both steamboat and railroad from Boston and Washington to various parts of the nation.
Item #25740, $3,500
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Edwin Stanton ALS Prelude to Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Autograph Letter Signed as secretary of war, to Major General Henry W. Halleck on War Department letterhead. Washington, D.C. April 26, 1866. 2 pp., 7¾ x 9¾ in.
“I am still tugging at the oar as hopelessly & almost as painfully as a galley slave”
Item #21929, $3,750
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Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase Insists on Proper Funding for Soldiers
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE,
Autograph [draft] Letter Signed “S.P. Chase” as Secretary of the Treasury, to Sen. William P. Fessenden, no date [ca. January 1864], 7¾ x 9¾ in., 6 pp.
Important letter to the chair of the Senate Finance Committee on how to pay for new conscripts and volunteers following Lincoln’s call for an additional 300,000 troops. Chase’s final version went to Fessenden on 11 January 1864. Fessenden’s “infernal tax bill” was introduced in May. After more than 300 amendments, it passed in June only one vote shy of unanimity.
Item #22307, $3,750
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Autograph Book Kept by a Jewish Former U.S. and Future Confederate Naval Officer Imprisoned at Fort Warren, Signed by Dozens of Fellow Political and Military Prisoners
[JUDAICA. CIVIL WAR] JULIAN MYERS,
Autograph Album. Fort Warren (Boston), MA, December 1861 to January 1862. 41 inscriptions on rectos of 21 pp., 5 x 7 ¾ in. With two 1899 clippings on Myers’ death of Myers at the rear. Disbound; worn, some leaves may have been lost.
Julian Myers enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 13, against his parent’s wishes. He served with distinction, rising to lieutenant before the Civil War. After a 30-month tour in the China Seas, he was arrested on board the steam sloop of war USS Hartford under Admiral Farragut, in Philadelphia, on December 4, 1861 due to his Confederate sympathies. He used this album to gather signatures from his fellow prisoners at Fort Warren at the mouth of Boston Harbor. While some of the inscriptions are simple autographs, many of the prisoners have added a note explaining their positions and how they came to be imprisoned.
Item #27805, $3,800
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On the Day He was Promoted to Rear Admiral, Farragut Writes from His Flagship During the Bombardment of Vicksburg, Mississippi
DAVID FARRAGUT,
Letter Signed, to J.C. Febriger. Vicksburg, Miss., aboard the “U.S. Flag Ship Hartford. Below Vicksburg,” July 16, 1862. 1 p., 8 x 10 in. With the original transmittal envelope.
Unaware of his promotion, Farragut writes as “Flag Officer” to Lieutenant Commander J. C. Febriger of the U.S.S. Kanawha reminding him of ordnance protocols and reports.
Item #23548, $3,900
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Beauregard’s Thanks for Donation for “our gallant soldiers now battling manfully for our rights & our Independence…”
G. T. BEAUREGARD,
Autograph Letter Signed, to Col. Charles J. Helm in Havana Cuba. From Charleston, S.C., January 28, 1863. On “Head Quarters, Department of South Carolina, Georgia & Florida” stationery. Endorsed on verso by Helm. 1 p., 8 x 9⅞ in.
A cordial letter to Col. Charles J. Helm, Confederate agent in the West Indies, sending thanks to “Mrs. Phebe M. Newcomb” for her donation of wool socks to the Confederate Army. He takes the opportunity to speak eloquently to the privations that Southern troops, specifically the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, have endured. “Permit me to thank you, & thro’ you Mrs. Phebe M. Newcomb, for the wollen socks she has been kind enough to make…”
Item #21784, $3,900
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Campaign Document Uses Civil War’s Costs Against President Johnson
[ANDREW JOHNSON],
The United States in Account with the Rebellion, Broadside, [October 1866]. 1 pp., 9½ x 11¼ in.
“Stand by Congress!”
This broadside, presented in the form of a balance sheet, gives an account of the money and men the northern states spent in suppressing the rebellion and the results it had received, including the “Murder of President Lincoln” and the massacre of black and white Unionists in Memphis (May 1866), New Orleans (July 1866), and Platte City, Missouri (September 1866). It concludes that loyal people, both black and white, must stand by Congress against President Andrew Johnson.
Item #27504, ON HOLD
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First Federal Occupation of Winchester Broadside
[CIVIL WAR],
Broadside, signed in type by Colonel William D. Lewis, Winchester, Virginia, April 17, 1862, 1 p. 12½ x 11 in.
Broadside describing the first occupation of Winchester, Virginia, during the Civil War.
Item #22128, $4,200
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Hand-Made Union Patriotic and Religious Song Book
[CIVIL WAR],
Manuscript Pen and Ink Folk Art Song Book, ca. 1864. 24 pp., 6⅝ x 8 in.
This hand-sewn booklet contains eight songs popular during the Civil War era, with music and lyrics in calligraphy. Songs include “On a Green Grassy Noll” by J. D. Canning, with music by Ira Odell; “The Old Mountain Tree” by James G. Clark; “Harmonian Waltz”; “Year of Jubilee, or Kingdom has Come!”; “Squire Jones’s Daughter”; “The Sweet Birds Are Singing”; “Lament of the Irish Emigrant”; and “Soon and For Ever,” by J. B. Monsell. The last page of the booklet is dated February 21, 1864.
Item #24826, $4,500
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“Separating the Loyal from the Disloyal” in Reconstruction North Carolina
[CIVIL WAR],
Archive of materials relating to the administering of loyalty oaths in North Carolina after the Civil War during presidential Reconstruction. 1865-1866.
Item #21814, $4,500
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Report of Attacks on Forts Walker and Beauregard
JUDAH P. BENJAMIN,
Autograph Letter Signed as Confederate Secretary of War, to President Jefferson Davis, with Davis’s endorsement. Richmond, Va., December 30, 1861. 1 p., plus docket, 7⅝ x 8⅞ in.
Benjamin sends his official reports on the attacks on Forts Walker and Beauregard to Jefferson Davis, to be communicated to the Confederate Congress.
Item #20084, $4,500
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The Gettysburg Address – November 20, 1863 Rare First Day Printing by “Lincoln’s Dog” John Forney in the Philadelphia Press
[ABRAHAM LINCOLN]. GETTYSBURG ADDRESS,
Newspaper, Philadelphia Press, Philadelphia, November 20, 1863. Complete, 4 pp., approx. 20¼ x 28 in.
“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract…”
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is on page 2, along with Edward Everett’s entire speech, and a report on the ceremonies. Printed in an important newspaper owned by John Forney, this version is in some ways more accurate than the more widely spread Associated Press report.
Item #25971, $4,800
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1865 General Orders, Including Many Regarding Lincoln’s Assassination
[CIVIL WAR - WAR DEPARTMENT],
Book. Bound collection of separately printed General Orders from the Adjutant General’s office for 1865. Containing 168 of 175 consecutive orders, and a 94-page index at front. Bound for Major General William Scott Ketchum, with his name in gilt on the spine and his markings or wartime notes on numerous pages. 4¾ x 7 in.
Item #22265, $4,800
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