Union Brigadier General – Vermont; Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the Capture of Three Regimental Flags at Chancellorsville

As lieutenant colonel, Grant led the 5^th Vermont Infantry at Savage’s Station – where the unit suffered losses in killed and wounded among the highest of any engagement of the war – and, as colonel, at Fredericksburg, where he was wounded. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his command’s capture of three regimental flags at Chancellorsville, and later saw action under Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley and at Petersburg, where he was again wounded.

Autograph Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, on the first and third leaves of a folded 5” x 8” letter-sheet. Addressing “Col. R.A. Kennedy,” quite possibly former 5^th Vermont Infantry Colonel Ronald A. Kennedy, Grant discusses an unspecified matter being considered by the quartermaster general. In concluding, he refers to a letter from Union Brevet Brigadier General Richard Napoleon Batchelder, himself a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry against Mosby’s guerrillas during the Civil War.

“Minneapolis, Minn[esota], Nov[ember] 1/[18]94. Col. R.A. Kennedy. My D[ea]r Sir, I have yours of Oct. 22, & will now tell you what I did. I enclosed your letter of Oct. 16 in my letter to the Quartermaster General. I thought the plain and honest statement of the matter as given by yourself to one in whom you had some confidence & evidently not intended for the eye of any official, would tend to give a favorable impression. Herewith I hand you the letter of the Quartermaster General rec[eive]d a few days ago which please return after perusal. It is about as I expected, & I think I so suggested. I avoided making my letter to the Q[uarter] M[aster] G[eneral] official lest your letter would be placed on file, & you will note that Gen. Batchelder’s letter to me is not made official. Allow me to congratulate you that all is well. Truly Yours, L.A. Grant.”

The letter is accompanied by the 3 ½” x 6” transmittal envelope, addressed by Grant, to “Col. R.A. Kennedy, Supt. Natl. Cemetery, Lebanon, Ky.,” and signed in the upper left corner, as the return-address recipient, “L.A. Grant, care of J.C. Grant…”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with two horizontal folds. The envelope bears light soiling and wear, and the right edge was irregularly torn when opened; portions of Grant’s return-address signature are light.

18^th U.S. President - 1869-77; Union Lieutenant General

Autograph Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, on front and reverse of a 5” x 7 ½” sheet.

The letter can undoubtedly be dated to the presidency of Grant, as he is writing to the widow of U.S. Secretary of War John A. Rawlins regarding her property and financial affairs, in light of her move from Washington after her husband’s death. A longtime friend, Rawlins served as trusted aide and advisor to Grant during the Civil War and as Secretary of War from the beginning of Grant’s presidency until his untimely death from tuberculosis on September 6, 1869. After Rawlins death, Grant was named trustee of the benevolent fund established for the family and served as executor for the Rawlins children.

“My Dear Mrs. Rawlins, Enclosed I return deed of property to be recorded, and checks for amount stipulated as first payment in it. I have ordered your furnature [sic] from Washington and when I go there will send to you all accumulated interest. I think you may be able to pay five hundred of the outstanding debt now. Hoping you will be very happy in your new home, I remain, Very Truly Yours, U.S. Grant.”

The sheet bears general soiling and wear, scattered stains, and old tape repairs to several of the usual folds. There is minor brushing of ink to portions of Grant’s signature.

American Editor & Abolitionist

Three Weeks after the Assassination of President Lincoln – “…I hope for better times politically, but the sky is clouded…”

As founder of the New York Tribune, Greeley exerted great political power with the expression of his antislavery views. He was defeated in the 1872 presidential election, and died later in the same year.

Autograph Letter Signed, on imprinted 5” x 8” Office of The Tribune stationery, to “James Graham, Esq.,” regarding his appointment to an unspecified position.

In the month after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, conveys that he has recommended Graham to New York Governor Reuben Fenton, and sorrowfully notes the effect of the recent, abrupt death of the sixteenth president on the nation’s politics.

“New York, May 8, 1865. Friend Graham: Yours received. I have your letter, and have forwarded your application to Gov. Fenton, with a strong letter of my own, urging him to appoint you. I have no doubt he will. I trust you experienced no permanent injury from Vanderbilt’s drafts. I paid them both so soon as they reached me. I hope for better times politically, but the sky is clouded. I cannot see to the end, but have faith.  Yours, Horace Greeley.”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with two horizontal folds.

U.S. Vice President - 1861-65; Governor & Senator - Maine

Civil War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, on a 5” x 8” letter-sheet, as U.S. Vice President, to “Hon[orable] S[imon] Cameron, Sec[retar]y of War.” During the first year of war, Hamlin inquiries after a man he has recommended for a clerkship in the War Department.

“Hampden [Maine], Sept[ember] 20, 1861. My Dear Sir, Some two weeks since you Tel[egraphed] me to forward you the name of a man for a clerkship, I did so, and sent you the name of John W. Brown of this town – a very good man. Since then I have heard nothing from you. Can you give him a place? I sincerely hope so – and you will oblige. Yours Truly, H. Hamlin.”

While post-war manuscripts by Hamlin are plentiful, war-date letters are not commonly encountered. The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with the usual folds. There are several ink stains in the lower half, none affecting the text of the letter; a three-inch vertical tear through the greeting and text at the upper left, with no loss of paper, could easily be repaired on the blank reverse.

Personal Secretary of Abraham Lincoln; U.S. Secretary of State - 1898-1905 – McKinley & Roosevelt Administrations

Hay became a friend of Lincoln while studying law in Springfield, Illinois and accompanied him to Washington to become one of his personal secretaries. After the war, Hay and Nicolay wrote their biography of Lincoln, and Hay served as Secretary of State under McKinley and Roosevelt from 1898 through 1905.

Autograph Letter Signed, two pages, on the first and third leaves of a 5 ¼” x 8” letter-sheet. Addressing former Union General Frederick Tracy Dent, brother-in-law and secretary of President Ulysses S. Grant, Hay seeks the help of the President in securing his brother’s advancement in the military.

“New York, August 31 [no year]. My Dear General Dent, Enclosed you will find the note to the President which you suggested I should write. My brother Lieutenant Leonard Hay is Adjutant of the 9^th Infantry. He likes the service and desires to remain in it. I know him to be a very efficient and valuable officer and if you can do anything to promote his wishes, I am sure it will be to the advantage of the service, and will lay me under great personal obligations. I am very faithfully yours, John Hay. P.S. My address will be for the present ‘Republican Office, Chicago’ where I am always at your disposition.”

Beneath Hay’s closing and signature, General Dent has written and initialed a biographical notation of Hay, in pencil, “Private Sec[retary] of President Lincoln and author of Jim Beldsoe & little breeches. F.T.D.”

The letter-sheet bears the usual light toning, and there is weakness and clean separation, with no loss of paper, at the edges of two horizontal folds. The text of the letter is unaffected by a three-quarter inch area of paper loss in the upper margin of the second page.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice– 1902-32; Civil War Union Captain – 20^th Massachusetts Infantry

Autograph Letter Signed, 5” x 6 ½”, to “Mrs. Carl C. Wheaton.” As U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice, Holmes cordially complies with an autograph request, signing in full at the conclusion.

“Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, September 5, 1930. My dear Mrs. Wheaton, Presence here will prevent my accepting your kind offer to show me your autograph book, but it gives me pleasure to comply with your slight request that I add to it and join so distinguished a company. Very Truly Yours, Oliver Wendell Holmes.”

The letter is lightly and evenly toned, with a few unobtrusive stains and a horizontal fold at the center.

Seventeenth U.S. President - 1865-69

Signed Album Page, 6 ¼” x 8”, “Andrew Johnson, Greeneville, Tenn[essee],” beneath the signatures of former U.S. Secretary of War John Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional Union Party in the 1860 presidential election, and former Tennessee Governor James C. Jones. The signatures can surely be dated to the 1847 to 1859 period, during which all three men served as U.S. Senators from Tennessee.

The outer margins bear somewhat heavier toning, and there are several binding holes along the left edge.

Sixteenth U.S. President - 1861-65

A Request for a Lieutenant’s Promotion – Just Two Months Before He was Mortally Wounded at Cedar Creek

“The above, written by a very good man, is submitted to the Secretary of War. A. Lincoln.”

Noted as a resident of Allentown, Pennsylvania in the accompanying National Archives records, Mr. Baldwin was undoubtedly a caller at the Executive Mansion, and was directed to write his request, hoping that President Lincoln would approve and advance it through the proper channels. His letter, accomplished in pencil, in full:

“Aug. 12^th 1864. To His Excellency, Abraham Lincoln, President of the U.S. I desire the transfer or promotion of my brother, Lt. Henry M. Baldwin, Battery M, 5^th Reg[imen]t U.S. Artillery, to any vacancy in the Regt. which you may decide it possible to place him, consistent with the good of the service. Very Resp[ectfull]y, F.H. Baldwin.”

There is no record of Lieutenant Baldwin’s promotion or transfer before he was severely wounded through the chest and left arm on October 19, 1864 – just two months later - at the Battle of Cedar Creek. He died on November 8, 1864 at Sheridan Hospital, near Winchester, Virginia.

The letter is in excellent condition, with creases from two vertical folds.                                                                                      

Sixteenth U.S. President - 1861-65

Civil War-Date Document Signed, 11" x 18", as President during the final two months of his life, Washington, D.C., February 14, 1865, “Abraham Lincoln,” a partly printed appointment for “…Ayres Stockley…Deputy Postmaster at Rockland, in the State of Michigan.” Countersigned by the Secretary of State, “William H. Seward.”

Born in Philadelphia in 1824, Ayres Stockley settled in Michigan in the 1850’s. He died at Calumet on May 27, 1911 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Ontonagon, Michigan.

There is staining in the center, and slight bleeding of ink in Lincoln’s signature; clean separation and superficial paper loss along and at the intersections of the usual folds.

Sixteenth U.S. President - 1861-65

Civil War-Date Document Signed, 15” x 19”, as President, Washington, July 29, 1861, “Abraham Lincoln,” a partly printed appointment for “…Stephen Brooks…Surveyor of the Customs for the District of Middletown in the State of Connecticut.” Countersigned by the Secretary of the Treasury, “S.P. Chase.”

The document is in excellent overall condition, with light age toning and several minor paper breaks at the intersections of the usual folds. Both signatures are distinct and free from flaw in every respect.

Sixteenth U.S. President - 1861-65

Civil War-Date Franked Envelope, 3” x 5 ¼”, as President, “A. Lincoln.” The envelope is also addressed by Lincoln, to “Rev[erend] Z.P. Wilds, 120 Prince Street, New York,” and has a June 21, 1862, Washington postmark.

The previous day, Lincoln met with a six-member delegation of Progressive Friends, composed of Thomas Garrett, Alice Eliza Hambleton, Oliver Johnson, Dinah Mendenhall, William Barnard, and Eliza Agnew. The group presented the President with a memorial, urging him to decree the emancipation of the slaves, the position adopted at the Friends’ annual meeting. It is quite worthy of note that Lincoln wrote Reverend Wilds, well known as a longtime missionary to the poor of New York City, the day following his meeting with this group of prominent leaders in the Abolition and Underground Railroad movements.

Set into an attractive, inlaid pedestal frame, the envelope bears general soiling and wear, along with minor paper loss along the right edge and above the somewhat smudged postmark.

American Suffragette & Reformer; An Organizer of the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War

Signature, with closing, “Y[ou]rs truly, M.A. Livermore,” on a 1 ¾” x 3 ¾” slip of paper, removed from a letter.

Lightly and evenly toned, with old mounting remnants on the reverse.

Union Major General – Illinois; U.S. Senator & Congressman - Illinois

Logan’s successes at Belmont and Atlanta won the praise of both Sherman and Grant, who considered him to be one of the best civilian generals in the army. Logan is also the founder of Memorial Day.

Autograph Quotation Signed, on a 2 ¼” x 6 ¾” portion of an album page.

“One of the bright jewels in our nature, is true friendship. John A. Logan. April 20 – [18]83.”

A few small stains detract very little, and there is a strip of old tape along the right edge on the reverse.

Union Brigadier General - New Hampshire; U.S. Congressman – New Hampshire – 1859-63 & 1865-67; U.S. Senator – New Hampshire - 1889

Marston recruited and led the 2^nd New Hampshire at First Bull Run, the Peninsula, and Fredericksburg. After Gettysburg, he was assigned to establish the prison camp at Point Lookout and returned to the Army of the Potomac for the disastrous Union assault at Cold Harbor.

Marston Writes of the Hard Fighting at Drewry’s Bluff

War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, three pages, on a 5” x 8” letter-sheet. Writing to an unnamed cousin from the scene of the Union’s just-concluded attempt to take Richmond, Marston shares details of the hard fighting, and concludes with information relating to political events in his native New Hampshire. In the campaign which came to be known as Drewry’s Bluff, begun on May 6, 1864, Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James advanced overland toward Richmond from the Bermuda Hundred, just north of City Point. As indicated in this letter, the Federal Army came within six miles of the Confederate capital before being repulsed in a counterattack by troops under P.G.T. Beauregard on May 16, successfully delaying the fall of Richmond by almost a year.

Friend Cousin,

Your brother in [?] wrote me to know what had become of you, but I suppose you have reported before this as Wilkinson tells me you started for home some days ago. Since I started on this campaign I have had little opportunity to hear from or write to anyone. For nearly a week I had no opportunity of sending letters if I had the time to write them. It has been the hardest kind of campaigning I have ever known. Marching, fighting, sleeping on the ground without tents, fire or even a blanket. I have several times undertaken to write a short note but before I could complete it everybody would be called to arms to repel a charge or make an attack. I have had to write orders and reports with a tree for a table while shot and shells were crashing through the branches. The rebels are pressing us about as hard as we are pressing them and last night they shelled our camps. But I imagine we shall soon reverse all this and drive them within their earthen walls about Richmond and force an entrance ourselves. The right wing of the army got within 6 or 7 miles of Richmond on the 16^th but that 6 or 7 miles we shall find a much harder road to travel than that we have passed over. I have re[ceive]d only three or four letters from N.H. since I left Yorktown and not one from Washington. Probably people don’t know where I am and I hardly know myself. That it is all woods, swamps & ravines with but very little land in cultivation I know very well.

What new thing has turned up about the Senatorship – anything? Wilkinson had a letter from his brother saying Tuck was about played out & that Rollins he thought was gaining a little. I am told also that the Boston Advertiser is down on me for not supporting Joel and us not being in the front rank of republicans &c &c. That is Tuck of course. His hand may not have written the article but his mean spirit dictated it. Well, we have had to deal with these fellows before and whatever else they may do they cannot defeat us.

I should like for you to write me and let me know the present aspect of affairs.

When I will get time to write again I don’t know. My command occupies me every moment.

Yours very truly, G. Marston.

Remember me kindly to friend Gale.”

Signatures, of six nineteenth-century Massachusetts politicians and abolitionists, on small slips of paper.

Everett, Edward – U.S. Statesman & Orator (preceded Lincoln at Gettysburg)
Garrison, William Lloyd – Abolitionist Newspaper Publisher
Choate, Rufus – U.S. Congressman
Wendell Phillips – Abolitionist
Banks, Nathaniel P. – Civil War Union General
Wilson, Henry – Vice President under Grant (died in office)

Most are closely clipped, with old glue staining from past mounting.

Union Major General; Democratic U.S. Presidential Candidate - 1864

McClellan graduated second in the West Point class of 1846, served in the Mexican War and, at the outbreak of the Civil War, was appointed major general. In August 1861, after the Federal disaster at First Manassas, he assumed command of the Army of the Potomac. From this point forward, McClellan’s organizational ability was offset by his hesitance in pursuing the enemy, causing Lincoln to permanently relieve him in November 1862, after the battle of Antietam. He ran unsuccessfully against Lincoln as the Democratic Presidential candidate in the election of 1864.

After the Failed Assault of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry - McClellan Gives Advice for Taking Fort Wagner

Civil War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, on the first and third leaves of an 8” x 10” letter-sheet, to “Col[onel] H.L. Abbott.” Just ten months after his dismissal from command of the Army of the Potomac by President Lincoln, McClellan advises Colonel Henry Larcom Abbot, later brevetted brigadier general, in the best means for taking Fort Wagner. It is somewhat curious, yet perhaps inevitable, that Abbot is seeking McClellan’s counsel, in light of his being relieved of command the previous year.

“Orange, New Jersey, Sept[ember] 5, 1863. My dear Col., Your kind letter of the 21^st, with its enclosures, has arrived. I have read the experiments with much interest, & would be glad to have the result of any similar ones you may make. I am inclined to think that an elaborate system of experiments upon the breaching of thick parapets of sand & earth would be of interest just now – altho’ I expect [Fort] Wagner and its companions will have to be taken in some such way as the [?] was viz: drive the garrison into their bombproofs by mortar firing, & then march into the work before they can get out of their shelters. Gil[l]more will have to use more mortars before he gets through. Please thank Col. White for remembering my request. Give my kindest regards to all my friends in the Reg[imen]t. Mrs. McC[lellan] desires to write in this request, as she regards herself as having peculiar claims on your Reg[imen]t. With my thanks for the update, I am ever your friend, Geo. B. McClellan.”

Less than two miles from Fort Sumter, Fort Wagner was the South’s principal land defense of Morris Island, South Carolina, guarding the southern approach to the harbor of Charleston. On July 18, 1863, just six weeks before this letter was written, the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, famously composed of black troops, led a frontal assault on the fortification, losing the regiment’s organizer, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, along with twenty-five percent of its number, in the attack. Fort Wagner was never taken by force; after the disastrous assault of July 18, a formal siege began. A subsequent assault, ordered for September 7, proved unnecessary, as the fort and all other Confederate works on Morris Island had been abandoned the night before.

There is light, even toning, and the text of the letter is unaffected by a few small holes and clean paper separation at the edges of the usual folds.

Union Brevet Brigadier General

Ordering General Heintzelman's Artillery Assault on Yorktown, Virginia during the Battle of Lee's Mill

War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, 8” x 10”, to Union General Charles Smith Hamilton, early in the Peninsula campaign. As chief-of-staff, McKeever conveys an order from Third Corps Commander Samuel Heintzelman for an artillery assault on the Confederate defenses near Yorktown, Virginia. It was the hope of Army of the Potomac Commander George B. McClellan that the barrage would fix the Confederate left at Yorktown so Federal forces farther south could overwhelm the Confederate defenders under General John B. Magruder at Lee’s Mill, on the Warwick River.

“Head Quarters 3^rd Corps, April 16^th 1862. Brig. Genl. Hamilton, Com[man]d[in]g Division. General, The Brig. Genl. Commanding directs that you open a fire of Artillery upon the enemy, whenever you can do so with any result. Very Respectfully, Chauncey McKeever, Ass[istan]t Adj[utan]t General.”

Exhibiting the timidity which would mark his war-time field command, McClellan failed to adequately reinforce the Lee’s Mill assault, instead resolving to take Yorktown by siege. After delaying McClellan at Yorktown for another three weeks, the Confederates withdrew to Williamsburg, then Richmond, setting the stage for the battles of the Seven Days.

Overall condition is excellent, with minor soiling and wear along the usual folds on the reverse.