Sixth U.S. President - 1825-29

Franked Panel, 3” x 4 ½”, “J.Q. Adams,” as U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts, the front portion of a postal cover, also addressed by Adams to his nephew, “Lieut[ena]n[t] Thomas B. Adams, Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, Florida,” with stamped free designation and an October 11 [1837], Washington City postmark.

The brother of John Quincy Adams, third son and youngest child of John and Abigail Adams, Thomas Boylston Adams died in 1832. Born in 1809, his son of the same name and the addressee on this panel, was stationed at various posts in the South after graduation from West Point in 1828. Young Lieutenant Adams subsequently saw action in the Second Seminole War, during which he died of disease at Fort Dade, Florida on December 14, 1837, one month after the receipt of this mailing at the outpost, as indicated by vertical docketing at left beneath the postmark. On the panel’s reverse (images are available upon request) are approximately fifteen partial lines from the associated letter, with social content, presumably in the hand of a family member.

Sixth U.S. President - 1825-29

U.S. Congressman John Quincy Adams submits information relating to the loss of a Seminole War troop transport in Tampa Bay, Florida

Autograph Letter Signed, 7 ½” x 9”, to “James Collier Esqr., Cohassett, Mass[achuse]tts,” with excellent early-Florida, Seminole War association.

As Congressman from Massachusetts, the former U.S. President informs Collier that he has submitted a report to Secretary of War Joel Poinsett regarding payment for the services of the schooner Rubicon in the rescue of the transport Charles Wharton, lost while carrying U.S. troops bound for service in the Second Seminole War. Congressional records state: “the ship Charles Wharton was chartered by the United States for the purpose of transporting nearly three hundred volunteer troops, with arms, provisions, baggage, and a quantity of sauer kraut from Philadelphia to Tampa Bay. While on the voyage, and so laden, about the 20^th of December [1837], she grounded on a shoal near the entrance of Tampa Bay, and was found in a very perilous condition…” The same record further indicates that the crew of at least one other vessel, “…at great risk, and with much labor, aided and assisted in saving the troops, the guns, ammunition, and private property of the officers.”

“Washington, 24 Feb[ruar]y 1838. Sir, I have submitted your Letter of the 6^th inst[an]t to the consideration of the Secretary of War, and have received an answer from him enclosing a report from the acting Quartermaster General T[rueman] Cross of the following report: ‘In reply to the Letter of Mr. James Collier referred to me by the War Department a few days since I have the honour to state that this office possesses no information whatever in relation to the loss of the ship Charles Wharton or the services alleged to have been rendered by the Schooner Rubicon. It appears however, by Mr. Colliers own admission, that the Quarter Master at Tampa Bay, paid the Captain of the Rubicon six hundred dollars, which it is a fair presumption was the value of his services.’ The fair presumptions of the Quarter-Master General may doubtless be rebutted by positive testimony. If you have any such, I shall be happy to give any assistance in my power to exhibit the same before the proper department. I am, very respectfully, Sir, your obed[ien]t Serv[an]t, J.Q. Adams.”

Interestingly, Adams’s nephew, Thomas Boylston Adams, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army and a Seminole War veteran, had died of disease at Fort Dade, Florida just two months earlier, on December 14, 1837. Also of note, Trueman Cross, the acting quartermaster general mentioned in this letter, was killed on April 21, 1846 by Mexican bandits near Fort Brown, Texas, just three days before the United States declared war with Mexico.

The sheet bears general soiling and wear.  Paper weakness and minor separation at the usual folds, along with several chips and tears in the margins, none affecting the text of the letter, have been professionally stabilized with archival backing on the reverse.

American Historian & Diplomat; U.S. Navy Secretary – 1845-46; U.S. Minister to Great Britain – 1846-49; Governor of Massachusetts - 1844

Mexican War-Date Letter Signed, 8” x 10”, as U.S. Navy Secretary during the presidency of James K. Polk, to “John Clapham, Gunner, U.S. Navy Yard, Washington.” In a circular letter designed for distribution to Navy officials shortly after the outbreak of war with Mexico, Bancroft urges a prompt accounting of the Navy officers available for active duty.

“Circular. Navy Department, July 30^th 1846. Sir, With a view to ascertain as accurately as possible, the services of the officers of the Navy, you will be pleased to fill up the enclosed blank in conformity with the headings of the several columns and return it to the Department as early as practicable. Where the information called for cannot be furnished from original documents in your possession, you will state it from recollection as nearly as you can, designating the instances in which it is given from memory. Temporary duty – such as attendance on Courts Martial, accompanying recruits from port to port or annual survey of stores, and the like – is to be omitted. I am respectf[ull]y, Yours, Geo. Bancroft.”

There is scattered foxing, along with two light horizontal folds, and general soiling and wear to the integral leaf.

American Historian & Diplomat; U.S. Navy Secretary – 1845-46; U.S. Minister to Great Britain – 1846-49; Governor of Massachusetts – 1844

SHUBRICK, WILLIAM BRANFORD (1790-1874) U.S. Navy Rear Admiral; Awarded a Congressional Medal for Gallant Conduct in the War of 1812

Mexican War-Date Letter Signed, 8” x 10”, Navy Department, April 27, 1846, “Geo. Bancroft,” as U.S. Navy Secretary during the presidency of James K. Polk, to “Mr. John Clapham, Gunner U.S. Navy, Paterson, N.J.” Just three days after the United States declared war with Mexico, Clapham is ordered to report to Commodore William B. Shubrick for duty at Washington, D.C. In the lower margin, Shubrick further directs Clapham, “Report to Commander D… W. Branford Shubrick, 5^th May 1846.”

A lifelong navy man, Shubrick was awarded a Congressional Medal, the antebellum precursor to the Congressional Medal of Honor, for gallant conduct during the War of 1812. As commander–in-chief of the U.S. naval force in the Pacific during the war with Mexico, he was responsible for the capture of several port cities in Mexico and southern California. In 1862, Shubrick was promoted to rear admiral on the retired list.

The sheet bears scattered foxing and light wear and staining along two horizontal folds. While the signature of Bancroft is light, Shubrick’s notation is quite distinct.

U.S. Postmaster General - 1861-64; Brother of Francis P. Blair, Jr.; Mayor of St. Louis – 1842-43; Counsel for Dred Scott before the U.S. Supreme Court

“…I have written to Col. Fremont by this mail & via Nicaragua at considerable length…”

Autograph Letter Signed, 2 ½ pages, on a folded 8” x 10” letter-sheet. Writing to his sister from San Francisco, Blair discusses his health and laboriously explains his difficulty in writing. He further mentions business matters with John C. Fremont, the noted western explorer whom the influential and politically connected Blair family had backed in the presidential election of 1856.

“San Francisco, Aug. 16, [18]59. My dear Sister, I have nothing to write & have written to Mary sending d[ra]fts. You will hear from her every thing I have to say but still I like to say a word or so to you all at Silver Spring where so large a part of my affections dwell. I have not been quite well & am not yet as well as I would like to be. But I really think it is home sickness as much as any thing else that ails me. I have had occasional symptoms lately of a return of the Panama fever but I have stopped them & am now [?] on matters very energetically. Don’t tell momma a word of this for the sound would for she…go mad about it. I wrote home because you would expect longer & fuller letters than I can write. I have written her tho at my usual length tho I found it hard work to find matter to fill my sheets to her…I am now in no mood to dwell here or on things here in any letters I want to get away. But I start [?] I get every thing fixed so I can leave [?] in good condition. Write me therefore just as if I were a fixture – tho the thought of such a prospect would slay me outright.

I have written to Col. Fremont by this mail & via Nicaragua at considerable length & about some matters of importance to him. You say that since writing I have had a conversation with J[?] who tells me he has a power of atty. & promised to bring it here to my office yesterday. But he did not. I seldom see him & don’t know where to hunt him. I suppose he will turn up in a few days again & if his [?] are sufficient. I will get him to act on them & get a contract with Palmer to set aside proceedings in case not approved by Fremont.

Our promising uncle James D. Blair has put around here from the Sandwich Islands whence he hails now. I have not seen him & shall not seek him. It is just as well to keep at a respectful distance from such fellows especially when they [word omitted] of him to you. Y[ou]rs Aff[ectionatel]y, M. Blair.

Ned [?] & his wife & the cooks [are] better than I have seen her in years very much improved & she has got that if nothing else by coming here. She sends love to you & mother.”

Overall condition is very good, with the usual folds and a few small stains.

U.S. Congressman – South Carolina – 1853-57

A Mexican War veteran and two-term Democratic representative from South Carolina, Brooks is most remembered for severely beating abolitionist Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner in the Senate chamber on May 22, 1856, two days after Sumner’s impassioned speech denouncing the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Signature, as antebellum U.S. Congressman from South Carolina, “P.S. Brooks, Ninety Six. So[uth] Carolina,” on a 1 ¾” x 5 ¾” portion of an album page.

Wife of 7^th Cavalry Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer; Author of Numerous Books on Her Husband and the American West

Mrs. Custer Asks for an Application to Join the Daughters of the American Revolution

Autograph Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages, on two separate 5” x 6 ½” sheets. Well into her eighties, Mrs. Custer writes to obtain an application to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.

“71 Park Avenue, N.Y., August 28 [1927]. Miss Blanche Edwards, My dear Miss Edwards, My cousin Mrs. Bingham has long wanted me to be a Daughter of the American Revolution and has been so good as to make it possible by searching records. I shall be glad to have the blanks for application when it is convenient for you to send them. Thanking you in advance I am very sincerely yours, Elizabeth B. Custer.”

Both sheets have a horizontal fold at the center and heavier toning along the edges. The accompanying transmittal envelope, 3 ½” x 5 ¼”, addressed by Mrs. Custer, to “Miss Blanche Edwards, Abiline, Kansas,” has general soiling and wear, along with a tear at the upper edge, near the August 29, 1927, Grand Central Station, New York postmark.

Typed Letter Signed, 1 ½ pages on two 8” x 10” sheets, the first with the desirable imprint, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. COMMISSIONER TO THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES. This letter’s author, known only as “William,” writes playfully to a young sister, concluding with news of a smallpox outbreak in southeastern Indian Territory. The territory was admitted to the Union as Oklahoma, the forty-sixth state, the following year. In part:

“Atoka, Indian Territory, March 7, 1906…Small pox has broken out in Atoka now. I think there are seven or eight cases in town. I have been vaccinated three times within the last seven years so I am not very much worried about the disease…”

Both sheets are lightly and evenly toned, with two horizontal folds, the second page having two small holes along the lower. There are small strips of tape in the upper left corners, by which the sheets were once attached.

Seventh U.S. President - 1829-37

A Double-Signed Check, as President

Document Signed, 2 ¾” X 7”, as President, Washington, August 24, 1835, “Andrew Jackson,” a partly printed check, also accomplished by Jackson. Drawn on the Bank of the Metropolis for $200, the check is made payable to Jackson’s son, “Andrew Jackson, j[u]n[io]r,” and thus bears a second full signature.

The check is lightly and evenly toned, with several folds and light creases. A cross-cut cancellation at center intersects portions of the upper signature.

Confederate General & Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia

Returning the Remains of a Young Lieutenant Who Died in Texas to His Father in Pennsylvania

“Hon[ora]ble John Dick, Meadville, P[ennsylvani]a. Camp in Clear fork of Brazos, 13 July 1857. Dear Sir, Having seen a statement in the papers that the letters that had reached Indianola from about the 20 to the 30 May had all been lost in the mails shipped aboard the Steamer Louisiana, & as my letter to you of the 6 May should have been at Indianola about that time, I have determined to send to you a Copy, that you might see why your letter of 10 Sept. [18]’56 had been so long unack[nowledge]d, should the original have been lost, & that I had given such attention to your inquiries as I was able. I hope my letter of the 19^th May reached you safely, & that you will have rec[eive]d w[ith] this the remains of your Son, forw[arde]d at that time to the Messrs. Thorps, who were also written to. I made arrangements for their shipment from Indianola, & have heard of their safe passage through San Antonio. With Sentiments of esteem & respect I am very resp[ectfull]y your Ob[edien]t Serv[an]t, R.E. Lee.”

During a forty-day expedition which scouted the headwaters of the Colorado, Brazos, and Wichita rivers, begun in early June, 1856, the four cavalry squadrons in Lee’s command had several encounters with hostile Comanche Indians. The available records indicate that Lieutenant Dick died at Camp Cooper on July 31, 1856 - just eight days after Lee’s return.  It is unknown if he died of wounds received during the expedition, or due to an illness or an injury that occurred at the notoriously harsh Camp Cooper.

The letter is in excellent condition, with slight discoloration along portions of the usual folds and superficial paper breaks at their intersections.

Confederate General & Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia

Document Signed, 8” x 10 ½”, as President of Washington College, Lexington Virginia, June 20, 1867, “R.E. Lee,” the partly printed report card for a student, “Mr. Edwin T. Dumble,” in the subjects of Latin, Greek, and Mathematics.

Born in Madison, Indiana in 1852, Edwin Dumble moved to Galveston, Texas with his family as an infant. His education at Washington College was twice interrupted by reversals in his father’s cotton and lumber businesses. He later served as an executive in several oil companies – most notably the Southern Pacific, the Rio Bravo, and the East Coast Oil Companies - and as Texas State Geologist from 1887 to 1897. In 1924, Dumble received a doctorate of science from his early alma mater, now Washington and Lee University, before retiring to Virginia. He died in 1927.

The document is lightly and evenly toned, with a few small stains. There are several tiny holes along the usual folds, none affected the text of the document.

Union Navy Captain; U.S. Navy Rear Admiral

Executive Officer of the U.S.S. Decatur in Action against Hostile Indians during the Battle of Seattle, January 26, 1856

As stated in Navy Department records, Middleton, a lifelong navy man, most notably “served as executive officer on board of the U.S.S. Decatur in operating against a combination of hostile Indians of the various tribes of Washington and Oregon territories during the war of the winter of 1855-56, particularly on the occasion of the attack upon Seattle, Washington Territory, on January 26, 1856.

Document Signed, 2 ¾” x 8”, United States Navy Yard, New York, June 1, 1858, “Edward Middleton,” a partly printed receipt for Middleton’s pay of $101.71.

Overall condition is very good, with a minor paper break in the lower left margin.

Union Brevet Brigadier General; Union Lieutenant Colonel – 7^th Iowa Cavalry

KIRKWOOD, SAMUEL J. (1813-94) Civil War Governor of Iowa – 1860-64; U.S. Interior Secretary – 1881-82

From the Dakota Territory, Pattee Urges Iowa Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Appoint Three Officers in the Newly Designated Forty-First Battalion of Iowa Infantry

War-Date Autograph Letter Signed, four pages, on an 8” x 10” letter-sheet, to Iowa Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood, a seldom-seen Civil War-time communication from the frontier outpost at Fort Randall, in the Dakota Territory. In this lengthy, detailed letter, Pattee requests that Governor Kirkwood appoint three officers in the newly designated 41^st Battalion of Iowa Infantry: 1^st Lieutenant Francis H. Cooper; 2^nd Lieutenant John C. Rutan; and 2^nd Sergeant Wallace Pattee, presumably Pattee’s brother, as both were born in Canada and were approximately forty years old when they enlisted in the Union Army.

Governor Kirkwood.

Sir, About a month ago I received my commission as Major and would have written you immediately in regard to the vacancy in the [?] office but for the strong opposition in the Co[mpany] against Lieut[enant] Cooper’s being promoted. I was in hopes this opposition would subside. I believe it is groundless as no one of the Company has been able to say any thing against him only that they don’t like him. It all grows out of the contest in the first election between Cooper & [John M.S.] Hodgedon. Hodgedon got 17 votes & some of his friends asked Cooper the same evening of the election to sign a paper agreeing to decline accepting the Captaincy if it should be offered to him which of course he would not do. I believe it to be a wicked conspiracy on part of a very few of Cooper’s enemies among whom [William] Truesdell stands first. This opposition has been and is now carried on in a spirit of insubordination and is pure spite work.

They have just shown me a petition to you asking that the first Serg[ean]t Hodgedon be appointed Capt[ain], thus striking an undeserved blow at Co[o]per and Rutan. Hodgedon is nothing near as well qualified for the place as Corporal [John N.] Pritchard and I insist upon it that you pay no attention to their paper.

Again a number of the signers of that petition & remonstrance have told me & Rutan & Cooper that they had nothing against the Lieutenant and that they wanted their names off as they did not know what they were signing and that they had been deprived of the privilege of taking their names off. In your circular of Jan[uary] 18^th 1862 are these words, ‘In filling field offices below that of Col[onel] and the office of Capt[ain] the recommendation of the Col[onel] will usually be sufficient.’

In our Regiment there is no Col[onel] and I understand that I sustain the same relation to the Reg[iment] as the Col[onel] and consequently I ask you to promote 1^st Lieut[enant] Francis H. Cooper to Captain & 2^nd Lieut[enant] John C. Rutan to 1^st Lieut[enant] of Co[mpany] ‘A’ & I ask you to appoint 3^rd Serg[ean]t Wallace Pattee 2^nd Lieut[enant] of Co[mapny] ‘A’ and the sooner this is done the sooner discipline will be restored. In appointing the non-commissioned officers last fall I gave Hodgedon the best place in order to attone [sic] as much as possible for his defeat in the election against Cooper and to heal the difficulty as much as I could instead of giving the place to Wallace Pattee as any other or most other persons would have done.

Hodgedon has no education scarcely and Wallace has some capacity for business and I want to appoint him Q[uarter] M[aster] so as to let Rutan with the Co[mpany] where he wishes to be very much. I enclose herewith the Resignations of Lieut[enant]s Cooper & Rutan which I hope you will not receive as I have but one other man of good qualification that I can rely upon with certainty.

The receipt of my commission gave me great satisfaction and strengthened me in my command. A compliance with my wishes as set forth in this letter will also give me a better standing & assist me very much in my arduous duties.

No man living can truly say that I have given a useless or oppressive order to men under my command but I have learned this fact – that in the army we must ignore Democracy and become seemingly tyrants. So far I have been able to maintain discipline and good order except in a few cases that is in the officers of Co[mpany] B who still persist in evading my instructions and degrading me in the eyes of all.

I am very Respectfully, John Pattee, Major 41^st Iowa, Com[man]d[in]g Post.”

In April 1863, Governor Kirkwood ordered the 41^st Iowa transferred into another new regiment, the 7^th Iowa Cavalry, with John Pattee commissioned lieutenant colonel.  The unit was immediately assigned in the Department of Kansas, where “They garrisoned posts, escorted trains, protected emigrants, guarded lines of travel and telegraph, and had frequent combats with the Indians who had been induced by some means to unbury the tomahawk and wage savage warfare against the whites: deaths from battle, 49; deaths from disease, 99; discharged, 246.” Source: The Union Army, Vol. 4.

The letter has clean paper separation at the edges of two horizontal folds, along which there is heavier soiling and wear on the final page.

Union Brigadier General – Indiana

ARNOLD, ABRAHAM KERNS (1837-1901) Union Captain – 5^th U.S. Cavalry; Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for Gallantry at the Davenport Bridge, North Anna River, Virginia, 18 May, 1864

A West Point graduate, Pitcher was brevetted for gallantry in the Mexican War battles of Contreras and Churubusco. He was stationed in Texas when the Civil War broke out, and his only active field service was at Cedar Mountain, where he received a severe knee wound which rendered him unfit for further field service. After the war, Pitcher was superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, 1866-70.

Document Signed, 7 ¾” x 9 ½”, partly printed, vellum, West Point, New York, November 13, 1868, "T.G. Pitcher, Bvt. B[rigadier] G[eneral] U.S.A., " as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, discharging “…John Hall, a Private of the U.S. Military Academy Detachment of Cavalry…in consequence of Expiration of term of Service.”

The lower portion of the document, designated for comment on the recipient’s character, has been noted and signed, “Good. A.K. Arnold, Capt. 5^th Cavalry, Bvt. Major U.S. Army, Commanding Cavalry Detachment.” A recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for “conspicuous gallantry in a charge on the enemy in action at the Davenport Bridge, North Anna River, Virginia, 18 May, 1864,” Arnold led numerous expeditions against the western Indians over the next twenty years. He was appointed brigadier general on May 4, 1898, seeing active field service in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

The document bears general soiling and wear, and there is a small hole along one of the usual folds. While the signature of Pitcher is somewhat light, that of Arnold is bold and distinct.

U.S. Major General - Mexican War; Democratic U.S. Representative – Mississippi - 1855-58; Governor of Mississippi – 1835-36 & 1850-51

A Mexican War veteran and ardent antebellum advocate of states' rights, Quitman died in Natchez, Mississippi in 1858, allegedly as a result of consuming poisoned food at the inaugural banquet of James Buchanan.

Signed Envelope, 3" x 5 ½”, “Free, J.A. Quitman, M.C.,” a franking signature as U.S. Congressman from Mississippi, also addressed by Quitman to his son, “F. Henry Quitman, E[squi]r[e], Houma, Terrebonne, Louis[ian]a,” and bearing a Washington, DC postmark.

Light soiling and wear.

First Territorial Governor of Minnesota – 1849-53; Mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota – 1855-56; Civil War Governor of Minnesota – 1860-63; U.S. Congressman – Pennsylvania – 1843-47 & Senator - Minnesota – 1863-75; U.S. Secretary of War – 1879-81

Support from the Minnesota Territory Whigs for the New Administration of Millard Fillmore

Autograph Letter Signed, two pages, front and reverse of an 8” x 10” sheet, as territorial governor of Minnesota, to newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster. In the month following the death of President Zachary Taylor, Ramsey expresses the support of the Whigs in the territory for the new administration of Millard Fillmore, further detailing the Whig Party’s domination of territorial politics over the opposition Democratic Party. Interesting in this context is Ramsey’s usage in conveying that the Whigs “have prevented the success of democracy.”

“St. Paul, Min[nesota] Ter[ritory], August 25, 1850. Hon, D. Webster. Dear Sir, I simply write to say how happy the whole body of the Whigs of Minnesota are in seeing you at the head of the New administration. They feel an assurance in your possession of the reins of gove[rnme]nt all will be well. In this remote Territory the Whigs are not few, so far by prudent measures they have prevented the success of the democracy & have fortunately elected their friends to all the local offices with the gift of the people that are of any account. At this time we are in the midst of the Canvass for the election of delegates. There are however no party candidates before the people for that office – that is they all claim to run without reference to party. This I believe is the first of our Territories in which the democrats as such have been kept out of power. We think we have some cause of pride in this state of things. Ardently attached to the administration, I should be pleased at any time, to learn of any manner in which I could serve it. Very respectfully Your ob[edien]t s[er]v[an]t, Alex. Ramsey.”

The sheet bears general soiling and wear, a few superficial edge chips, and smearing of ink to a few letters.