Civil War 1

3-1. Civil War Patriotic Scrapbook.

An unusual item: oversize scrapbook album leaves bearing large number of pro-Union and  anti-Southern designs, meticulously trimmed from Civil War patriotic envelopes and  lettersheets. Judged prepared c. 1890, 14 mocha leaves, 12½ x 16, each with 8 to 16 designs  mounted, excised with remarkable precision - even silhouetting bayonets and the hair of  stereotypical black musicians in the “Contra-Band” - and neatly arranged. In all, about 173  cuttings, most red, white and blue, some with additional colors, few steel engravings. Artfully  grouped by color, size and shape (e.g. flags), or general themes: cartoons and caricatures, Miss  Columbia, anti-Southern, Fort Sumter, Ellsworth, George Washington, blacks, and others. At  least a few of the designs are uncommon to scarce, including the white-on-red boot of “Uncle  Sam” leaving “His Mark” on the fleeing torso of “Jeff Davis,” and a large, detailed lettersheet  image of a lifelike Union eagle alert at serpents in the grass. Much care and thought was  expended, just the time to so critically cut such unforgiving designs and shapes being  extraordinary. (From a Fremont cover surprinted “Patriot” in red, each letter has been  flawlessly freed from the envelope and remounted, in position!) Working daily, the project  could have taken several months. Most of bottom row of first three leaves inexplicably  removed, blank edges of leaves moderately brittle and chipped, else very satisfactory, the  colors true, and a unique gathering of “pre-curated” Civil War patriotic designs, at a fraction  of the cost of the complete envelopes. While large collections of patriotic covers remained  relatively intact into the twentieth century, they carried with them few clues of how they were  interpreted by their Civil War owners. This ensemble is particularly interesting, through its  components and groupings, for its reflection of the relative importance of themes and  sentiments to someone who clearly lived through the Civil War years. Recently found in  Pennsylvania Dutch country. $150-250 (about 173 cuttings on 14 leaves)

3-2. A True Veteran. Sprawling signature “

John E. Wool / Brig. Genl. / U.S. Ar(my),” on dark cream conclusion of document, 2 x 4¼  irregular. Serving continuously since the War of 1812, Wool joined Gen. Zachary Taylor in the  Mexican War, and was commanding the Dept. of the East when the Civil War erupted. By  1862 he was outranked by only three other men: McClellan, Frémont, and Halleck. Old yellow  paper mounting traces on verso, possibly where once inlaid on an album page, mouse nibbles  at mostly blank right, affecting only last two letters of “Army,” else about very good. $85-115 

3-3. On Rare “Morgan Rifles”

Letterhead, with Matching Envelope. Lengthy A.L.S. of colorful Union Col. John S. Crocker,  first leaf imprinted “93d Regt. N.Y.S.V., ‘Morgan Rifles,’” Camp Washington, D.C., Mar. 24,  1862 - exactly one month before being taken prisoner. 4 pp., 4¾ x 8 and 5 x 6¼. To his wife  in Cambridge, Washington County, N.Y. “Most sincerely do I regret the sickness of dear little  Franky, and the illness of others of my beloved flock...I hope & pray that better health exists  with you all...I shall feel quite uneasy til I receive further tidings...The Paymaster has been  paying off my men today. He has paid us over $70,000...I do not expect to get the money I am  entitled to for raising the Regt. at this time. But I think I shall get it, at some future period...I  have been stopping at Willard’s Hotel the past few days to recruit a little...We have heard little  news from Father. Mr. Peacock who was imprisoned with him at first, says he was living in  Dec. & was a prisoner in Culpeper County. We may see him alive yet. Wm. & James have gone  out to Manassas today to see if they can get any further tidings of him...My Regt. is in the 3rd  Brigade of Gen. Casey’s Div...and the Brig. Gen. is Palmer of the Regular Army. Both are kind  hearted men & first class officers...Our Regt...forms part of the Grand Army of the Potomac...A Zouave Regt. was sent home today &  discharged. There was a difficulty among the officers....” Light marginal toning, very minor foxing at top of second leaf; a trifle light but  entirely legible, else fine. • With brilliant yellow cover, printed cornercard “From the / 93d Regt N.Y.S.V. / ‘Morgan Rifles.’”  Washington c.d.s. tying 3¢. Several bent perfs; envelope with moderate postal handling, else about very good, attractive, and rare. By  1860, Crocker had already logged twenty years in the N.Y. State Militia, rising to General, along the way becoming a lawyer and Know  Nothing politician. In 1861, he organized the 93rd N.Y., mustering over 1,000 men, naming it the Morgan Rifles in tribute to his friend,  the Governor; the unit served as the guard for Army of the Potomac’s headquarters, including at Gettysburg. Captured at Yorktown in  1862, Crocker was held in Libby, Belle Isle, and Salisbury Prisons (see following lot), until exchanged through special effort by Stanton.  Among Crocker’s letters in the University of Virginia Library, he stated, upon his exchange in Aug. 1862, that he would call on Stanton  and Lincoln “tomorrow.” At The Wilderness, Crocker was made a Brig. Gen. on the battlefield, having four horses shot from under him,  himself severely wounded. As postwar Warden of the U.S. Jail in Washington, Crocker handled all arrangements for the confinement  and hanging of Pres. Garfield’s assassin. Ironically, while living in Washington after the war - Crocker was also the city’s Acting Mayor -  he was a brother Lodge member of Garfield. $225-300 (2 pcs.) 

3-4. Held in “Officer’s Rebel Prison.”

A.L.S. of Union Col. John S. Crocker – here a prisoner-of-war in Salisbury, N.C., with the rarely seen designation “Officer’s Rebel  Prison...” noted on verso, in pencil, by a family member. June 13, 1862, 1 full p., 6½ x 8½. To his wife. The organizer of the 93rd Regt.  N.Y., known as the “Morgan Rifles,” had been captured in April, and also held in the dreaded Belle Isle and Libby Prisons. “My health  continues good. I have written you five or six times since my capture but have received nothing in reply. Johnny’s letter of the 18th  ult...is the only communication I have received from any person since I was at Yorktown. I did indeed receive an envelope bearing my  address in your handwriting...but the letter...was wanting. It has probably been detained on the way. Perhaps you violated government  rule by writing over a whole sheet. The rule provides that but one page can be written upon...You cannot imagine how intensely anxious  I am to hear from home, and also from my Regt. I feel grateful to our Dear Boy Johnny for his letter...We are informed that we will  probably be released in two or three weeks. We may however be disappointed...I regret that I cannot be with you on this our wedding  anniversary...Affectionate remembrances to our Dear Boys Johnny, Irving & Willis, and to Sister Phoebe...Maj. Hafney is well. So is  Col. Corcoran. Our numbers are increased to about 120 officers....” At the July 3, 1890 dedication of New York’s monument at  Gettysburg, the moving address, written by Crocker, was read by this Irving, his son. Blind handling wrinkles, original folds, else about  fine. Desirable. $275-350

3-5. “The Negroes rather enjoy it....”

Excessively rare palm-sized penny newspaper printed on hand press,  The Observer, Concord, Mass., Vol. I, No. 10, Aug. 3, 1864, 5 x 6¾, 4  pp. “Hobson & Mallard, Editors and Proprietors.” Title in circus-style  typography. Editorial, “To Arms!! If we would exterminate the vilest  and most desperate band of traitors that ever infested our country; if  we would terminate the war...we must rise and by one grand effort  rouse the nation to arms. The want of the hour is men...The demand is  for fighting power...There has never been a period, when a steady and  ample replenishing of the Federal force was a more requisite and vital  obligation...We must admit that the Confederates are stronger in  concentration and desperation than ever; that they have massed  together all their resources...in hopes to retrieve their fallen fortunes.  Now is the time to strike the fatal blow...Were there a hundred  thousand or two hundred thousand fresh troops at the disposal of our  Generals, they would soon be able to drive the armed treason to its last ditch....” Briefer items include, “The Ohio Statesman says that  3,000 farms in that state are left without a man to attend to them.” “...Rebels at Charleston pay a high price for the old iron from the  shells thrown into the city by our forces, and the negroes who gather them up, watch the approach of the shells both by day and night.  This would seem to be a hazardous way of making money, but the negroes rather enjoy it than otherwise.” “Fifteen hundred cigar  makers were thrown out of employment in New York city by the tobacco tax.” Humor includes “Sambo” explaining the “great blight in  potatoes” caused by “the ro-tater-y motion of the earth.” On thin paper. Local reader’s name in pencil at top of p. 1. Some foxing, tips  folded, else very good. Unrecorded by Library of Congress’ Chronicling America database of newspapers. No findings by books.google.  Not found in Massachusetts Historical Society site search. No copy of any date located by WorldCat. Perhaps unique. $225-275  

3-6. Feeding Freedmen and Refugees.

Reconstruction-era printed General Order providing food for freed slaves. Washington, Apr. 3, 1867, 5 x 7¼, 1 p. Signed-in-type by  A.A.G. E.D. Townsend. “A Resolution for the relief of the destitute in the Southern and Southwestern States...The Secretary of War...is  empowered and directed to issue supplies of food sufficient to prevent starvation and extreme want to any and all classes of destitute or  helpless persons...in those Southern and Southwestern States where a failure of the crops...have occasioned wide-spread destitution;  that the issues be made through the Freedmen’s Bureau...to supply freedmen and refugees....” One vertical fold, remnant of mounting  on verso at blank lower left corner, else fine. $80-110 

3-7. Murdering “a colored man.”

Dramatic printed Union General Order, Washington, Dec. 17, 1862, 4½ x 7. Reporting on Norfolk military trial of “Frederick Letz,  teamster, at Camp Hamilton, Elizabeth City county, Va., on the 22nd day of Sept. 1862, did unlawfully and maliciously shoot and kill a  colored man whose name is unknown....” Found guilty, the court sentenced him “to be hanged by the neck until he be dead...The  proceedings and sentence...have been submitted to the Pres. of the U.S., and are by him approved.” Binding holes at left margin,  uniform ivory toning, else fine. Such upholding by Lincoln of a death sentence was the exception: he was noted for remitting many such  decrees out of compassion - but saw this case differently. $110-140 

3-8. Bringing Home the Body of the Union’s First Hero.

Dramatic A.L.S. of Conn. Gov. Wm. W. Buckingham, on ornate official letterhead, Norwich, Aug. 26, 1861, 7½ x 9¾, 1 full p. “I have  telegraphed to Maj. Gen. Fremont, St. Louis, to have him request Mr. Hasler to bring the body of Gen. [Nathaniel] Lyon by way of New  York & Hartford...My Adjt. Gen. J.D. Williams of Hartford will render you every assistance in arranging for proper ceremonies there. I  shall be in Hartford or Eastford or at both places if public duties will permit.” An ardent abolitionist and important ally of Lincoln,  Buckingham’s fellow Nutmeg Stater Lyon had assumed control of military affairs in Missouri. The “fiery little redhead” was killed at  Wilson’s Creek some two weeks before, becoming “the North’s first military hero...‘Had the fortunes of battle spared Lyon, Wilson’s  Creek might have been the most brilliant victory of the Civil War. Gen. Sherman blamed the next four years of strife and pillage in  Missouri on Lyon’s death.’ Although a minor engagement, this was one of the most fiercely-contested of the war...”--Boatner and  Monaghan. Original folds, minor handling, else very good, and dramatic for display. • With steel engraving of Lyon, by Johnson & Fry,  1862. $275-350 (2 pcs.)

3-9. Battles on Land.

Group of six steel-engraved battle scenes: “Battle of the Wilderness - Attack at Spottsylvania Court House,” Johnson & Fry, 1867. •  “First Battle of Bull Run,” Abbott’s. • “Battle of Antietam - Gallant Charge of Gen. Burnside’s Div. at the Bridge,” Johnson & Fry. •  “Battle of Pittsburgh Landing,” Abbott’s. Trimmed. • “Storming of Fort Donelson,” Abbott’s. • “Capture of the Works at Petersburg,”  Johnson, Wilson & Co., 1875. Tissue guard leaf. Bull Run with some edge toning, curious apparent spread of original fore-edge  painting; others with varied minor to moderate toning, else all very good and better. $70-100 (6 pcs.) 

3-10. ...And at Sea.

Group of three naval scenes: Hand-watercolored steel engraving, “Fortress Monroe, Va. and its Vicinity,” Virtue & Co., 1862. Aerial  view, with twenty numbered points of interest, including Hampton Roads, Rip Raps, Dismal Swamp, Newport News, and more.  Exquisite detail of ships of all sizes and kinds. In evocatively muted tones. • Dramatic blue-green gravure of “Sinking of the Alabama,”  from painting by Warren Sheppard. (1897). With imprinted tissue guard leaf. Excellent. • Doubleweight sepia rotogravure scene, “Gun  and Mortar Boats on the Miss. - Bombardment of Island No. Ten,” from Mentor magazine, 1918, with extensive text on verso. $50-70  (3 pcs.) 

3-11. Civil War Reunion – at Sea!

Highly unusual program, almost certainly for a reunion cruise of Civil War veterans: “Farewell Dinner on board S.S. Veendam..., on her  West Indian Cruise, Feb. 11, 1928,” 7 x 10. Comprising magnificently copperplate-engraved, stiff paneled ivory card covers with portrait  of Lincoln, bordered by vignettes of covered wagon with couple dancing amidst wild flowers, free blacks, Union centurion slaying the  dragon “Rebellion,” and Miss Columbia. Enclosing 4 pp. program and menu, including “Cream Lincoln,” “Timbale Gettysburg,” “Sirloin  of Beef Gen. Lee,” “Escalops of Sweetbread à la Richmond,” “Granité Bull Run,” and “Vicksburg Cake.” Musical selections included  Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes” and “The Sunny South - Selection of Southern Plantation Songs.” Red, white and blue braided cord tie.  It is entirely possible that Confederate veterans were also welcome on the cruise: beneath Lincoln’s likeness, two hands clasped in  “Union.” Envelope dust-toned, program with one short crease at spine, some light marginal toning, else fine. Three months later, this  famed Holland-America liner collided in heavy fog with another ship, putting it out of commission. The first item relating to a Civil War  veterans’ cruise we have encountered. $90-120 

3-12. Paying the Doctor for a Horse.

A.L.S. of 2nd Lt. John W. Marsellus, 1st N.Y. (Light) Artillery, Hd. Qrs., n.p., Feb. 27, 1865, 5 x 8, 1 p. To Capt. Angel Mathewson of his  unit. “You will please to pay to Doctor U(riah) Gilman the sum of $50 and this shall be your receipt...I am going home on sick and I am  owing the Doctor for a horse, and I give him this Order on you so that he may get the money before I get back.” Gilman was an Asst.  Surgeon in the 12th N.J. Infantry. Blind-embossed crest of George Washington in profile. Original folds, else very good. With service  records and modern photos of Marsellus and Mathewson. The latter had been wounded at North Anna River, Va. $60-80 

3-13. A Jewish Officer in Virginia.

Rare A.L.S. of Asst. Adj. Gen. Isaac Moses, one of only sixteen Jewish officers in the Union Army. “Head Quarters, 3rd Corps, near  Yorktown,” Apr. 26, 1862, 7¾ x 10. To Brig. Gen. C.S. Hamilton. “I am directed to state that the only details ordered from your  command for tomorrow, are 500 men for redoubt No. 1 & 1,000 for work on the parallels, besides the 200 for Military road. There is no  order to send a regiment to guard the trenches or batteries during the day. If your picket line (it having been shortened) can be guarded  by one regiment securely, you need not send out two.” One ink drip at lower left, minor file soiling at blank upper right, else very fine  and attractive. Isaac Moses appears in the literature on Jews in America’s wars, including Jews in American History: Their  Contribution to the United States..., by Martin Rywell and noted writer Harry Golden. A native New Yorker, he attended West Point,  though did not graduate. Civil War Judaica from the field is highly desirable. $250-300 

3-14. Disbanding the “Pioneers.”

Manuscript Union Special Orders, in hand of A.D.C. Louis L. Cox, Head Qrs., 2nd Brig., 2nd Div., 4th A.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., Oct. 8,  1864, 7¾ x 9¾. “The Pioneers heretofore detailed and placed in Command of Capt. Clark’s 26th Ohio will be temporarily disbanded  until further orders....” Docketed. Addressed in purple to “Comdg. Officer, 57th Ind. Vols.” Cox (also) served in the 97th Ohio Infantry.  Minor handling evidence, toning at upper right corner, else fine. $65-90 

3-15. Shoeing Horses in New Orleans.

Attractive partly printed Union List of Quartermaster’s Stores, boldly signed by Kansan Capt. J.B. Dexter, in occupied New Orleans,  July 14, 1865, 8¼ x 10¾. Transferring farriers’ supplies to the 4th A.C.: “...3 (lbs.) Black Wax, 15 lbs. Shoe Thread, 250 lbs. Rope, 55  lbs. Iron axes(?), 6 Rasps, 75 lbs. Nails....” Ruled in black and medium blue on eggshell. Flamboyantly penned. Originally enlisting in  the 2nd Kansas Cavalry, in 1864 Dexter was commissioned in the U.S. Vols. Quartermasters Dept. Material relating to Kansas units,  even obliquely, is uncommon. Service history accompanies. Excellent and interesting for display. $60-80 

3-16. Coal in Nashville.

Partly printed Union List of Quartermaster’s Stores, signed by Capt. W. Mills, 74th O(hio) V(ol.) I(nfantry), in occupied Nashville, May  30, 1865, 8 x 10. Transferring 250 bushels of coal to Capt. Leander A. Poor, Asst. Q.M. - originally a teacher from Oxford, Maine.  Interesting variant of same Union form number as preceding lot, this ruled in pale blue on cream. Light handling evidence, else very  fine. $40-60

Go to Section 4: Civil War Letters