Confederate

5-1. “Have Rail Road...thoroughly destroyed.”

Dramatic Confederate telegram from Gen. “G.T. Beauregard,” on partly printed form of  Southern Telegraph Companies, Charleston, S.C., Dec. 30, (1863), 4 x 8¼. Received copy, to  Col. G.N. Brent, his “Chief (of) Staff.” “Should it become necessary, have supplies collected in  Selma & Jacksonville Road for Hood’s Army. Telegraph Genl. Cobb to have Rail Road from  Atlanta toward Chattanooga thoroughly destroyed. I’ll leave here on 1st Jan. Inform Genl.  Taylor.” Pencil endorsement scrawled on verso, “Gen. Taylor - Gen. Beauregard leaves  Charleston...this plan....” Recipient Col. Brent was a delegate to Virginia Secession  Convention, and Chief of Staff to both Beauregard and Braxton Bragg, but “he lacked formal  military training. His orders did nothing to clarify Bragg’s instructions...”--Themes of the  American Civil War, Grant and Holden-Reid, p. 117. This was Beauregard’s second round in  Charleston: previously, he had pulled the trigger on the Civil War itself, commanding the  attack on Ft. Sumter. The present telegram closed the book on his defense of the Carolina and  Georgia coasts from Charleston. Light wear, else fine and pleasing. $375-475 

5-2. Jefferson Davis in Irons.

Important telegram from Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Washington, D.C., May 15,  1866, in clerical hand on partly printed form of American Telegraph Co., 5¼ x 8. To Hon.  Edwards Pierrepont, noted lawyer, friend of Lincoln, and Grant’s Attorney Gen. Received  copy, at 145 Broadway, N.Y. “I am unable to answer your question in regard to Davis. The  whole matter is in charge of the attorney general who is absent.” Exactly one week before,  Jefferson Davis had been indicted for treason. Here, Stanton sends an evasive answer to  Pierrepont, as Davis languished in ankle irons in Fortress Monroe, with no visitors, and no  books except a Bible. There was, of course, more: As the year wore on, newspapers reported  that a Congressional investigation “in relation to the alleged complicity of Jefferson Davis,  Clay, and others, in the murder of Pres. Lincoln have developed one of the most villainous  conspiracies ever concocted in the civilized world. Strange to tell it is not the conspiracy for  the assassination of Pres. Lincoln and his cabinet, but an equally bloody and far more  cowardly one, to murder...ex-Pres. Davis...” (modern copy accompanies). At the center of this  obscure plot was the bartender in what is today the Cohasco Building in Yonkers, using the  alias Snevel, taken from a Dickens novel. Snevel fled the building, for a brief time becoming  one of the most-wanted men in America. The plot-within-a-plot is still being unraveled today  – Pierrepont knew the proprietor of the Yonkers “billiard saloon” – but suffice it to say that  Davis’ incarceration remains a complex matter. He was finally released on bond in 1867. Ink  erosion at large droplet in center, between words, else fine and dramatic. Evidently  unpublished. $550-700

5-3. Fall of the Confederacy’s Source of Bullets - “What Shall I do.”

Fateful Confederate telegram from “Capt. & A.C.S.” R.A. Williams, Wytheville (Va.) - its mines  the Confederacy’s chief source of lead, Oct. 2, 1864, 4 x 7¼. To Capt. Isaac Shelby. Notation  “Abingdon, Nov. 2.” On partly printed form of Southern Telegraph Cos. “An order to the  Enrolling officer here today takes four of my most indispensable men and if persisted in will  paralyze my operations at this, the most important time of the year. What shall I do.” Original  folds to sixteenths, else fine, darkly penned, and attractive for display. The Confederacy  depended for salt and lead on their possession of the mines at Wytheville and Saltville, in  southwestern Virginia. As part of the Northern plan of attrition against the Southern  economy, Union troops engaged in  constant attacks to capture these mines. By Oct. 25, Williams was being  implored, “We are entirely out of salt this morning...” (modern copy  accompanies). Finally succeeding in Dec. 1864, Union capture and  destruction of the mines and salt works denied these precious commodities to  the Confederacy, and hastened its end. “So valuable was lead to the resource-  strapped South that southern soldiers actually scoured the battlefields after  engagements to recover spent lead ammunition...As pre-war stockpiles and  smuggled quantities became increasingly scarce, the Confederacy came to  rely almost exclusively on the one significant lead mining operation in the  entire South: the lead mines in Wythe County. At the same time, Northern  military activities in southwestern Va. focused more and more on the destruction of not only these crucial lead works, but the Saltville  salt operations and the Virginia and Tennessee railroad as well...Reports after the war by Confederate Ordnance officers indicate that  around 3,500,000 pounds of lead were produced at the Wythe County mines during the war...The Union raiders of Dec. 17 met no  attempt to defend the lead mines...In only two hours, the mine offices, storehouses, stables, crushing machine, bellows, furnaces, and  even the sawmill and gristmill, went up in flames...How significant were the Wythe County lead mines to the Southern war effort?  According to historian Ralph Donnelly, ‘the conclusion is inescapable that the Federal military authorities, almost without exception,  failed to appreciate the importance of the Wytheville mines to the Confederate cause’...Today, few Virginians, much less other  American citizens, are aware of the critical role played by the Wythe County lead mines in the epic struggle between North and  South...”--with complete modern copy of fascinating monograph, “Geology and the Civil War in Southwestern Virginia - The Wythe  County Lead Mines,” by Prof. Robert C. Whisonant, Radford University, in Virginia Minerals, May 1996. Significant glimpse into an  unseen - and vulnerable - side to the South’s strength, sometimes passed over in popular presentations of the war’s dynamics. $425-  500

5-4. Extreme Examples of Adversity Paper, Ink, and Printing.

Group of three small partly printed Confederate vouchers paying $10 to Wythe County, Va. family of Pvts. Adam and Wayman Collins,  soldiers variously in 25th, 51st, and 63rd Virginia Regiments. 2¼ x 5½, each signed by Commissioner J.A. Sanders, Jr., endorsed on  verso by civilian, one with “X.” Two dated Apr. 11, 1864. The Collins family was undercompensated: Wayman was taken prisoner in  Aug. at Atlanta, spending seven months at Ohio’s Camp Chase. Extreme examples of adversity usage, comprising very pale ink certainly  diluted with water or alcohol to extend supply, on blue-lined pulp from printers’ scrap, cut down to give the greatest number of slips  per sheet. One has a typo in first line, reflecting stressful conditions under which composed: “Treasurer of the funds appropriated by  the County Court, fo(r) the benefit of Soldier’s families....” Ink variously 75-85% faded, some browning, but fascinating reflection of  hardships in this region producing much of the lead for Confederate bullets (see preceding lot). $80-110 (3 pcs.) 

5-5. Expelled from New Orleans.

L.S. of Union Pro(vost) Marshal John W. Ely, on printed lettersheet, Parish of Jefferson, Carrollton, La., May 9, 1863, 5 x 8¼. To Miss  M.E. Muncustis(?). “You are hereby notified that you must leave this Parish and go within the enemies lines on or before the 15th inst.  agreeably to General order no. 35, Hd. Qrs. Dept. Gulf.” Mounting evidence on verso, contemporary smudge of addressee’s name by  writer’s hand, pleasing rich ivory toning, else fine. Unusual. $70-100 

5-6. A Gift of Autographs – 1848.

Antebellum A.L.S. of future member of Confederate Congress John W. Brockenbrough, prominent Va. jurist, and founder in 1849 of  today’s Washington and Lee University’s School of Law. A member, with Pres. Tyler, of the 1861 Peace Conference, it was  Brockenbrough who approached Robert E. Lee to offer the University’s Presidency. Lexington, Va., Feb. 26, 1848, 9 x 11¼, 1 full p. “I  send you by the mail...a package of original letters addressed by distinguished men of a past age to my great kinsman, the late Judge  Roane of Va. The correspondents of Judge Roane whose letters are now sent me, Patrick Henry...Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe,  William Wirt, James Barbour, Edmund Randolph, Gen. J. Wilkinson, Gov. Tyler, Jr., George Hay...and my father. To remove all doubt  as to the authenticity of the letters, it may be proper to say that they have been taken indiscriminately from a large mass of similar  letters addressed to Judge Roane, & that they came into possession of my father as the Executor of Roane...Each letter has a brief  endorsement in Roane’s handwriting...Some of them contain interesting discussions of public questions which agitated the popular  mind in days gone by, but they are chiefly valuable as the autographs of men whose learning and talents have made a permanent  impression on the age in which they lived...I beg you...to accept the small offering now made as a tribute of a friendship which has been  cherished for years....” (Regrettably the letters are not present!) Interestingly, contemporary pencil check marks appear next to each  name, the fortunate recipient evidently reconciling his new collection. Roane’s son married Patrick Henry’s daughter; “Roane  reportedly destroyed many papers before his death (in 1822)”--The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Lipscomb and Bergh, ed., Vol. 15.  One can only imagine what else there was! Some tattering at right margin, affecting part of one word, old folds, some toning, else good  plus. Splendid conversation piece, from the dawn of autograph collecting in America, predating even most of the Jared Sparks  correspondence we have handled; the first American autograph dealer did not appear until about 1860. $130-170 

5-7. Liquor in the Confederacy.

Unusual form of Confederate document: two-sheet, partly-printed “Tax on Naval Stores, Wines, &c., and Agricultural Products,”  Richmond, Aug. 12, 1863, each sheet 9¾ x 12½. Signed twice by Confederate Assessor W.E. Johnson, and twice by James Gwyn,  declaring “Liquor, Value $250.” Taxed 8%, in this effort to raise funds “for the common defence and carry on the government of the  Confederate States....” Gwyn separately declares, “Credits within Confederate States, $2079,” taxed at 1%. Also answers whether subject  to taxation as “pawnbrokers...keepers of hotels, inns, taverns and eating houses...circuses, jugglers, bowling alleys, billiard tables...  apothecaries, photographers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons and dentists...and confectioners.” Attesting that he has listed all “naval  stores, salt, wine, spiritous liquors, manufactured and unmanufactured tobacco, cotton, wool, flour, sugar, molasses, syrup, rice....”  Trivial toning and edge wear of adversity paper, else fine. Suitable for display. Liquor seems to be the least-frequently cited commodity  in such Confederate documents. $150-190 (2 sheets) 

5-8. Significant Confederate Judaica.

Unusual form of Confederate document: two-sheet, partly-printed “Tax on Naval Stores, Wines, &c., and Agricultural Products,”  Richmond, Sept. 11, 1863, each sheet 9¾ x 12½. Signed twice by Confederate Assessor W.E. Johnson, and twice by Sol(omo)n A.  Myers, Jewish merchant whose backmark appears on repoussé buttons made during the Civil War. Declaring “Bank notes or other  currency on deposit, Value $16,595.” Taxed 1%, in this effort to raise funds “for the common defence and carry on the government of  the Confederate States....” Also answers whether subject to taxation as “pawnbrokers...keepers of hotels, inns, taverns and eating  houses...circuses, jugglers, bowling alleys, billiard tables...apothecaries, photographers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons and  dentists...and confectioners.” With spaces to declare amounts of “Credits within Confederate States, Credits beyond limits of  Confederate States, Money deposited beyond limits...,” and attesting that he has listed all “naval stores, salt, wine, spiritous liquors,  manufactured and unmanufactured tobacco, cotton, wool, flour, sugar, molasses, syrup, rice....” One of Myers’ buttons shows the Seal  of Virginia, with Virtus slaying the tyrant (Albert VA22). His mark also appears on elegant antebellum coin-silver cups, now quite rare.  In 1866, Solomon Myers was one of the nine incorporators of Virginia Savings Bank. The Myers family was influential, Gustavus Myers  (1801-69) “the most prominent Jew of the city in his day, serving on the City Council for 30 years, 12 of which as its president...”--  jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Unusually fresh, notwithstanding high groundwood content of adversity paper, trivial edge toning, else very  fine. Very scarce type, and a rare autograph, each in rich brown ink, with paraph. Suitable for display. $350-450 (2 sheets, each signed  by Myers)

5-9. Portraits of Confederate Generals.

Group of seven prints, comprising: Composite steel engraving, “The Leaders of the Rebellion,” from Abbott’s Civil War, with Jefferson  Davis in center, surrounded by Gens. Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Thomas J. Jackson, Price, Beauregard, Polk, Johnston, and Bragg,  all rendered flatteringly by the N.Y. engraver. • Nathan B. Forrest, named by Johnston as the war’s greatest soldier--Boatner.  Photograph trimmed from sheet music, Confederate lyrics on verso. 7 x 7. • Wade Hampton, second in command of cavalry to J.E.B.  Stuart. Interesting lithographed pencil portrait, from early 20th century publication. • T(heophilus) H. Holmes. Etching by Chas. B.  Hall, N.Y., (1866). An elusive personage, and interesting impression on sunken-paneled cream sheet. • T.J. [Stonewall] Jackson, seated  outside tent, his sword at his side. Steel engraving, 1866. • Mezzotint of Jos. E. Johnston surrounded by Hood, Kirby Smith, Hardee,  Forrest, Bragg, Morgan, A.S. Johnson, and Price. • “Lee’s Invasion of the North.” Strikingly attractive rotogravure of the artwork by J.  Steeple Davis, 1897, 6½ x 10, on cream, with printed tissue guard leaf. Two small edge tears of tissue, else excellent. Varied minor  wear, but generally very good and better. $100-140 (7 pcs.)

5-10. A Confederate Predicts Victory at Fredericksburg.

Letter of lawyer-turned-Confederate (Col.) R.W. Phipps, (19th Mississippi Infantry), “Camp near Fredericksburg, Va.,” Dec. 5, 1862, 6 x  8, 1 p. To Judge J.R. Burney, (Oxford, Miss.). “We are here fronting the Yankee Army. The Rappahannock River alone keeps us apart. It  seems to be the opinion of our Generals that the Yankees will make an attempt to cross the river. If they do try it, you will hear of  another splendid victory won by the invincible Army of the Potomac. A. Bowler was elected Lieut. by a majority of one vote over J.A.  Bounds. S.L. Clark, B.E. Hart, and Jo(e) Johnson are candidates for the other vacancy. I have paid your Commissary account with Capt.  Owens...$14.40. Please pay the amount to my father. Write to me and give all the news about Oxford.” Lightish olive-brown ink on  blue-lined adversity paper, but entirely readable, and about fine. Because of Union Gen. Burnside’s slowness, by late Nov., Lee was able  to get his entire army of 78,500 - including the writer - into position on the “excellent defensive terrain on the south bank of the  Rappahannock”--Boatner. The battle came a week later, with over 18,000 killed or wounded on both sides, ending in a Confederate  victory - as predicted by the writer. With modern copy of his photograph and service history. $170-220 

5-11. The Confederacy Lives On – 1934.

Three varied items: Large map c. 1890, “Battle-Grounds in the Vicinity of Richmond...1862 and (6)3,” 22 x 22, “to accompany the  report of Gen. R.E. Lee, C.S. Army, Series I, Vol. XI, Part 2, p. 500.” Printed facsimile signature of R.E. Lee, and endorsement of Maj.  A.L. Rives, “Sent from Engineer Bureau with letter of 4th Apr., 1863.” Moderate fold wear, else very good. • Newspaper, The Cherokee  Courier, Chattanooga, Vol. 1, No. 3, June 7, 1934, 4 pp. Page-1 printing of “Farewell of Gen. Lee to his Army - ...Still Cherished - Initial  Reunion of Confederate Veterans Held in Chattanooga Many Years Ago.” Lyrics to Emmett’s “Dixie.” “Gen. (John B.) Gordon’s  Address...Beautiful Tribute to the Efforts of Brave Soldiers Will Live in History.” Poem, “Heroes who Wore the Gray.” Insect nibble at  one fold junction and blank top, toning, else good plus. Excessively rare. The Library of Congress newspaper directory locates no copies  of this title. • Newsletter, “The Virginia Guardsman,” Richmond, June-July 1935, 29th Div./91st Infantry Brigade, 9 x 11¾, 4 pp.  Brightly colorful front page, with fine photograph of J.E.B. Stuart. “For the Old Dominion.” Inside, aerial view of modern-day camps on  Poquoson River near Hampton, Va., and Mount Gretna, Pa.(!), and composite photo of Co. M. Much worn but satisfactory. $175-250 (3  pcs.)

5-12. Telegraph Turmoil in New Orleans – and the Russian Connection.

Rather fascinating trio of items, prelude to a “Manhattan Project” of the Civil War: use of a Union telegraphic expert to oversee new  service to Russia and the Orient. Arising from fireworks in the military and municipal telegraph offices in occupied New Orleans, partly  due to animosity between Southern staff and their new Union superiors. Comprising: A.L.S. of Union Capt. and A.Q.M. Chas. S.  Bulkley, on letterhead “Dept. of the Gulf, U.S. Military Telegraph office,” New-Orleans, Feb. 11, 1864, 7¾ x 10. To Capt. Stephen Hoyt,  Acting Mayor, New Orleans. ”I herewith enclose [present] ‘Extract of Special Order’ No. 217 dated Sept. 1863...Since the above date, my  orders have been entirely disregarded and my supervision under the order completely annulled by the acts of Messrs. Smith and  Woolfley, Superintendent.” Short edge tear, minor edge chipping, mottled toning, else about very good. Perhaps because of the turmoil  in New Orleans, later that year Bulkley was furloughed, to oversee construction of Western Union’s Russian telegraph extension.  “Despite the ongoing war, the Navy contributed a vessel to Western Union’s convoy – eight ships loaded with a small army of 300  laborers, telegraphic engineers, draftsmen, topographers, and other assorted experts...Reports of the advancement of the Russian  Extension fueled the ‘telegraph fever’ for Western Union’s stock...If the line succeeded, it would give Western Union...a monopoly on  telegraph communication to Europe and Asia”--Western Union and the Creation of the American Corporate Order, 1845-1893, Wolff,  p. 80. • With, partly printed Extract referred to above, dated the previous Sept. Brown ink, with red rules. Signed by A.A.A. Gen. Geo.  D. Wilcox. Clerical signature of A.A.G. G. Norman Lieber. “The City Telegraph Lines Offices and material belonging to same will be  placed in the immediate charge of Capt. Charles S. Bulkley...Asst. Supt. of U.S. Military Telegraph. All superintendents, operators and  employees...will report to him above for orders.” Central portion rippled from folding with other documents, else fine and clean. •  Lengthy A.L.S. of J. Elliot Smith, Supt., Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph, City Hall, New-Orleans, Feb. 13, 1864, on cream lettersheet  headed in maroon, 7¾ x 9¾, 2 full pp. To Capt. Stephen Hoyt, Acting Mayor. Transmitting a report (not present) “relative to the City  Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph being placed by Gen. Butler, at the time of the occupation of this City by his forces...I was desired by  Gen. Shepley to assume the management of the City Telegraph for the following particular reasons: The then-Employees of this office  having refused to comply with Gen. Order No. 40 after having been informed that such would be required of them...I accordingly took  possession on the 26th Aug., the whole of the old force retiring on the instance, refusing me any information...The condition of the  entire works was found to be in a very bad condition...The Fire Alarm wires are used for receiving signals of Fires and striking the  Alarm Bells for same and for no other purpose. The Police wires simply run in connection with the different Police Stations ...no Public  business being transacted thereby, except, advertising lost or stray children, horses, carriages &c...Capt. Bulkley, the Supt. of Military  Telegraph, admitted to me that it was of no advantage to the Military Authorities, and, on his part was not desired, and he preferred to  have nothing to do with it....” New Orleans’ telegraph wires were almost completely destroyed by the fleeing Confederates. Some  smudging from writer’s blotter, minor foxing, else very good. Acting Mayor Hoyt found himself in an unwanted position: “He did not  understand or like New Orleans...so impossible had he found the task of controlling the incompetency and dishonesty which existed in  the city government”--Louisiana Div., New Orleans Public Library. J. Elliot Smith later enjoyed an important career with the New York  Fire Dept., rising to Chief Operator, then Asst. Supt. His contributions are described in Birth of the Bravest: History of the N.Y. Fire  Dept. from 1609 to 1887 (modern copies accompany). $275-350 (3 pcs.) 

5-13. With Southern Gold Association.

Cover to gold mine financier “Joseph Slocum, Pendleton P.C., Anderson County, South Carolina.” Free-franked by Postmaster F.H.  Humphreys of Richardsville (Va.), site of the Culpeper gold mine - in what was once the third-leading gold-producing state. “May 10th”  (1854). Based in New York, Slocum also backed gold mining in Virginia and northern Georgia, the latter’s Dahlonega Mint producing  $1, $2.50, $3, and $5 gold coins variously between 1838-61. In the 1970s we handled a group of the Slocum correspondence. Lower flap  misfolded, uniform light soiling, some edge and corner tears, but very satisfactory, and suitable for display. $40-60 

5-14. The Confederate Cotton Bureau.

Printed Confederate Act “to establish a bureau of foreign supplies in the War Dept., with an agency in the trans-Mississippi Dept.,” May  4, 1864, 5¾ x 9¼, 6 pp. Light purple oval handstamp, “...Rebel Archives / War Dept.” A late-war effort to procure materiel from  abroad, through the sale of cotton. “...All steamers now owned by any of the departments of the Government...shall be turned over to  the Navy...The chief of said bureau may appoint suitable purchasing agents of known integrity...Shall have power to establish interior  depots for the receipt of cotton and other produce, intended for exportation into or through Mexico...The business of the cotton bureau  established under a special order of Lt. Gen. E. Kirby Smith, commanding the trans-Mississippi dept....” Characteristic toast-like edge  toning, old crease at blank upper left, else very fine. $90-120 

5-15. “25 Pants” – and “5 Shoes” for Confederate Troops.

D.S. of Confederate Maj. James Bruce, Stonewall Jackson’s Quartermaster. N.p., Oct. 14, 1862, 7¾ x 10. On partly printed cold-grey  laid paper, adversity not yet arrived. Listing items delivered to “F. Saunders, Capt., Quartermaster C.S. Army”: “16 jackets, Cost when  new $5; 14 drawers, 2.25; 3 overcoats, 10.00; 5 shoes, 6.00; 25 pants, 7.00; 3 blankets, 3.50....” Joining the Confederate Army in Mar.  1861, Bruce served as quartermaster under Gens. Stonewall Jackson and J.E. Johnston at Harpers Ferry, remaining under Jackson’s  wing in 1862. By the date of this document, Bruce was serving Gen. J.R. Jones, commander of a brigade of Jackson’s old division. Bruce  was present at numerous battles, including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Petersburg. Curious white waterstains,  suggesting the dye in the paper was not colorfast, imparting an almost ornamental appearance; nibble along 2” edge of blank bottom,  else about very good. $90-120

5-16. A Confederate Scout Sets Fire to Mississippi Cotton.

A.L.S. of Confederate Capt. J.F. Harrison, “Head Quarters, Wirt Adams Regt.,” Saltillo (Miss.), June 26, 1862, 7 x 8¼. Docketed in  contemporary hand, “Report of Scout.” To Brig. Gen. (James R.) Chalmers, H.Q., Cavalry Brigade; Chalmers rode with Forrest and  commanded the 9th Miss. “In accordance with orders received yesterday, I left Camp at 1 o’clock. I proceeded at once to Butler and  Allen’s but found their cotton burnt by a detachment of Cavalry from Gen. Bragg. I then proceeded to Mr. Woodruff’s and he could only  show me Six Bales of Cotton at different places, which I burned, that being all I could find unburnt in the neighborhood. There is no  trading or trafficking in this neighborhood. I found the County th(o)roughly scouted by our forces, consisting of Col. Forrest & others.”  The scout here was serving in William Wirt Adams’ rather celebrated cavalry regiment. In the Battle of Corinth, ended just two weeks  before this scout’s missive, Adams had been Gen. Van Dorn’s Chief of Artillery. Nibble at right fold affecting several letters only, edge  tears, 2 x 4 irregular stain at lower right over signature portion, light coffee-and-cream ink but entirely legible, and otherwise very  satisfactory. An unusual and desirable form of Confederate communiqué. With modern research for context. $350-425 

5-17. An Illiterate Confederate Soldier.

Attractive partly printed document signed with “X” of Pvt. Wm. Cone, Co. C, 55th Georgia Vols., Atlanta, Oct. 27, 1862. Witnessed by  Capt. H.T. Massengale and Sam Cowan. 8 x 9½. Warm brown on sandstone paper. Receiving his pay, totalling $38.50 for three  months, plus 25.00 for six months’ clothing. Cone was wounded during the War; Massengale served in Alexander’s Georgia Cavalry;  and Cowan was taken prisoner at Cold Harbor in 1864. Modern research accompanies. Very fine, and pleasing for display. $90-120 

5-18. “Great confusion daily arises....”

Printed Confederate General Orders, War Dept., Richmond, Apr. 19, 1862, 4½ x 7½. “It is made the duty of Commanding Officers of  Companies to sign, with their own proper signatures, all Muster Rolls...That power is not to be delegated to or exercised by any other  person. Great confusion daily arises from the constant pursual of a different course. Sick, disabled and discharged Soldiers are very  often unable to obtain their pay, the discrepancy of signatures rendering it impossible for this Dept. to verify the same....” Moderately  early use of adversity paper, with dark pulp imperfections visible. Edge toning, else about fine. $60-80 

5-19. One of the “Immortal 600.”

Postwar A.D.S. of Confederate Lt. D(avid) E. Gordon, punished with near-starvation as a Union prisoner. Apr. 18, 1892, apparently as a  hotelier in Lane, S.C., 6½ x 7¾. Certifying to an estate that $5 per day for a laboror is correct, “and that services charged have been  rendered....” Enlisting in 1861 as Private in the 9th S.C. Infantry, Gordon rose to Lt., fighting in numerous battles and skirmishes.  Captured at Trevilian Station, he was held in a succession of Union prisons, purposely kept under fire at Morris Island while it was  being shelled daily. “From there he was taken to Pulaski, and retaliated on for treatment of Andersonville prisoners – by starvation. He  suffered this harsh and needless cruelty...for about six months,” not being released until June 1865--from photocopy of old printed  biography accompanying item. Gordon’s wartime diary survived, appearing in the 1898 catalogue of the Confederate Museum in  Richmond, and is quoted in modern works. Gordon’s Charleston ordeal is summarized thusly: “The long history of the chivalric code,  and the medieval laws of war governing captives bit the dust in that summer of 1864...”--Williamsburgh District..., Jenkinson, p. 21.  The Immortal 600 were memorialized in an eponymous postwar chronicle by J. Ogden Murray, documenting the saga of Confederate  prisoners held as human shields in Charleston Harbor, then starved in Savannah. The book quickly became a classic; the sacrifices of  Gordon and his compatriots are still remembered today. Finely detailed blind-embossed stationer’s crest of a capitol building. Old  folds, three rust lines where once pinned, else about fine and attractive. Very scarce. Modern research accompanies. $160-200 

5-20. Confederate Tobacco, Gold and Silver Coins.

Unusual form of Confederate document: two-sheet, partly-printed “Tax on Naval Stores, Wines, &c., and Agricultural Products,”  Richmond, Sept. 10, 1863, each sheet 9¾ x 12½. Signed twice by Confederate Assessor W.E. Johnson, and twice by Thomas W.  Doswell (Sheriff of Richmond, and aide to Gen. William E. Stark), declaring “Leaf Tobacco, Value $13,000; Manufactured Tobbacco  [sic], $4,000....” Taxed 8%, in this effort to raise funds “for the common defence and carry on the government of the Confederate  States....” Doswell separately declares, “Gold coin..., $8,000; Silver coin, $15; Bank notes, (total) $1700,” these taxed at 1%. Also  answers whether subject to taxation as “pawnbrokers...keepers of hotels, inns, taverns and eating houses...circuses, jugglers, bowling  alleys, billiard tables...apothecaries, photographers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons and dentists...and confectioners.” With spaces to  declare amounts of “Credits within Confederate States, Credits beyond limits of Confederate States, Money deposited beyond limits...,”  and attesting that he has listed all “naval stores, salt, wine, spiritous liquors, manufactured and unmanufactured tobacco, cotton, wool,  flour, sugar, molasses, syrup, rice....” A Virginia planter, alum of Washington & Lee University, sheriff of Hanover, Richmond, and  Henrico Counties, and breeder of race horses, Doswell appears in the book Secretariat’s Meadow: The Land, the Family, the Legend, by  Tweedy and Ladin. Pleasant light patina due to high groundwood content of adversity paper, trivial edge wear, else fine. Very scarce  type, suitable for display. $160-200 (2 sheets) 

5-21. Banknotes in the Confederacy.

Interesting single-sheet variant of Confederate document, partly-printed “Tax on Naval Stores, Wines, &c., and Agricultural Products,”  Richmond, Sept. 10, 1863, 9¾ x 12½. Signed by Confederate Assessor W.E. Johnson, and Thomas W. Doswell (see interesting  biographical information in preceding lot), “receiver in suit...,” declaring “Bank notes or other currency on deposit, $500....” Taxed 1%,  in this effort to raise funds “for the common defence and carry on the government of the Confederate States....” Also answers whether  subject to taxation as “pawnbrokers...keepers of hotels, inns, taverns and eating houses...circuses, jugglers, bowling alleys, billiard  tables...apothecaries, photographers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons and dentists...and confectioners.” With spaces to declare amounts  of “Credits within Confederate States, Credits beyond limits of Confederate States, Money deposited beyond limits...,” and attesting  that he has listed all “naval stores, salt, wine, spiritous liquors, manufactured and unmanufactured tobacco, cotton, wool, flour, sugar,  molasses, syrup, rice....” Pleasant light patina due to high groundwood content of adversity paper, else fine. Very scarce type, suitable  for display. $80-100

5-22. Watercolors of a Confederate Bastion.

Two original watercolors, judged c. 1925-45, each 8½  x 12½ oblong, on heavy maize felt-finish artist’s  paper, titled in pencil on verso: “C.S.A. Bivouac  beyond Fairfax Court House.” A somewhat  impressionist flavor, the angry gun-blue sky melding  with the drab-green trees and parchment-colored  earth, giving considerable drama. Both unsigned but  skillful, certainly by a local artist. • “C.S.A.  entrenchment at Fairfax Court House.” The  Confederate flag and blood-red grasses bring striking notes to this view up the main road. The horizon is split by earthworks, extending  into the periphery of the painting. Both with album mounting remnants at four corners on verso, first item with slender 1/8 x 1½”  fragment lacking at lower left, second with horizontal creases only detectable from verso; light handling wear, else both fine. Fairfax  Court House saw the first Confederate officer casualty of the war. The depiction in both watercolors here is not later than the Fall of  1861, when the last Confederate forces withdrew. From a 1950s house auction near Monticello, Va. also containing personal papers of  Union Gen. J. Fred. Pierson. Excellent for display. $160-220 (2 pcs.)  

5-23. Private Flour Contractors Required to Drill Daily.

Fascinating, rather unusual Confederate manuscript document signed by five officers in all, most with commentary, on verso of letter  from Cogbill Weeks & Co., Petersburg (Va.), “Govt. Agts. & Contractors” converting wheat into flour and furnishing barrels for the  Confederacy. Document records the entire bureaucratic route accomplished on one day, Aug. 7, 1863, 7¾ x 10, to Maj. Ro(bt).  Tannahill (39th Regt., Va. Militia). “The following named men are employed by us as Govt. Agents & Contractors, and are now taken  into the Militia thereby almost stopping our Coopering business, and as we wish to get to grinding next week we very respectfully ask  your assistance in getting them at work again. R. Bagby, 1st Class Militia; Jno. Tothy, Second Class...; Peter Blankenship, Second  Class....” On verso, all penned the same day: referral to Brig. Gen. Jenkins, in hand of Maj. Robt. Tannahill, Sub(sistence) Dept.,  Petersburg, urging that “...the services of the Coopers are actually indispensible”; onward referral to Col. Davenport, in hand of  A.A.Gen. R.M. Simms; approval by Commander Hobson of 2nd Class Militia; bold approval of Lt. Col. Jno. M. Davenport; and final,  lengthy endorsement of Simms, noting, “In the case of R. Bagby, he is relieved from all drills and ordinary camp act(ivit)y, but will be  subject to the orders of Col. Davenport. Whenever the Batt. receives marching or fighting orders, in the case of John Tothy & Peter  Blankenship, they will be excused from all act(ivit)y & presence in camp excepting one drill a day....” Ink erosion break at one word,  some show-through on grey paper, else very good, and a conversation piece. $170-220 

5-24. “Dandy,” the South Carolina Sharpshooter.

Splendid, lengthy, and desirable letter of Confederate soldier George A. McDowell (Aiken’s Regt., S.C. Cavalry), signing with his  nickname “Dandy,” John’s Island, S.C., July 18, 1863, 4¾ x 8, 3½ pp. To his sister, “Philippina” penned in another hand in margin.  Content letters of Civil War sharpshooters are seldom seen: their numbers were relatively few, they shunned publicity, and avoided  using their surnames. A graduate of The Citadel, the writer was killed in action the following year at this same place, John’s Island.  “Very much fatigued I came up from the Yankee possessions...Yesterday...we received orders to ‘mount and away,’ accordingly we  hurried to Loganville, but the enemy had just evacuated the place; thence we set out for ‘Haulover’ Bridge in order to cross on  Seabrook’s Island and stir up the Yankees there. I being one of the ‘Sharp Shooters’ was dismounted in company with some twenty  others. To us was given the post of honor (always the post of danger). We supported the Artillery while they shelled and were then  ordered to charge the enemy’s line, as a matter of course. I will say we did this gallantly; and the miserable cowards, not withstanding  their splendid position, fled ingloriously. Being very hungry, I was overjoyed to find a loaf of fresh bread which one of the scamps had  left. We burned their huts and set out for camp. Being lame in consequence of my run, I was glad to mount my horse once more...You  said I must promise to telegraph you immediately, in anything should happen to me...We are stationed about 18 miles from the nearest  telegraph office, so that you could not be notified immediately. Perhaps it is best so, for you might be needlessly alarmed. I agree with  you in believing that Charleston will not be taken, but I wish Morris Island was clear of the Yankees, for then I would soon be with you.  Father not writing to you is nothing be wondered at, for he writes to nobody...I sent you the lock of my ‘bonny brown hair’ in my last.”  Some brown toning of two panels of last page, else very fine. With copy of illustration of ornate memorial plaque at S.C. Military  Academy, listing McDowell among its graduates who died for the Confederacy. Of notable rarity. $375-475 

5-25. An Intriguing Magnus Production.

Colorful patriotic ballad songsheet, “Old Union Wagon,” by noted printer Charles Magnus of N.Y., 5 x 8. A curious example, possibly a  printer’s proof: printed upside-down on verso of notepaper - incompletely ruled on one side only - with blind-embossed crest of  another stationer “...Mills,” and with two prominent typographical errors. Allegorical female in fluorescent cherry-red robe, reaching  out to flag, roses amid greenery, pink vinery, and stars in a field of sunlight, breaking “the gloomy pall.” “King Cotton may be master of  those who bend the knee, But cannot rule a people who ever shall be free...Old ‘Abe’ is in the Wagon and ‘Mac” is by his side, While  ‘Seward’ drives the horses to take a Union ride; While ‘Butler’ is not idle and ‘Stanton’ is so true, We’ll all march together with ‘Yankee  doodle doo’....” Trivial edge toning, else excellent, and the first Magnus songsheet with these incongruities we recall seeing. $110-140 

5-26. “Their greasy fellow citizens of African descent” – and the One-Eyed Runaway.

Rare single-sheet Confederate newspaper, Lynchburg Virginian, Apr. 12, 1864, 11¼ x 16¾, 2 pp., as issued. Lengthy, inflammatory  editorial, “Negro Equality”: “The ruling passion with the party in power in the U.S., next to crushing the rebellion, is to invest their  colored friends with all rights and privileges, political and social, possessed by themselves. The disgusting doctrine of ‘miscegenation’ is  gaining strong foot-hold...It will not be long before indiscriminate marriage between the whites and blacks....” Responding to Sen.  Sumner’s recent speech upon expulsion of a black Army surgeon from the Pennsylvania Railroad, “Mr. Sumner thinks it worse than ‘a  defeat in battle’ that a buck negro is ejected from a car in which white persons are riding - and laments the event as a ‘disgrace to his  government’... The railroad cars of the District (of Columbia) are as free to the darkies as to anybody else. Senators and Representatives  can now ride side by side with their greasy fellow citizens of African descent; cabinet ministers be elbowed out of the way by dirty  escaped ‘contrabands’; and Washington belles, gorgeous in silks and laces and jewels, inhale to their heart’s content the delicate odors  which flow out in never ceasing current from the fragrant bodies of the dusky sons and daughters of Ham. A delightful state of society  that will be....” Articles include “Peace Coming through Bankruptcy,” alluding to the gold crisis, with shadows of today’s trends (our  then-Yonkers neighbors, Colgate and Trevor, the largest gold dealers in America, are credited by some with saving the Union’s  finances, by backing greenbacks with their bullion). “...The Sec. of the Treasury, poor wretch, sits there, plunged up to his chin in a sea  of treasury warrants. Whichever way he turns is a boundless prairie of unpaid demand...The clatter of the printing presses reminds him  that every hour he will have less...How much of this debt was stolen from the Treasury by the part who saddled us with it? Is it a  Constitutional expenditure of the people’s money to buy negroes from the border States, and let them loose to compete with us in all  the labor markets of our country? Is it Constitutional to take our money to send squads of negro-kissing men and women from  Yankeedom to teach antiquated darkeys in the Carolinas how to read the New England primer?...” Eloquent letter from Beauregard, in  Charleston, on the passing of his wife. “The foul breath of even the most vile among the vilest of our enemies could never taint the pure  atmosphere that surrounded her....” Much war news, including call for local militia, ages 16 to 45, to assemble, including the disabled!  “The people everywhere should be turned into soldiers...The season of raids is near at hand....” “Effect of the Bombardment of  Charleston.” Ad for runaway mulatto “boy named Jim...very stout...only one eye....” Ad for runaway office boy, “12 or 13...will no doubt  attempt to pass himself off as being a white boy....” “Bones Wanted...no matter whether old or new....” “Wanted: 5,000,000 Rab(b)it,  Raccoon and Muskrat Skins....” Minor edge wear, short tear at top, else very good. A dramatic tableau indeed, highlighted by the  editor’s pen made even sharper by the sadness surrounding him. Library of Congress’ Chronicling America database locates no original  examples of this date (only four institutions report originals of any date). Excessively rare. $300-375 

Go to Section 6: Newspapers