Catalog 66

The Raab ColleCTion~Philadelphia~

All material is guaranteed to be genuine, without time limit, to the original purchaser. We want you to be satisfied, so any item not purchased on layaway may be returned (in the same condition as received) for a full refund within 5 days of receipt. We accept Mastercard, Visa, American Express, check or money order. A lay-away plan is also available and can be customized to fit your needs.

P.O. Box 471Ardmore, PA 19003

(800) 977-8333www.raabcollection.com

The Raab ColleCTionCatalog 66

The Official Report of the Capture of Jefferson Davis at the End of the Civil War, Completely in the Hand of His Captor

On Sunday, April 2, 1865, while seated in his pew in St. Pauls Church, Rich-mond, Jefferson Davis was handed a telegram from General Robert E. Lee an-nouncing the latter s speedy withdrawal from Petersburg, and the consequent necessity for the evacuation of the capital. That evening, accompanied by his personal staff, members of the cabinet, and others, Davis left by train for Dan-ville, VA. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9 and his men immediately started going home, which for all practical purposes ended the Confederate resistance. Davis had to abandon Danville, and after a conference at Greensboro, NC with Generals Johnston and Beauregard, in which his hopes of continuing the war met with no encouragement, he went to Charlotte. There he heard of the assassination of President Lincoln, an event that put him in greater personal jeopardy than he would otherwise have been. In the aftermath of the assassination of Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton mounted a massive manhunt for Davis, who was now under sus-picion of complicity in the assassination. Davis fled through the Carolinas and into Georgia, though with an ever-decreasing military escort. In early May, Da-viss Union pursuers were beginning to close his routes of escape. General James H. Wilson deployed the 1st Wisconsin and 4th Michigan cavalry regiments to search for Davis in Georgia, but he neglected to coordinate the operations of the two units, which had tragic results. Benjamin D. Pritchard commanded the 439 men of the 4th Michigan as they chased Davis and his entourage.

On May 9 Pritchard learned that Davis had crossed the Ocmulgee River and was headed toward Abbeville. So Pritchard headed his 135-man force there and ar-rived in the town at 1 a.m. on May 10. That night residents told him that Daviss camp was 1.5 miles north of town, so he rode his men in that direction. Reach-ing the encampment, he waited for dawn so the light would illuminate his ap-proach. At 3:30 a.m., Pritchard ordered his men to ride forward; he wrote, Just as the earliest dawn appeared, I put the column in motion, and we were enabled to approach within four or five rods of the camp undiscovered, when a dash was ordered, and in an instant the whole camp, with its inmates, was ours.

Davis was inside his wife Varinas tent and heard the gunfire and the horses in the camp; he assumed these were Confederate stragglers or deserters. He told his wife. I will go out and see if I cannot stop the firing; surely I still have some authority with the Confederates. He opened the tent flap, saw the bluecoats, and turned to Varina: The Federal cavalry are upon us. Before he left the tent, Varina prevailed upon him to wear an unadorned raglan overcoat, also known as a waterproof. She hoped the raglan might camouflage his fine suit of clothes, which resembled a Confederate officer s uniform. This later led to stories that he had tried to evade capture by wearing wonmens clothes. An-other story claimed that he had tried to escape. I had gone perhaps between fifteen or twenty yards, Davis recalled, when a trooper galloped up and or-dered me to halt and surrender. One member of Daviss party later described Daviss treatment at the moment: A private stepped up to him rudely and said:

...I suprised and captured Jeff. Davis and family, together with his wifes sister and brother, his Postmaster General (Reagan), his private secretary (Col. Harrison)...

1

Well, Jeffy, how do you feel now? Then Pritchard was notified that he had just captured the Confederate president.

Pritchard filed an official report with his division providing all the details of the capture. This is that official report. Autograph Letter Signed (B. D. Pritchard, Lieut. Col. 4th Mich Cav.), 2 pages, Abbeville, Georgia, May 11, 1865, to Capt. T.W. Scott, Assist. Adjutant General of his cavalry division. I have the honor to report that at daylight yesterday, at Irwinville, I surprised and captured Jeff. Davis and family, together with his wifes sister and brother, his Postmaster General (Reagan), his private secretary (Col. Harrison), Col. Johnston, aide-de-camp. on Jeff s staff, Col. Morris, Col. Lubbock and Lieut. Hathaway; also several important papers and a train of five wagons and three ambulances, making a most perfect success, had not a most painful mistake occurred, by which the 4th Michigan and 1st Wisconsin collided, which cost us two men killed and Lieut. Boutelle wounded through the arm in the 4th Michi-gan, and three men wounded in the 1st Wisconsin. This occurred just at daylight after we had captured the camp, by the action of the 1st Wisconsin not properly answering our challenge, by which they were mistaken for the enemy. The letter comes in a half russet morocco folding-case. This next-day account makes no allusion to any attempt of Davis to escape the Union cavalrymen, nor of him wearing womens clothes.

The news of Daviss capture as revealed in this report hit the North like a thun-derclasp, and led to celebrations everywhere. Meanwhile, the 11th of May, the captured party headed for Macon, and a courier from there arrived and notified them that there was a $100,000 reward offered for Mr. Davis capture in connec-tion with the Lincoln assassination. When Reagan read the notice, he earnestly protested that Davis had no connection whatever with that crime. Pritchard then received orders to make a detail from his regiment in readiness to take his prisoners to Washington, and after they reached camp, he proceeded upon that service and conveyed Jefferson Davis to Fortress Monroe. Davis would remain there awaiting trial for two years. $12,000

Robert E. Lee Works to Make the Mississippi River Fully Navigable

He certifies services performed during the first major project he had ever been chosen to lead

The task of maintaining a navigation channel on the Mississippi is the responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which began as early as 1829 removing snags, closing off secondary channels and excavating rocks and sandbars. In 1829 the Corps surveyed the two major obstacles to navigation on the upper Mississippi, the Des Moines Rapids between Nauvoo, Illinois and Keokuk, Iowa and the Rock Island Rapids, where the river was shallow and the riverbed was rock. The Des Moines Rapids were about 11 miles long and just above the mouth of the Des Moines River at Keokuk. The Rock Island Rapids were between Rock Island and Moline. Both rapids were considered virtually impassable.

The Army Corps of Engineers took up the task of making the river navigable in 1837, and the assignment was given to a promising young engineer with excellent connections - Lieut. Robert E. Lee. Lee had recently married Mary Custis, a granddaughter of Martha Washington, and had became master of her Arlington estate. This was the first major project Lee would head in the army. His orders were to clear the channel and also divert certain waters on the river that were threatening the harbor at his base, St. Louis, Missouri. His principle assistant (and admirer) was Lieut. Montgomery Meigs, recently graduated from West Point. Their team went north from St. Louis on a steamboat. They surveyed and mapped the area, sounded depth of the water, took and recorded data, and developed plans to blast and excavate a path through the rapids. Lee and his party returned to St. Louis on October 8, 1837, and he planned to begin work the following spring. Then he headed home to Virginia for the winter. Lee com-menced work on these projects in 1838, blasting, trying to create a sufficient channel, and attempting to secure St. Loius harbor; and he made some progress. However, his efforts were plagued by under-funding and lack of political sup-

2

port (this was an era when the idea that improvements should be undertaken by the central government was by no means universally accepted). So although his work continued until October 1840, it was never pursued to success. By the end, Lee was glad to move on to other pursuits.

Document Signed, St. Louis, 1837-40: I certify that the service above charged for was received and necessary in conveying the U.S. steamboat from the Des Moines Rapids to St. Louis. Because most of the transportation during the Des Moines Rapids project was by steamboat, it is hard to more precisely date the receipt.

Lee would soon make a name for himself in the Mexican War. In time he would be revered as the symbol of the Southern Confederacy. His friendship with Montgomery Meigs was frought with irony, as Meigs became Lincolns Quarter-master General. When his only son was killed in action during the Civil War, he turned Lees Arlington estate into a cemetery and buried his son by Lees door. That way, he knew, his former friend and now foe would never be able to live there again. As for the Des Moines Rapids, it remained an obstacle until a suc-cessful solution was found after the Civil War. $3,200

Lincoln Appoints a Heroic War Veteran to a Diplomatic Post

The appointee would later be in charge of registering former slaves as voters in Savannah

Henry S. Wetmore resigned a cadetship at West Point to join the Union Army and command the 9th Ohio Battery. The unit was on active service and partici-pated in campaigns in the South, with Wetmore being cited for bravery in 1862. In April 1864 they went into garrison duty and Wetmore sought a more challeng-ing assignment. Later that year, President Lincoln submitted Wetmores name to the U.S. Senate as Consul to Peru, and he was confirmed.

Document Signed as President, Washington, February 14, 1865, appointing Wet-more U.S. Consul to Peru, and requesting that the Peruvian government recog-nize and deal with him as such. The document is countersigned by Secretary of State William Seward.

After the war Wetmore was in charge of registering former slaves as voters in Savannah and then fought for fair treatment of Chinese laborers in Peru (whose conditions he had seen in person pursuant to this appointment). $7,800

3

E Pluribus Unum: The Union Is Completed, As the Last of the Original 13 States Comes Under the Jurisdiction of the U.S. Constitution

Thomas Jefferson signs an Act of Congress extending the jurisdiction of U.S. courts to Rhode Island

The Constitution of the United States was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, a number of steps were required for it to become the law of the land. It first had to be reviewed and voted upon by the Continental Congress sitting under the Articles of Confederation; this was done and Congress approved. Then it had to be submit-ted to the 13 states; the approval of nine states was needed for it to come into effect. In the few

months before 1787 was up, Delaware, Pennsyl-vania and New Jersey ratified the Constitution. By

February 1788 Georgia, Connecticut and Massachu-setts had. That made 6. The next group of states - Mary-

land, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and New York - ratified in the April-July 1788 time frame. So then there were 11 states, more the the 9 required, and the Constitution came into effect. But Rhode Island had feared all along the idea of an authoritarian Federal government and failed to attend the Constitutional Convention, and now she and North Carolina were concerned that the Constitution contained no Bill of Rights to protect individual freedoms; they held out all through 1788. When the United States Government was established in March-April 1789, they took no part and were not repre-sented. But a Bill of Rights was introduced in Congress by James Madison, and it passed Congress and was sent to the states on September 25, 1789. So satisfied with that result and under pressure from neighbors Virginia and South Carolina, North Carolina held a convention and ratified the Constitution in November 1789. Now just Rhode Island held out.

By March 10, 1790, 8 states had ratified the Bill of Rights amendments, which was not enough for the Amendments to become part of the Constitution. The vote of Rhode Island could make the difference between their passage or failure. Moreover, it was becoming increasingly untenable for the state to carry on as a sole hold-out, and there was talk of the U.S. treating Rhode Island trade as for-eign trade and imposing tariffs if it remained outside the Union. Rhode Island is a maritme state, and trade was its life blood; a tariff against it could have dev-astating results. These were all powerful considerations, and on May 29, 1790, Rhode Island ratified the Constitution of the United States, becoming the last of the original 13 states (and indeed colonies) to do so. Just 8 days later it ratified the Bill of Rights, making its ultimate adoption almost certain.

But the work was not all on the Rhode Island side. It remained for the United States to extend its jurisdiction into Rhode Island (and complete the nation as 13 states under one law), to establish courts, and to fill Federal offices. And it did just that, using the expedient of amending the Judiciary Act of 1789 that estab-lished the Federal judiciary. Act of the Congress of the United States, signed as Secretary of State, also signed in type by George Washington as President, New York, June 23, 1790.

4

This act provides that the Judiciary Act shall have the like force and effect within the state of Rhode Island...as elsewhere within the United States. E Pluribus Unum. It went on to establish Rhode Island as one Federal court district, with the situs of the court alternating between Providence and Newport, and to provide for a Federal judge whose salary would be paid by the United States Treasury Depart-ment. A search of auction records for the past 35 years does not disclose another signed copy of this act having been offered for sale. $38,000

Presaging The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway Describes How to Fish for Marlin in Vivid Detail

An unpublished and unknown letter whose content is echoed throughout the famed work

One of the great iconic images of Ernest Hemingway is the 20th century author standing next to a marlin, one he has caught. We associate him with the sea, and nowhere is that more the case than with Marlin fishing. These were the first incentives Hemingway had to travel to Cuba after his friend Joe Russell invited him to fish marlins in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico (where, it is said, Hemingway captured almost 20 fish). From that moment on, marlin fishing be-came his lifelong obsession. In 1928 Hemingway moved to Key West, writing A Farewell to Arms the following year, which made him financially indepen-dent, and Death in the Afternoon in 1932. The Depression year of 1933 saw him on African safari, where he fell in love with the continent. From 1936-9, he reported on the Spanish Civil War, and he was present at the Battle of the Ebro, the last republican stand. However, in between stints in Spain, he managed to get back to Key West to do some marlin fishing. In World War II, from June 1942 until the end of 1943, Hemingway did almost no writing. Instead, he equipped his 38-foot fishing boat, Pilar, with weapons and became a volunteer captain in the Hooligan Navy, part of a fleet of civilian vessels recruited during the des-perate submarine war early in World War II to try to spot German U-boats. To Hemingway, fishing was there, always present.

In 1951, Hemingway wrote and the next year published The Old Man and the Sea, one of his most famous books. This was the last major work of fiction pro-duced by Hemingway and published in his lifetime, and was a summation of what he loved most. The story centers on Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulfstream. In the book, he dis-cusses the struggles of catching and gaffing (using a hook to bring in the marlin once it was close to the boat), and equates the struggle to catch this marlin as a metaphor for Santiagos struggles with life and ambition. It ends with the man dreaming of Africa, like Hemingway himself no doubt. It is an epic of American literature and the enduring legacy of Hemingway. There are echoes of Heming-ways life throughout the book.

In this letter, apparently unpublished, Hemingway writes in great detail about how to bring in a marlin, and discusses not only technique but how he does and has done it. He references learning to fish and alludes to the strong pull it has on him (in his anticipated dream) and demonstrates the simple, straight forward and unadorned style for which Hemingways prose is admired.

Typed Letter Signed, January 13, 1935, Key West, to playwright James P. McCo-nnaughey, author of Farewell to Glamour. We always gaff a marlin in the head no matter where he is hooked. Gaffing them there gives you control over the part of the fish that is dangerous, ie his head and bill. Also the head of the fish is what you bring toward you and is what you gaff to. When you get the head up by the boat the tail may be fourteen feet away if the fish would be big enough. How are you to lead their tail toward you when the hook is in the fishes mouth? Also the gaff holds best in the fishs head and you can then grab the bill and hang on while you club him across the top of the head between the eyes. A gaff in the head kills the fish too and does not spoil the

5

meat. Unless you gaff through the gills a fish bleeds very little when gaffed in the head. Some people gaff under the pectoral fin but I think this is messy (it would gaff into the roe if a fish had one) and besides you cannot lift a big fish that way. Gaffing in the tail I have never heard about until your letter. I have seen one gaffed that way accidentally but had no idea anyone would ever do it on purpose. However there are lots of ways of doing all sorts of things and if Mr. Guild gaffs them that way he must have developed a technique for it. But everyone in Cuba where I learned to fish for marlin gaffs them in the head and out of about a hundred and twenty that I have caught would say that all but four or five have been gaffed in the head and those were gaffed elsewhere by slips or by accident. If you write or see Mr. Guild will you tell him this for me and give him my compliments and best wishes. I can see how technically anybody could make out a case for gaffing in the tail, ie you pull the tail out of the water and the fish is helpless etc. But how do you get close to his tail when you bring him in head first? Also I can assure you I have never lost a marlin gaffed in the head and since the object of gaffing a fish is to make sure of him and to kill him, at the same time I can recommend that way of gaff-ing to you without any reservations. Thank you for your letter (am sure Ill dream some night now about gaffing some marlin wrong end to; would be willing to try it were they plentiful enough) and I hope youll have the chance to gaff one yourself this season. Yours always, Ernest Hemingway. An uncommon full signature. The Mr. Guild referenced may have been Boston publisher and music patron Courtney Guild.

In 1953, Hemingway would win the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea and the next year he would receive the Nobel Prize for literature. $13,000

President George Washington Calls the Senate Into Session For His Second Inauguration

The only call into session for a Washington inauguration we can find in private hands

The success of the American Rev-olution was a long-shot, as an un-organized group of farmers took on the greatest military power of the day. Its leader Washington had been a minor officer in the British Army over a decade earlier, yet he was the best the Americans had, and though a very wealthy land-owner with everything to lose, he agreed to lead. Victories were few and far between for the Ameri-cans, and at times the army under his command was reduced to a

few thousand dedicated but ill-armed, ill-fed and ill-housed men. There were a number of moments during the Revolutionary War when it actually seemed over except for British mopping up operations, and it was only the determination of Washington that held the American cause and army together. The success of the Revolution was an astonishing achievement for Washington. Afterwards, he had every opportunity to become a king or dictator, but he refused, instead support-ing ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Washington was Inaugurated as President for the first time on April 30, 1789, in front of New Yorks Federal Hall. He had not wanted to be chief executive, and took the job reluctantly, lamenting that in assuming the presidency, he felt like a culprit who is going to the place of his execution. With the inaugural ceremo-ny complete, the crowd below let out three big cheers and President Washington returned to the Senate chamber to deliver his brief Inaugural address. In it, he hoped the American people would find liberty and happiness under a govern-ment instituted by themselves. He realized full well that he would be setting important precedents in the office, and saw it as his responsibility to set positive ones, saying As the first of everything, in our situation, will serve to establish a precedent, it is devoutly wished on my part that these precedents be fixed on true principles.

Washingtons first important presidential determination was to use as an ad-visory cabinet the principal Federal officials he would select, and to fill the cabinet with men of stature and character, not just supporters or sycophants. These included Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State and Alexander Hamil-ton as Treasury Secretary. In fact, a conflict between these two quickly created for Washington the necessity of determining whether the executive under the brand new Constitution was a passive position, as many assumed, or one of active leadership. Jeffersons opinion was that the Federal government and its head could only exercise powers specifically granted by the Constitution, while Hamilton saw the Constitution as implying powers which the government could utilize for beneficial ends. Washington agreed with Hamilton and accepted the concept that the Constitution allowed actions that it did not expressly authorize.

6

This decision proved a sound one and helped make the nations future prosper-ity possible. Washington also used national power in the Whiskey Rebellion to establish the primacy of Federal laws. All of these actions set a strong precedent for presidential leadership.

Washington was re-elected in 1792. France declared war on Great Britain on February 1, 1793, so by the time of his second inauguration, He was aware that hostilities were brewing; news of the war declaration was speeding across the Atlantic at that very moment. The U.S. now faced a thorny political problem, as France was Americas ally during the Revolutionary War, yet Great Britains financial support was important to American ship-owners and businessmen. It was in this tension-laden atmosphere, in which actions in Europe would surely have momentous yet uncertain consequences in the U.S., that Washingtons sec-ond term would begin.

The inaugural ceremony would take place before the U.S. Senate and in the Sen-ate Chamber, but for this to happen it would first be necessary to call the Senate into session for inauguration day. There were 15 states in the Union at this time, and therefore 30 U.S. senators, but only 17 were in Philadelphia to receive a call into session and be able to attend the history-making moment. Thus, in all like-lihood, only 17 Senators received letters commanding their presence that day. This is one of those original letters.

Manuscript Letter Signed as President, Philadelphia, March 1, 1793, to Rhode Islands U.S. Senator Theodore Foster. Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the Senate shall be convened on Monday the 4 instant, you are desired to attend at the Senate Chamber in Philadelphia on that day then and there to receive and deliberate on such communications as shall be made to you on my part. John Fitzger-ald relates in his work The Writings of George Washington that This extra session of the Senate convened and adjourned on March 4.

The second inauguration of George Washington as President of the United States took place in Philadelphia, in the Senate Chamber of that part of Independence Hall known as Congress Hall, on March 4, 1793. The inauguration marked the commencement of the second four-year term for not only Washington as Presi-dent, but John Adams as Vice President, and was the first such ceremony to take place on the date fixed by the Congress for inaugurations. Before an assembly of congressmen, cabinet officers, judges of the federal and district courts, foreign officials, and a gathering of Philadelphians, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court William Cushing administered the oath of office, becoming the first Supreme Court justice to swear in a president. Though his oath of office took place in-doors, the sun shone in Philadelphia that day, as only seems fitting, with Wash-ington being sworn in the very building where independence had been declared and he had been named to command the American army just 18 years earlier. Temperatures were mild with a high of 61F. Washington also delivered an in-augural address in which he stated:?I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people. Previous to the execution of any official act of the President, the

Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the Senate shall be convened on Monday the 4 instant...

Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence...

In his second term, President Washington promoted the concepts of American nationalism and unity. He quickly determined that the U. S. should be neutral in the European quarrel, and on April 22, 1793, issued a proclamation to that effect. The following year, the Jay Treaty settled some outstanding issues with the Brit-ish and thus reduced the chance of the U.S. getting entangled in the European war. Towards the end of this term, he refused to seek another. This proved to be another valuable precedent, as seeing his example, future presidents knew that one day they would go home and resume life as private citizens. Washington believed that public virtue led to prosperity, and as President conducted himself with pure motives and complete honesty. His virtues were so pronounced that they actually influenced the way people thought about the concepts of lead-ership and greatness. In setting this example and high standard, Washington made it very difficult for his successors to materially deviate.

Our research has turned up only one other such letter that demonstrably still exists. There are none listed in auction records over the past 35 years, and we know of none in private hands otherwise. There is one, Sen. Roger Shermans copy, in the Massachusetts Historical Society. The Papers of Washington project believes that there may be a few others in institutions somewhere, but they are not specifically aware of any. Nor did they know of any in private hands. They took a copy of this letter as an example for the others. $62,000

Maxfield Parrish Concepts Some of His Most Enduring Images

He shows how he takes into consideration the childs imagination and point of view

Young Parrish began his career in the mid-1890s as an illustrator and provided artwork for stories, covers and articles to the well-known magazines of the day like Century, Harper s and Metropolitan. He began working with the publisher R.H. Russell and Son of New York late in the decade, and by 1900 received the plums of providing the illustrations for Mother Goose in Prose and Russells new version of Knickerbocker s History of New York; the iIllustations were in monotone. Later that year Russell hired Parrish to provide illustrations for a work by Richard Le Gallienne, one of his authors, who was writing an article entitled Once Upon a Time.

But 1900 would prove to be a difficult year for Parrish, as he contracted tuberculosis and then suffered a nervous breakdown. He went to a sanitorium in the Adirondacks to benefit from the dry air of Saranac Lake, but found the cold in the winter of 1900-1901 was too much for him and his condition made it hard to work. However, by the new year of 1901, he began to develop concepts and techniques he would utilize to great effect throughout his career; by year s end he was a new man, at least in an artistic sense.

At the start of that epochal year, he wrote his publisher about his assignment, saying he loved to illustrate childrens subjects. He showed just how his work would take into consideration the childs imagination and point of view, and detailed some specific ideas he had for pictures; in time he would create these very pictures. Autograph Letter Signed, Saranac Lake, N.Y., February 5th, 1901. As to the subject of my contribution to your portfolio, I would like to make a picture called, let us say, Once upon a time, of a huge giant in a vast dark wood to whom has presented himself a tiny knight with hero on horseback. Not a very exciting description to be sure, but I think it could be made interesting. Or any fairy tale subject would do - Jack of beanstalk & giant killer frame. I am particularly fond of taking childrens subjects of the fairy tale kind, and treating them just as seriously & with just as much faith, as far as the artistic rendering is concerned, as one would see Landing of Co-lumbus or Sheridans Ride. By what process are these to be reproduced? I am rather shy of color, for my things are always ruined in reproduction when I do them for color.

Parrish decided to spend the 1901-2 winter in Arizona for his health, and this of-fered the opportunity for him to illustrate for Century a series of articles on the Southwest. The deserts stark and beautiful colors, the brilliant blue of the sky, the intense light and great sweep of the space, changed his mind about color. And the Parrish that left Arizona in 1902 had become a technicolor Parrish, with color being the most important part of his work. Moreover, in Arizona Parrish

7

I am particularly fond of taking childrens subjects of the fairy tale kind, and treating them just as seriously & with just as much faith, as far as the artistic rendering is concerned, as one would see Landing of Columbus or Sheridans Ride.

turned from ink to paint, from pen to brush, from drawings to oils. Maxfield Parrish, illustrator became Maxfield Parrish, painter.

Le Galliennes Once Upon a Time, with Parrishs illustrations, appeared in the December 1904 issue of Metropolitan Magazine. And as for the ideas he articu-lated in this letter, he later painted Jack and the Beanstalk, giants, knights, and in fact innumerable fairy tale subjects. $3,000

Gen. George B. McClellan Commences the Peninsula Campaign With an Urgent Request to Washington For Emergency Wharves to Supply His Vast Army

A rare autograph telegram signed from the Peninsula, sent the very day his army started on the move

In response to the call of the President and the country that he move against the Confederates, McClellan rejected taking the overland route to Richmond because it would place the Confeder-ate army between him and his Richmond objective and result in unacceptable casualties. Instead he developed a plan to approach Richmond through the back door by landing east of the city on the peninsula, rolling up the small Confederate force guarding that sector, and hitting an exposed Rich-mond from a direction it was not expecting. He began shipping his 121,500-strong army with all of its supplies and armaments to Fort Monroe on March 17, 1862, intending to move against Rich-

mond by way of the York River. The Army of the Potomac was the largest army to conduct an amphibious operation in North America. The grand army was big-ger than any city in Virginia. This was not a bad plan and Confeder-ate prospects looked bleak as Mc-Clellan moved his massive army to the Peninsula. Confederate hopes were pinned on Major General John Bankhead Magruder s small Army of the Peninsula to delay the Union juggernauts advance toward Richmond long enough for reinforcements to come up.

On April 3, McClellan issued orders to begin the campaign the next morning at 7 AM. He designated 53,000 of his effective troops to move towards Yorktown on the York River from Fortress Monroe. He expected to take Yorktown easily, and to use it as an immediate staging point for his vast army. He also assumed that Williamsburg on the James River would soon follow, and that he would estab-lish a second major staging site there. He would need lots of docking space to more troops, artillery, horses and supplies, more than either of the towns could provide. So as perhaps one of his last acts before starting his movement, he tele-graphed the War Department asking that it urgently send him large, flat boats suitable to provide emergency docking space.

Autograph Telegram Signed on his Head-Quarters, Army of the Potomac letter-head, Hampton Roads, Va., April 4, 1862 at 12:45 AM, to Col. D.H. Rucker, aide-de-camp in the Quartermaster Department. Please send here about (50) fifty canal boats to be used in forming temporary wharves. They should bring down wagons. The

8

telegrapher has marked very important at the bottom, doubtless an instruction McClellan gave him to pass along to Ricker with the text, along with 12:50, the time it was likely dispatched.

Six hours later, on April 4, 1862, at 7 AM, McClellans army began its march up the Peninsula, occupying abandoned Confederate works at Big Bethel and Youngs Mill. The next day, the Army of the Potomac assumed its march only to find its path to Richmond slowed by heavy rains, which turned the already poor roads into a muddy morass. The army then found itself blocked by Magruder s 13,000-strong command entrenched along a 12-mile front. McClellan ordered the Union army to halt in its tracks as Magruder, despite being heavily outnum-bered, created an illusion of having a powerful army with heavy fortifications and lots of artillery guns. Magruder played his ten thousand before McClellan like fireflies, wrote diarist Mary Chesnut, and utterly deluded him.

The events of April 5 changed McClellans campaign. His plans for a rapid move-ment past Yorktown were upset by the unexpected Confederate defenses, and believing he was outnumbered by the Confederates, he besieged their defenses instead of attacking them. As McClellans men built gun emplacements for their 103 siege guns, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston began moving his entire Confederate army to the lower Peninsula. He soon arrived, and by the time Yorktown was taken a month later the Union advantage was lost. The campaign ended in an embarrassing defeat for Union arms. $3,200

In One of the Most Oft-Quoted Letters Ever Written About Flight and Invention, Orville Wright Explains the Relation of Bird Flight to the Wright Brothers Inventive Process

While the inspiration may have come from birds, the creation was unique and the work of man

From time immemorial, the inspiration of birds has caused inventive people to look to the skies to attain human-controlled flight. Then came the Wright Broth-ers. In 1898-9, while running their bicycle business, Wilbur and Orville Wright began to study the problems of mechanical and human flight. After reading extensively, and studying bird flight and the work of aviation pioneer Otto Lil-ienthal (who died experimenting with an airplane in 1896), the brothers became convinced that human flight was possible and decided to conduct some experi-ments of their own. During that time, Wilbur related, he observed a flock of buzzards banking and rolling, turning in that fashion and adjusting to rapidly changing winds. Until then, airplane designs had been unsuccessful and could do no such thing. The Wright Brothers, however, believed that the pilot must have complete control and that lateral movement, banking, was essential. They were convinced that anything a bird could do ought to be achievable by technol-ogy.

They started work, first adapting the airplane design of Octave Chanute, and then developing a unique concept that allowed the plane to be turned and con-trolled using wing warping (where wings themselves bend in different direc-tions using a system of pulleys). As Tom Crouch, Senior Curator of the Division of Aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum has stated, Wing warp-ing was one of the first great conceptual breakthroughs that the Wright Brothers had. So just a year after Wilbur watched the buzzards, the Wrights had their first flying glider ready to be tested. Experiencing problems with winds, in 1902 they invented the first wind tunnel where accurate aerodynamic data could be obtained, and systematically utilized it in their airplane design. In March 1903 they filed for a patent for a flying machine, and on December 17, Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first free, controlled, and sustained flights in a power-driven, heavier-than-air machine. It is hard to imagine a more important inven-tion than the airplane.

The relationship between inspiration and invention in the Wright Brothers has been the subject of many books and much debate. Was there more inspiration as provided by observing and mimicking birds in flight, or more unique inven-tion in their concept? We know from Wilbur s vision of the buzzards that their movements showed him the capacity of birds to control their movements at all times. But had the Wrights independently suspected this before? Here Orville graphically answers these questions, showing the Wright Brothers inventive process and balancing the factors. This letter is quoted in many books on flight, invention and general inspiration. Until now, the location of the original of this letter had been lost to time.

Learning the secret of flight from a bird was a good deal like learning the secret of magic from a magician

9

Typed Letter Signed, Dayton, Ohio, December 27, 1941, to Horace Lytle of the J. Horace Lytle Company, Your letter of November 26th was duly received, but having become buried among other papers, it has just come to my attention again. I can not think of any part bird flight had in the development of human flight excepting as an inspiration. Although we intently watched birds fly in a hope of learning something from them I can not think of anything that was first learned in that way. After we had thought out certain principles, we then watched the bird to see whether it used the same principles. In a few cases we did detect the same thing in the birds flight. Learning the secret of flight from a bird was a good deal like learning the secret of magic from a magician. After you once know the trick and know what to look for you see things that you did not notice when you did not know exactly what to look for. This letter of one of the greatest inventors of all time is of such import that it is quoted on the back cover of The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright. $17,000

The First Flight, Orville Wright

A 4 1/2 by 6 inch card depicting the famous photograph of the first flight tak-ing off, with Orville Wright at the airplanes controls as it lifts in flight and his brother Wilbur observing on the ground, signed by Orville. The caption reads: First Man-Flight, December 17, 1903 / Kitty Hawk, N.C. With the original enve-lope, addressed in his hand to Harvey Ford. With the original envelope it came in, postmarked Dayton, January 9, 1930. $4,500

Joseph Smith III Offers to Authenticate a Now-Famous Letter of His Father from Liberty Jail, Later Donated to the Mormon Archives

Also with a signature on a card of Mormon leader Brigham Young

In 1838, Joseph Smith Jr, founder of the Mormon religion and then living with his followers in Missouri, engaged in a series of skirmishes with the local au-thorities under orders from the Governor, who wanted the Mormons extermi-nated or driven from the state. On November 1, Smith was arrested and for four months held in Liberty Jail. In a letter written to his wife from prison on March 21, 1839, Smith wrote, The salvation of my soul is of the most impor-tance to me forasmuch as I know for a certainty of eternal things. If the heavens linger, it is nothing to me.

10

11

Joseph Smith III was his eldest surviving son. He served as Prophet-President of the Reorganized Church (known today as the Community of Christ) from 1860 until his semi-retirement in 1906, the first person to hold that position fol-lowing a formal reorganization of the church that took place several years after his father s death.

In this letter, written to citizens who had sent the son the text of a letter from his father, he offers to authenticate it. Typed Letter Signed, Lamoni, Iowa, July 1, 1901, to The Gate City, Koekuk, Iowa. Dear Sirs, I thank you for the proof press copy of the purported letter from Joseph Smith to his wife Emma, from Liberty Jail, Missouri, March 21, 1839. If you know the address of Mr. C. P. Birge, will you confer the favor of sending it to me. I am the son of said Joseph Smith and Emma Smith, and would like to see the original of the letter, as I have other letters from him by which I could identify it. I refer you to Mr. W. Deleplaine, of your city, whom you probably know. The letter is now in the archives of the Latter Day Saints, a good sign that the letter proved to be authentic. $1,000

Rare Battle Letter From Shiloh

In the second days battle (April 7, 1862), the Union army was pinned down in a semicircular line run-ning 1,300 yards west from the Tennessee River, then turning north and running a half mile. Gen-eral Nelsons troops at-tacked the rebel defenses, but they were stymied and waited for reinforcements. General Buell dispatched two sections of Regular Army troops to Nelsons

aid, which included the 15th U.S. Infantry (led by General Rousseau), a hard-fighting unit in many a battle. Soon after they arrived on the field, the men were ordered to the ground just as a Confederate fusillade blasted over their heads, signaling an attack on their right flank. Casualties were heavy from the blast, despite the mens prone positions. Confederate troops hurled themselves against Rousseaus brigade but were met by volleys from the Union ranks. Cap-tain Peter Swain, commanding the 15th Infantry, recalled proudly that his cool, sturdy and obedient soldiers - regulars allscythed down the Rebels with their accurate fire. By noon, the Confederate line had been forced back to a new posi-tion, after what Sherman called the severest artillery fire I ever heard. About 2 p.m. the Confederates launched another attack, crashing through the brush and pounding over the landscape, summoning energy from their Rebel yell; eventu-ally it faltered and then receded. The Regulars joined the push that swept the Rebels beyond the former camps of Grants army. Rousseaus brigade moved in splendid order, steadily to the front, sweeping everything before it, Sherman reported admiringly.

One of Rousseaus men, John M. Kumler, described the action soon after. Au-tograph Letter Signed, camp before Corinth, Mississippi, May 19, 1862, to his cousin Kate. I have no doubt that you are a little anxious about the results of the bottle, but the reports were considerably exaggerated I admit. But the loss was great, but Johnnie, white headed Johnnie, came out of the fiery ordeal without a scratch. I imagine I saw you looking over the list of wounded and dead to see if you recognize the name of some friend, a relative or perhaps a lover. Well after such a battle one is entirely justifiable in exercising so great interest in behalf of wounded soldiers. It has robbed many mother of her husband, cut short the bright career of many a brave youth, and has sent a pang to the hearts of swains after hearing that their lovers fell victims to death on the fatal field of Shiloh. April 6-7 are days long to be remembered by the surviving patriot soldiers. Many rebels received their rewards on those fatal days. You ask whether I killed any secesh, whether I saw any fall I aimed at. Now these are ques-tions I cannot answer. 1st you may think it very strange but I didnt see anyone to shoot

We fought all day behind trees if they were handy and when they were not lay down to fire and load...As a general thing they shot too high...we drove the rascals from every position they took

12

at because the underbrush was so thick we couldnt see much more than 50 yards. We fought all day behind trees if they were handy and when they were not lay down to fire and load, which saved many an inspiring youth. As a general thing they shot too high but I tell you the balls discoursed some soul stirring music over our heads, and had it not been for a generous old tree that had fallen I too would no doubt have been obliged to bite the dust. But we drove the rascals from every position they took, capturing a battery. I dont know then whether I killed any, but I, like the rest, shot directly where I saw the smoke of a gun. And I shot at the colors once or twice. It was a serious time, I assure you. It was affecting to look around to see the wild desolation of the previous day. It was truly a trial for energy but I was confident that I was engaged in a just cause and fearless since I was sure that I was fighting the enemies of my country, of the cherished principles of freedom. You ask how I kept from fainting on the day of the battle. Now you know there is a good deal in getting used to a thing. Before I was in the mess one hour I feared nothing, was calm and composed, loaded with alacrity, shot with as much precision as possible...I shot at the sesesh like an old hand at the bellows, but I dont know whether the rebel digestive apparatus suffered in consequence or not - but I rather think it did... Now there is no telling how soon we will fight again. We have been under marching orders for some days, to be ready to march at a moments notice, and by the time this reaches you tis hard to tell what will turn up...Dont be scared Kate because I am not in a dangerous condition at all. It is signed John M. Kumler, Co. D, 15th U.S. Infantry.

Sadly, the war did not end well for Kumler. He was seriously wounded at the battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863. Left on the field and taken pris-oner, he was never heard of afterwards. $1,000

One of the Civil Wars Most Consequential Letters: William T. Sherman Chooses Sides

He notifies his Louisiana college that he will resign its presidency and go North if that state secedes: If Louisiana separates from

the General Govt., that instant I stop...

He foresees (even demands) a war of total destruction, a prediction he helped come true

As the newer states of the Old South grew and prospered in the years after statehood, a demand arose in them for increased learn-ing and professionalization, and this naturally led to establishment of schools, institutes and colleges, particularly in the military, legal and medical fields. Louisiana was one of those states. The Medical College of Louisiana was founded in 1834, and the Tulane University Law School was opened in 1847. In 1853, the Louisiana General As-sembly passed legislation creating the Seminary of Learning of the

State of Louisiana. The principle promoter of the project, Gen. George Mason Graham was named president of its board of trustees, and he gave land on his own cotton plantation for the school to be built. Though Federal trust funds would pay for the school, it was set up as a state institution of higher education. From the start it was designed to provide military education.

To increase the success of their professional niche and their specialized knowl-edge, every military institution like the new one just chartered in Louisiana attempted to secure at least one graduate of West Point or Virginia Military In-stitute (the pace-setting southern school) to add prestige and legitimate the mar-tial side of the education equation. Francis Smith, head of VMI, recommended Graham six VMI graduates to teach in Louisiana, and Graham hired one of them. Grahams attention then turned to finding a superintendant to be the institutes first. The position was advertised, and Gen. Don Carlos Buell cut out the ad and sent it to Sherman with a suggestion that he apply. Shermans application, with great future irony, gave as references future Confederate Generals G.T. Beaure-gard and Braxton Bragg. Grahams half-brother was Col. R.B. Mason, American commander in California after the Mexican cession, and the man who filed the official report that gold had been discovered in that new territory. Sherman had served under Mason in California, and Mason strongly recommended Sherman to his brother Graham. So Graham selected Sherman, an 1840 West Point gradu-ate and presently a major, and on August 2, 1859, Sherman was elected by the board of trustees as superintendant and professor of engineering.

I say Charleston must be blotted from existence...Twill arouse a storm to which the slavery question will be as nothing...

13

In November 1859, the institutions main building was completed, and on Janu-ary 1, 1860, the school opened with 5 professors and 19 cadets. In March 1860, its name was changed to Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Acad-emy, and the proud states general assembly allowed for as many as 150 cadets, with scholarships for boarding expenses. The total number of cadets eventually reached 73. The institutes first term went well, with Sherman liking his posi-tion and working with Graham all the while. Sherman spent the 1860 summer vacation at home to Ohio.

Upon returning for the second term in the fall of 1860, Sherman was surprised to find the people of Louisiana in a disturbed state of mind over the political situation. He himself thought secession a bad idea promulgated by hotheads, but he was not against slavery. He kept aloof from politics and hoped the storm would blow over. However, in November Abraham Lincoln was elected Presi-dent; Sherman later wrote, The election of Mr. Lincoln fell upon us like a clap of thunder. But by December 15, he wrote his wife that he had little doubt that Louisiana will quit the Union in January, and that he would not stay in his job if that proved true. Just a few days later he wrote her more urgently, reaffirming that he would not remain in Louisiana and castigating the Buchanan Adminis-tration for failing to reinforce Major Anderson in Charleston harbor. Sherman had mentioned his concerns and general sentiments to a few Louisianans, in-cluding Governor Thomas O. Moore. But by Christmas Sherman had come to believe that a definitive written communication to his institution of his specific intentions was necessary. At this time there were many military men from the north serving in the south and vice versa, and some of them stayed with their adopted rather than native regions (like Virginias George Thomas who went north and Philadelphias John Pemberton who stayed south), so decisions like this were anything but forgone conclusions.

This is Shermans original letter to Graham. Autograph Letter Signed, 4 pages, Seminary, Christmas 1860, with the autograph envelope still present. After discussion of arms and ammunition, Sherman defines his position: As long as Louisiana is in the Union, and I occupy this post, I will serve her faithfully against internal and external enemies. But if Louisiana separates from the General Govt., that instant I stop - I will do no act, breath no words, think no thoughts hostile to the Government of the United States. Weak as it is, it is the only semblance of strength & justice on this Continent, as compared with which the State Governments are weak and trifling. If Louisiana joins in this unhallowed movement to dismember our old Govern-ment, how long will it be till her parishes and people insult and deride her? Sherman then elaborates: My dear general, we are in the midst of sad times. It is not Slavery - it is a tendency to anarchy everywhere. I have seen it all over America, and our only hope is in Uncle Sam. Weak as that Government is, it is the only approach to one. He criticizes President Buchanan and predicts (then demands) a coming conflagra-tion, writing, I do think Buchanan made a fatal mistake. He should have reinforced Anderson, my old captain, at my old post, Fort Moultrie and with steam frigates made Fort Sumter impregnable. This, instead of exciting the Carolinians, would have forced them to pause in their mad career. Fort Sumter with 3,000 men and the command of the seas would have enabled the Government to execute the revenue laws, and to have held

I will do no act, breath no words, think no thoughts hostile to the Government of the United States. Weak as it is, it is the only semblance of strength & justice on this Continent...

South Carolina in check till reason could resume its sway. Whereas now I fear they have a comtempt for Uncle Sam and will sacrifice Anderson. Let them hurt a hair of his head in the execution of his duty, and I say Charleston must be blotted from existence. Twill arouse a storm to which the slavery question will be as nothing, else I mistake the char-acter of our people. He notes he has countermanded my orders for Mrs. Sherman to come south as I feel that my stay here is drawing to a close. He then concludes, Still I will not act [resign] till I conceive I must and should, and will do all that a man ought to allow time for a successor... The letter is in a green linen portfolio with a green morocco spine label. It is the very letter that appears in the book Sher-man As College President by Walter Fleming, and is shown as Shermans first letter to Graham on the subject of the impending war and own his intentions in the chapter entitled The Coming of Secession.

Graham responded on January 4, 1861, saying he had expected that Sherman would so choose, and expressing that this letter had added to a flame of sad thoughts with which I am now constantly oppressed. He was against secession but stated that it was inevitable, and that perfectly rational people who agreed with him just weeks ago were now demanding to leave the Union. On January 18 Sherman resigned, and soon after Governor Moore wrote him to express regret over losing his services, a regret other southerners would share in years soon to come.

In April 1861, large numbers of the students and faculty of Grahams college began resigning in order to enlist in the Confederate military. Sherman went on to play a key role in crushing the Confederacy, and his men lit the torch that destroyed the Charleston he here demanded must be blotted out. And as for the embrionic Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy, it changed its name to the Louisiana State University (LSU), and now consists of more than 250 buildings, has 5,000 staff and faculty, and educates 25,000 students every year. $17,000

Keep the bastards dying!

The original received telegram, signed, of Admiral Bull Halseys 1945 New Years Message to His Fleet, in which he coined this famous phrase

Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. was, with Admiral Chester Nimitz the most famous American naval com-mander of World War II. In October 1942, at a critical stage of the Gua-dalcanal Campaign, he was made Commander South Pacific Forces and South Pacific Area. With his reputation for audacity and aggres-siveness, his appointment was wel-comed by the beleaguered Marine and Navy units. He lived up to his

reputation, summarizing his strategy in a simple order to his carriers on Oc-tober 26: Attack--Repeat--Attack. In a series of fierce engagements Japanese naval forces in the area were defeated and American victory on Guadalcanal assured. After Guadalcanal was secured in February 1943, Halseys forces spent the rest of the year battling up the Solomon Islands chain to Bougainville, then isolated and neutralized the Japanese fortress and air base at Rabaul by captur-ing positions in the Bismarck Archipelago.

He left the South Pacific in May 1944, as the war surged toward the Philippines and Japan. In June 1944 he was designated Commander Western Pacific Task Forces and assumed command of the Third Fleet, which was the most power-ful aggregation of naval striking power in American history. In September his ships provided cover for the landings on Peleliu, before embarking on a series of damaging raids on Okinawa and Formosa. In late October, the Third Fleet was assigned to provide cover for the American landings on Leyte in the Phil-ippines and to support Admiral Thomas Kinkaids Seventh Fleet. Desperate to block the Allied invasion of the Philippines, the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Admiral Soemu Toyoda, devised a daring plan which called for most of his remaining ships to attack the landing force. The resulting Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of World War II, and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history. Admirals Halsey and Kinkaid won victories on October 23 and 24 over the attacking Japanese surface ships.

Halsey was criticized for his follow-up in that victory and temporarily left his command to Admiral Raymond Spruance. Resuming command in May 1945, Halsey was involved in the Okinawa campaign, and then made a series of car-rier attacks against the Japanese home islands. His last attack came on August 13, and he was present aboard USS Missouri when the Japanese surrendered on September 2. In fact, it was Halseys flag flying on USS Missouri that day.

The destroyer USS Charles S. Sperry joined the Third Fleet in December 1944. She sortied with her group for the first time on December 30, bound for the ar-eas from which the carriers launched strikes against Japanese bases on Formosa and Luzon in preparation for the assault on Lingayen Gulf beaches. Continuing to neutralize Japanese airfields the force moved on to strike at targets in Indo-

14

china, on the South China coast, and on Okinawa before returning to base in January 1945.

Sperry took part in an audacious raid against Tokyo itself, the first carrier strikes on the heart of Japan since the Doolittle Raid. Sperry forces offered direct sup-port during the assault landings at Iwo Jima. It then took part in the Okinawa operation, which kept her almost continuously at sea until June. Sperry was involved in the kamikaze strikes hurled at her force in April and May. By July she was covering the first occupation landings and the evacuation of Allied prisoners of war from Japanese prison camps. On August 31, the USS Charles S. Sperry arrived off Tokyo Bay for the surrender ceremonies held on September 2.

1944 was a year of hard combat, exhaustion, and steep losses for the U.S. forc-es in the Pacific, but great progress was made towards ultimate victory. And Halsey was proud of the men under his command, and as full of fight as ever. Late on the night of December 31, 1944, Halsey sent a spirited New Year s tele-gram to his ships that read as follows: This is Commander Third Fleet himself. A hard job well done in 1944. A happy and prosperous New Year in 1945. Keep the bastards dying! Halsey felt so strongly about this message that he spoke it orally on board his own ship, as he relates in his autobiography (and is noted in the telegram as voice call-cant include). The phrase Keep the bastards dying! struck a chord in World War II, and it is used as a chapter title in James Merrills A Sailor s Admiral: A Biography of William F. Halsey.

The Speery of course received a copy - marked as from Com 3rd FLT and to Halseys command Task Force 38 - and made its contents known to the men. A sailor from Ohio serving on board the Sperry at the time retained the origi-nal telegram as a memento, so it was not discarded. After the war, that sailor became an autograph collector, amassing a collection centered on literary and historical autographs. He notes that when Admiral Halsey visited the Granville Inn in Granville, Ohio on January 21, 1947, he met Halsey and got him to sign it in person. Our research of auction records over the past 35 years, and our other searches, disclose no other signed copy of this famous telegram; and we assume that none exists.

Douglas MacArthur, in his Reminiscences, wrote: Wil-liam Halsey was one of our greatest sailors.... Blunt, out-spoken, [and] dynamic... he was of the same aggressive type as John Paul Jones, David Farragut, and George Dewey. His one thought was to close with the enemy and fight him to the death...His loyalty was undeviating, and I placed the greatest confidence in his judg-ment. No name rates higher in the annals of our countrys na-val history.$12,000

Normal Rockwell, Well Known For Paintings Portraying Abraham Lincoln, Says His Schedule Will Not Allow Him to Illustrate an Advertisement Featuring Lincoln

Rockwell liked to paint Abraham Lincoln, and his portraits of Lincoln are well known. Adver-tising man Gustave Sigritz of the Young Rubi-cam firm had a client ad to develop, and his concept involved a picture of Lincoln; he of-fered Rockwell the chance to illustrate it. Here is Rockwells response. Typed Letter Signed, July 16, 1946, Arlington, VT, to Sigritz, The ad-vertisement which you wrote me about and which is to be built around the life of Abraham Lincoln, sounds like an interesting job. I am extremely sorry however that I cannot even consider it as my sched-ule is awfully crowded for the next year and I simply cannot take on anything more. I do appreciate your interest in writing me about it though. $500

Robert Peary, the First Man to Reach the North Pole, Sends a Biographical Essay to an Editor

Uncommon ALS of the Arctic Explorer

On April 6, 1909, after losing a total of eight toes in a dozen years of braving Arc-tic conditions and several failed attempts, Robert Peary placed the American flag at the North Pole. Shortly after, Peary retired from the Navy with the rank of rear admi-ral, and he went on to spend most of his time writing books and articles about his explorations. One of the most famous of his books, The Secrets of Polar Travel, was published in 1917. That same year, amid many requests for more information about this famous exploit, Peary respond-ed to a request for biographical data.

Autograph Letter Signed on National Aerial Coast Patrol Commission letter-head, Washington, March 4, 1917, to Rus-sell Radford, Editor. I enclose biographi-cal sketch as requested. There are some 2300 words. If you desire to have it expanded to

3000 or 4000 words as per your letter of Feb. 15th, kindly indicate what part of it you wish expanded and return it to me. If it is OK as enclosed then be sure to send me gal-ley proofs for corrections when read. Very Truly, Peary $800

15

16

George Washington Disbanding the Fabled Continental Army

The day he proclaims the Continental Army discharged, George Washington implements that order by writing the surgeon

general to determine what medical personnel need to be retained to care for the sick soldiers

The recipient was Washingtons personal physician and tended to Lafayettes wounds after Brandywine

While General Cornwallis surrender at Yorktown on October 17, 1781 was decisive, it did not end the Revolutionary War. The British government had to receive word of the surrender and accept the meaning of the result, which took a number of months. By early 1782 the British Army be-gan withdrawing some troops from America, and Loyalists started fleeing to Canada. Peace talks in Paris began in April between Richard Oswald representing Great Britain and the American Peace Commissioners Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams. Negotiations were far along when the last battle of the Revolution was fought on November 10. The American negotiators were joined by Henry Laurens just after that, and the

preliminary articles of peace were agreed upon and signed on November 30, 1782. They recognized American independence and established borders for the new nation.

On February 4, 1783, Great Britain announced a cessation of hostilities. The Continental Congress waited until word of the fact crossed the Atlantic and fol-lowed suit on April 11; this ended the fighting from the American point of view. At the end of May Congress passed a resolution to furlough the Continental Army, and with men already leaving, on June 13 Washington gave the military order for the Continental Army to be furloughed. As A Brief History of the Continental Army states, the bulk of the army simply faded away during the first half of June. It continues, In mid-November after the receipt of unques-tionable confirmation of the final treaty with Great Britain being signed, these [remaining] men were discharged.

The American Revolution officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, and on November 1 the Pennsylvania Packet newspa-per reported the recent arrival of the exciting news that the definitive treaty had been signed. Anticipating this, on October 18, Congress proclaimed the dis-charge of men enlisted for the war, and to permit officers on furlough to retire from service. Eleven days later it supplemented that proclamation with an order to discharge the army as of November 4, 1783, specifically mentioning troops from Pennsylvania south. However, troops north of Pennsylvania seem to have been affected as well, as histories cite November 4 as the date the army (and not merely just part of it) was ordered to be disbanded, and Washington took this as the occasion to bid the entire army his personal and emotional farewell. On November 2, Washingtons Farewell Order was read to the troops. In it he

17

stated ...it only remains for the Commander in Chief to address himself once more, and that for the last time, to the Armies of the United States (however widely dispersed the Individuals who composed them may be) and to bid them an affectionate, a long farewell.

On November 4, 1783, Washington issued a proclamation officially disbanding the Continental Army: Whereas the United States in Congress assembled were pleased on the 29 day of October last to pass the following resolve...In compli-ance therefore...I do hereby give this public Notice that from and after the 15th day of this instant November all Troops within the above description shall be considered as discharged from the service of the United States. And all Officers commanding Corps or Detachments of any such Troops are hereby directed to grant them proper discharges accordingly. In fact, a token number of troops remained afterwards to maintain order, complete enlistment obligations, or be-cause they were ill or needed to care for the sick. A few weeks later, in early De-cember, Washington ordered General Henry Knox to discharge even these men, except for 500 infantry and 100 artillerymen.

According to Fitzgeralds Writings of George Washington, Washington wrote just two letters on November 4, and both of these concerned his proclamation and related to the medical departments particular needs in the disbanding. One of these letters was to the Secretary of War, and it stated that it was impossible for me to judge of the necessity of retaining particular medical people in the service, and promising to write immediately to the Director General on the Subject. The other was the following letter, the one Washington indicated he would write immediately.

Letter Signed, Rocky Hill, November 4, 1783, to Dr. John Cochran, the Conti-nental Armys Director General [surgeon general], officially informing him that he has issued his proclamation disbanding the army, and instructing him to discharge medical personnel no longer needed. The Troops in Pennsylvania, and to the southward of it (except the garrison of Fort Pitt) being all discharged by a Proc-lamation of this day, it appears to me no longer necessary to keep in service so many Officers of the Hospital Departmt as are included in the within Copy of a Subsistence Roll for this Month as has been transmitted me. I am now to desire you, to transmit me as soon as possible a List of such Officers of your Departmt as it will be absolutely necessary to retain for the Troops which remain in service, and to acquaint the rest that their services are no longer necessary. The letter is in the hand of Benjamin Walker, who was one of Washingtons staff officers and later served in the U.S. Congress. A search of auction records over the past 35 years discloses no other letter of Washington on the subject of disbanding or discharging the Continental Army from November 1783.

Washington said farewell to his remaining officers on December 4 at Fraunces Tavern in New York City. On December 23 he appeared in Congress, sitting at Annapolis, and returned his commission as Commander in Chief. Then he went home to Mount Vernon, thinking his service to his country was at an end. $35,000

The troops...being all discharged by a Proclamation of this day...their services are no longer necessary

Wellington Seeks to Retain Funding for Building London Bridge and to Root Out Corruption

By the end of the 18th century, it was apparent that the old London Bridge, by then over 600 years old, needed to be replaced. Work began in 1824. This was a very expensive process. Perhaps the greatest single source of funding for the Bridge was a duty on coal, then the most important heating fuel and a major product that England consumed and exported. The amount of money changing hands during a time of great industrial growth resulted in abuses and corrup-tion in this duty, and higher prices to consumers.

At the time, the Duke of Wellington was leader of the opposition in Parliament, and he sought to eliminate duties only in such a way as would not stifle efforts to build London Bridge. Corruption, he concluded, was furthering the interests of the major coal monopolies, which dictated the prices and production as they pleased. This meant less money coming to the national coffers as well as higher prices to consumers. A continued source of funding for the bridge must be found, he concluded.

In March 1831, a group of Lords and the Kings representatives chaired by Sir George C. Lewis met to address issues in taxation. In the new bill, they main-tained the current duties but put restrictions on how the duties were collected, restricting collection to certain districts and certain collectors, which effectively lowered the duties, though not as much as critics had wanted. This was to en-sure that a reduction in taxes lowered the burden on business and customers, but not to a degree that the government lost funds needed for the bridge. How-ever, as Wellington wrote to a friendly coal merchant, the price of coal was not going down at the same rate as the Kings duties reduction, meaning that local London merchants were pocketing the difference.

Autograph Letter Signed, October 31, 1831, to successful coal merchant Robert Pate. Sir, I have received your letter. There is no subject in which the public at large is more interested than in the price of coals. Since the month of March last the Kings duty of six shillings a chaldron has been repealed. The abuses which existed in the City of London have been put an end to by an Act of Par-liament brought in by Mr. Lewis. These abuses could not have enhanced the price to the consum-ers of coals less than the amount of the Kings du-ties. The whole diminution of expense on a chal-dron ought not to be less than twelve shillings. The diminution of price in the London market has been only two shillings. If you have any accu-rate information founded upon proof which can be produced of the real state of the case, I shall be happy to receive it. But there are so many fictions in circulation on all subjects that I recommend to you do not send any information that cannot be proved. Wellington $1,400

18

President George HW Bush Comforts the Family of a Fallen Soldier and Assures Them He Died Defending Americans Who Were in Danger

Relations between Panama and the U.S., already tense, became heated after a taint-ed 1989 election that left dictator Manuel Noriega in power. U.S. economic sanc-tions followed and the government of Panama itself spoke of a general state of war. The U.S. regularly conducted free-dom of movement operations within the country designed to destabilize the regime, and Noriega engaged in routine harrassment of American citizens. On December 16, 1989 a serviceman was killed in a roadblock, and the three that survived claimed they had been unarmed. This incident more than anything else, George HW Bush would later claim, insti-gated American action. The invasion of Panama, known as Operation Just Cause, was an unusually delicate and complex operation, but violent nonetheless. Its key objectives were the capture of Norie-ga and the establishment of a democratic government. The U.S. had bases located there, and these troops had a long-standing relationship with the Panama De-fense Forces. The American invasion of Panama launched on December 20.

James Markwell was a Ranger on the front line of the invasion, one of a small number to die in action. On January 3, 1990, Noriega surrendered. The very next day, President Bush wrote Markwells mother a remarkable letter, express-ing the sorrow of the Commander in Chief and giving his reasons why such sacrifice was necessary.

Typed Letter Signed, on White House letterhead, to Sandra Rouse, January 4, 1990, showing heartfelt empathy with her tragic situation. Barbara and I were saddened to learn of the loss of your son, Private First Class James W. Markwell USA, in the fighting in Panama. Please accept our heartfelt condolences. Each human life is precious and my heart goes out to you. Although the days ahead will not be easy for you and your family, I hope that you may take comfort in the knowledge that James died protecting his fellow Americans, whose lives were in danger. He served his country with honor, pride, and courage, earning the enduring gratitude of a thankful nation. You are your family are in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time. God Bless you. George Bush. He adds a holograph postscript, I know it must hurt an awful lot. Barbara and I have you in our prayers. $4,200

I know it must hurt an awful lot. Barbara and I have you in our prayers.

19

George HW Bush Receives the Family of a Fallen Soldier at the White House and Is Moved by your pride in your fallen son - your faith, your just plain class.

Just days after James Markell died in Operation Just Cause (the overthrow and capture of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega) President George HW Bush invited the family to the White House, after which he wrote this powerful letter to the mans mother. It is a very uncommon, important ALS as President. Autograph Letter Signed, The White House, January 18, 1990, to Sandra Rouse. I am so glad we met. I will never ever forget your courage, your family love, your pride in your fallen son - your faith, your just plain class. With best wishes, Sincerely George Bush. $5,300

20

Henry Clay Fulfills His Constitutional Role as Secretary of State to Fund Foreign Relations

In 1824, there were four major candidates seeking the office of president, one of whom was Henry Clay. Because of the unusually large number of candidates, no one secured a majority and the tie between the two front runners, Andrew Jack-son and John Quincy Adams, was broken in the House of Representatives. There Clay used his political clout to secure the victory for Adams. When Adams then appointed Clay Secretary of State, this maneuver was called a corrupt bargain by many of Jacksons supporters.

One of the constitutional requirements for the Secretary of State is the laying before Congress of the expenses required for the functioning of his Department that were not envisioned by the previous year s appropriations bill. This en-sures that money spent can be reimbursed or that money appropriated but not spent could be returned. Stephen Pleasonton was the Fifth Auditor of the Trea-sury of the United States; but he is chiefly remembered today for his work in overseeing the United States Light House Establishment during its infancy. At this time, a man known for his frugality, he was in charge of many of the sea lanes and would have played a rather important role in supplementing Clays work.

Letter Signed as Secretary of State, Washington, February 16, 1828, to Pleasonton as Fifth Au-ditor. The Committee on so much of the Public Accounts and Expen-ditures as relates to the State De-partment having called for a state-ment showing the disbursements for the contingent Expenses of For-eign Intercourse so far as either of those appropriations have been ex-pended under the authority of the Secretary of State, and upon his voucher for the use of that depart-ment, I have to request that you will furnish me with the statement desired to be transmitted to the committee. It is understood that the Committee wishes the state-ment to embrace only the period of the present administration. You will therefore limit it accordingly. H. Clay. Pleasonton has dock-eted this H Clay Esqr, calling for certain accts to be laid before Congress. $900

21

How few remain...The surviving signers of a Declaration, which has had much credit in the World.

In a letter as sitting Vice President to a sitting Attorney General, Signer of the Declaration of Independence Elbridge Gerry agrees

with and quotes John Adams in hailing the global impact of the Declaration, lamenting the death of fellow-Signer Benjamin Rush,

and reflecting on a lifes work

The first letter of a Signer specifically relating to the Declaration of Independence we have had

The signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 revolutionized the relationship between the American colonies (now states) and England. The men who did it put their lives and fortunes on the line and accepted that if their effort ended in failure, they would be brought up on charges of sedition and treason. But the impact was more than situational - it was global. People from all around the world were inspired by how the Americans stood up to a global superpower, and the perception of the relationship between ruler and ruled changed dramatically. It helped spark a populist era based on intense nation-alism that would filter through Europe in the 19th century. The Signers of the Declaration, learned men

well steeped in the affairs and history of Europe, understood the broader impact of their signatures on that paper.

Two of these men, close friends and colleagues for decades, were Elbridge Gerry and John Adams. Their relationship helped forge many events around the world, particularly with regard to American relations with England and France during Adams presidency, and specifically in the XYZ Affair, when Adams sent Gerry (with John Marshall and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney) to France to represent American interests. Adams himself had spent years abroad, serving as Minister to Great Britain and earlier to the Netherlands. In 1813, Gerry was inaugurated as James Madisons Vice President. That same year, Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania, died. Rush had been close to both men, but particularly to Adams, who wrote Gerry on April 26, 1813 ex-pressing his sadness at the death of his good friend and lamenting that few men remained who had signed the Declaration (6, including himself and Thomas Jefferson).

Richard Rush was the son of Benjamin Rush. In February, he joined Gerry in the Madison Administration as Attorney General. Less than 2 months later, Gerry wrote Rush, quoting Adams on the global impact of the Declaration of Indepen-dence, expressing sadness that the number of Signers still alive was dwindling, and reflecting the great esteem with which men of that era held Benjamin Rush.

Autograph Letter Signed as Vice President, Washington, April 8, 1814, to Attor-ney General Richard Rush. Enclosed is the extract which I mentioned to you, as a document which ought to be placed in the archives of your venerable father, our highly

22

& respected friend the late Doctor Rush. The extract is from a letter of Mr. Adams, late President of the United States, of the 26th of April last & expresses an opinion in unison with my own. Accept my best wishes; yours sincerely & respectfully E Gerry. A few facts I wish to put upon paper, & an awful warning to do it soon has been given me by the sudden death of our Friend Rush. Livingston & Clymer had preceeded him in the same year, the same spring. How few remain. Three in Massachusetts I believe are a majority of the surviving signers of a Declaration, which has had much credit in the World. As a man of Science, Letters, Taste, Sense, Philosophy, Patriotism, Religion, Morality, Merit, Usefulness, taken all together, Rush has not left his equal in America; nor that I know in the World. In him is taken away, & in a manner most sudden & unexpected, a main prop of my Life. Why should I grieve, when grieving I must bear? John Adams.

Though six Signers survived at the writing of this letter, soon it would be five. Gerry died seven short months after writing this letter. Letters from Signers of the Declaration referencing the signing are extremely rare, this being the first weve had. $13,500

As a man of Science, Letters, Taste, Sense Philosophy, Patrio-tism, Religion, Morality, Merit, Usefulness, taken all together, Rush has not left his equal in America...

Gen. Joseph Hooker Cant Be Bothered Helping Authors to Prepare His Biography

Hooker was one of the five commanders of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War. He was known as a fighting general, a good administrator, and a com-petent planner. But he proved unequal to supreme command and was bested by Robert E. Lee at Chancellorsville. After being replaced by George Meade in June 1863, he went on to regain a reputation as a solid commander with the western Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hooker was in com-mand at the Battle of Lookout Mountain, playing an important role there and in Gen. Ulysses S. Grants decisive victory at the Battle of Chattanooga.

Autograph Letter Signed, two pages, Brevoort House, New York, December 28, 1871, to one M.L. Phillips who had apparently asked Hooker if a biography of him existed. Your letter of the 25th instant has just been received by me. In reply, I can only state that no elaborate biographical sketch of my life has yet been prepared. Applications have been made to me repeatedly for this purpose, but as yet I have found no time or inclination to devote to it. If you feel any curiosity on the subject, perhaps the best outline that you will find is contained in a book callsed Men of Progress issued by the New York Hartford Publishing Company... Consider-ing the egos of many generals, it is quite some-thing to see Hooker s disinterest in telling his story or perpetuating his memory. $1,000

Horace Greeley Hopes For a Quick and Successful End to the Civil War

His wish is that post offices may soon be in the daily receipt of letters from the capitals of every one of our 34 states, and that

they may bear none other than a U.S. postmark

Horace Greeley was the voice of the media outlets in the North before and dur-ing the Civil War. His New York Tribune reached over 1 million readers, giving Greeley the ability to influence public opinion throughout the nation. The se-cession crisis in the winter of 1860-1 found Greeley strongly opposed to making concessions to slavery. At first he argued that succession should be allowed if a majority of southerners truly wanted it, but once war came he switched his stance and demanded a vigorous prosecution of the war to victory and the early end of slavery. It was he who, in 1861, started the call On to Richmond that pressured President Lincoln to insist on action from his generals. Greeley denounced more conservative Republicans, like Francis and Montgomery Blair,

23

24

and criticized Lincoln for proceeding too cautiously to eradicate slavery. When Lincoln finally announced his Emancipation Proclamation, Greeley applauded the decision. His reluctance to support Lincolns renomination in 1864 lost him some popular support, as did his premature efforts to bring about peace ne-gotiations. After the war, he joined the Congressional Radicals in supporting equality for the freedmen. At the same time, Greeley favored measures to restore relations with the South. In 1867, he recommended Jefferson Daviss release from prison, and he signed Daviss bond. He gradually grew disaffected with the Grant administration because of its corruption and indifference to civil ser-vice reform, and also because of its continued enforcement of Reconstruction measures in the South. Nominated by the Democrats and Liberal Republicans for president in the 1872 election, he was beaten by President Grant and died just a few weeks later.

Autograph Letter Signed on his Tribune letterhead, New York, February 20, 1863, to publisher George W. Childs, who would soon join Greeley as owner of a major newspaper - the Philadelphia Public Ledger. Like Greeley, Childs was a Union man. I long ago decided that I would not quit my more immediate post of duty for any purpose that did not seem to me essential until the war for the Union shall have ended. In pursuance of this resolve, I am obliged to decline your kind invitation. That your new post office may soon be in the daily receipt of letters from the capitals of every one of our 34 states, and that they may bear none other than a U.S. postmark, is the fervent prayer of yours, Horace Greeley. $1,600

Pres. Richard Nixon Says The U.S. Role in the World Needed Reshaping, and That His Foreign Policy Rapprochement With China and Detente With the Soviet Union Are Progress Toward That Goal

President Nixon made his mark in the area of foreign policy. Although his base of sup-port was within the conservative wing of the Republican Party, and although he had made his own career as a militant opponent of Communism, Nixon saw opportunities to reduce the temperature of the Cold War by improving relations with the Soviet Union and establishing relations with the Peoples Republic of China. Politically, he hoped to gain credit for creating these openings and the benefits they would bring; economically, it would mean increased tr

Date post:	26-Mar-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	nathan-raab
View:	220 times
Download:	1 times

Catalog 66

Documents