Price: $3,850.00

On a Confederate States of America War Department printed appointment form, appointing one "Jno. J. Murphy" as Brigade Commissary Major In the Provisional Army in the service of the Confederate States". Upon acceptance of the commission, Major Murphy is so ordered: "you will report for duty to Major Genl. Polk"; there is a secretarial notation "Genl Polk" in the lower left hand corner, indicating this document was intended to be presented by Murphy to that officer.

"The Fighting Bishop" at the time was commanding a division in Kentucky, fresh off his encounter with Grant at Belmont. Signed as "Secretary of War" (printed, with "Acting" added by secretary), the second of three cabinet offices Benjamin would hold during the War (in between Attorney General and Secretary of State). "The Brains of the Confederacy", Benjamin was Jefferson Davis' most trusted advisor, fled with the Confederate president when Richmond fell, and escaped (barely) to England, where he had a stellar career as Queens Counsel, which included penning a brilliant legal treatise, Benjamin on Sales, still studied by law students today.

Two horizontal folds; 1" tear at top center, not effecting text; otherwise very good.

	Price: $2,500.00

On a Confederate States of America War Department printed appointment form, appointing one "Jno. J. Murphy" as Brigade Commissary Major In the Provisional Army in the service of the Confederate States". Upon acceptance of the commission, Major Murphy is so ordered: "you will report for duty to Major Genl. Polk"; there is a secretarial notation "Genl Polk" in the lower left hand corner, indicating this document was intended to be presented by Murphy to that officer.

"The Fighting Bishop" at the time was commanding a division in Kentucky, fresh off his encounter with Grant at Belmont. Signed as "Secretary of War" (printed, with "Acting" added by secretary), the second of three cabinet offices Benjamin would hold during the War (in between Attorney General and Secretary of State). "The Brains of the Confederacy", Benjamin was Jefferson Davis' most trusted adviser, fled with the Confederate president when Richmond fell, and escaped (barely) to England, where he had a stellar career as Queens Counsel, which included penning a brilliant legal treatise, Benjamin on Sales, still studied by law students today.

Two horizontal folds; 1" tear at top center, not effecting text; otherwise very good.

	Price: $6,500.00

In full: "I have at last reached Essex Co with family team &c. but am detained from going to Timbucto in consequence of my Waggon (sic) not coming on as soon as I expected. I hope however to get away in a day or two. I shall be obliged myself to return to Springfield in a few days for a while & would be exceedingly glad to see you about the last of this week so that we may make some arrangement before I go back to Springfield. My wife is in feeble hea(lth). Yours in Truth / John Brown." The envelope is addressed: "Mr. Willis A Hodges (Loon Lake) / Merrillsville PO / Franklin Co / NY".

The letter is written to Willis A. Hodges (1801-1890) who, in 1847, founded the abolitionist paper The Ram's Horn, a weekly newspaper published and edited by Hodges, "A free Black born in Virginia, his family moved to New York in the mid-1830s after Nat Turner's rebellion…By the 1840s, Hodges functioned as one of the most outspoken advocates for abolition and equal rights in the State. His abolitionist newspaper caught the eye of Frederick Douglass and John Brown, both of whom contributed articles and funds…the paper reached a peak circulation of 2,500…After the paper ceased publication, Hodges continued to support abolitionist causes, including Brown. It is not known if Hodges was part of the Harpers Ferry planning, but when Brown was arrested in 1859, Hodges burned their correspondence…. The editor may have helped the U.S. army as a scout in Virginia during the Civil War, but the evidence is uncertain. After the war, he was active in Virginia politics during the Reconstruction era and after the Democratic Party regained power in Virginia, he returned to New York in 1876, where he lived until his death in 1890." --from Blackvoicenews.com. At the time of this letter, Brown and his family were settled in a black community founded in North Elba on land donated by the Anti-Slavery campaigner, Gerrit Smith (1797-1879). While there, Brown developed strong opinions about the evils of slavery and gradually became convinced that it would be necessary to use force to overthrow this system.

Brown's ink writing is dark and bold. Overall, a strong letter, with great association interest, from a desirable and uncommon historical figure, whose actions had a profound effect on the South's flight to disunion – both Robert E. Lee and John Wilkes Booth were present at his hanging. Please Note: the letter and cover are framed with what purports to be a couple of strands of Brown's own hair. We cannot verify that alleged fact, so we place no weight on it at all.

	Price: $1,500.00

If Clay's life did not occur exactly as he remembered, it should have. From Bowie Knife fights at political rallies to imprisonment in Mexico and the ambassadorship to Russia, this life of a wealthy southern abolitionist (a rare bird, indeed) is a real page-turner. Seven chapters have much on his relationship and ambassadorship to Russia, commenting on people ("My estimate of the Emperor, Alexander II"), places ("High Life in Russia. Infant Asylums and the Ballet. Actors and Singers…."), and more ("Prince Gorthacow Entertains the Diplomatic Corps", "Invited, I visit the Princess Dalgorouki" and more).

Very good, being above average; weak ft. hng. as usual; lt. rub; lt. ch. sp. ends; pencil owner's name dated "May 19th, 1900."

	Price: $1,850.00 (Net to all)

Colonel DeTrobriand was an expatriate French aristocrat, lawyer, poet, and novelist who supported the Union. 

Here he writes to the Adjutant General of New York to complain that his Garde Lafayette (55th NY) is badly under-equipped.  After thanking the state for a delivery of red cloth for his Zouaves, he complains bitterly of the lack of gaiters in an impressive overstatement “… in decency’s name, with what are they to cover their calves or to preserve their tibias from the exposure to the cold air?  Since their pants don’t come any lower than under the knee and their shoes don’t come any higher than their foot.  Give, do give them something to fill the gap!!”  The good colonel then goes on to declare “I will not give up the gaiters, if I must go to the president of the United States himself!” 

A good, full letter that is amusing for its bombast, but also exhibiting DeTrobriand’s tenacious advocacy for his troops.  The seeds of his later success as a combat leader can be discerned in this letter. 

A clean letter, folded twice vertically down the center; bold hand and good penmanship; three small holes in the upper left corner where the letter has been bound with other paperwork; closing salutation written in margin of page 4; else very good.  An interesting and evocative document illustrating the important quiet period when McClellan’s Army of the Potomac was developing into the well-trained and equipped force that it eventually became. 

	Price: $1,250.00

Foote (1806-1863, Union Admiral) here approves the transfer of an afflicted sailor to the Naval hospital at Portsmouth, N.H.  The sailor, Henry C. Gorman, a transfer case from the frigate U.S.S. Minnesota, suffers from “Mania,” and a series of endorsements from Navy surgeons makes his condition progressively clear as Surgeon M. G. Delany certifies that Gorman is “addicted to masturbation,” and that activity is the cause of his mania – and explains his “tumescence”, i.e. a swelling that presumably won’t go down! The document serves as Gorman’s travel pass, and is docketed “Sick Ticket / Henry C. Gorman / Served on the U.S. Ship Portsmouth / 14 June, 1858.” 

A clean document with usual horiz. folds; easily readable throughout, with no loss from chipping. 

	Price: $5,500.00

A most uncommon image of Grant and staff, especially being produced prior to the glass negative cracking!  Included are Generals Grant, Rawlins, Duff, Badeau, Bowers, Barnard, Parker, Babcock, and Moulter; and Colonel Dent (three unidentified).  In the background, peering out just to the right of the furthest figure, a Black servant stands for his own picture. 

Grant himself would later be photographed alone next to the same tree and holding the same rolled up papers in his hand. It has become the iconic Grant image.

Excellent tonality.

	Price: $875.00

Excellent tonality and a bold signature.

	Price: $4,500.00

The King of Hawaii declares a strict neutrality in the war between the states, forbidding any of his subjects to engage in privateering.  Captures and seizures by either combatant within Hawaiian waters are to be viewed as a violation of sovereignty.

	Price: $875.00

These Rockford-area men joined in the late summer of 1862, and served in the western theater through the end of the war, seeing action at Vicksburg, the Red River Campaign, the campaigns in Northern Mississippi, and Mobile.  One of Brooks’ comrades in arms was the famous female imposteur, Albert D. J. Cashier. 

Light chip from frame; light (incomplete?) graphite toning on Brooks’ coat, hair, and background; small gouges; four small gouges including one that partially mars Brooks’ eyebrow and forehead.

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	Price: SOLD

John Corson Smith served as major of the 96th Illinois, and also on the staff of General Absalom Baird.  After the war he was Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.  His pocket diaries commence shortly before his appointment as major of the regiment, and continue through October, 1865. 

Entries are short but informative, with mentions of battles and marches, as well as administrative activity such as sitting on courts martial.  He highlights the assassination of President Lincoln on April 15 & 16, 1865.  He time-dates the arrival of the news at Camp Harker, Nashville, TN at 10:00 A.M.   He documents battles at Chickamauga and Chattanooga, and his wounding at Kennesaw Mountain during the Atlanta Campaign.  His daily entries during the Atlanta Campaign are particularly useful. 

A scarce find, being a full daily account of service in the western theater by a prominent participant who was well-placed to witness important events.  1862 diary is full morocco with a good deal of wear, torn with loss of 4” on rear board; 1863, 64, 65 are soft leather, tight and in very good condition.  Smith’s hand is clean and easy to read.  A remarkable diary with much primary material.

	Price: $1,200.00

A scarce war-date letter from this superb, gallant officer. The nephew of Stephen Watts Kearny, the conqueror of New Mexico, Kearny had an excellent and varied military career: commanding the bodyguard of Winfield Scott during the Mexico City campaign; losing his arm after a heroic charge at Churubusco; service on the frontier; and two tours of duty with the French Army, receiving the Cross of the Legion of Honor from Napoleon III. In France when the Civil War broke out, he returned to the U.S., where he received a brigadier's commission and command of a New Jersey brigade.

In this letter to the Secretary of War, Kearny heartily recommends an officer for a position in that brigade. "I would respectfully name Captain Fitts of the New Jersey Vols, one of my Brigade, for the…appointment of Brigade Comm[issar]y. of Subsistence. This post he has admirably filled with an acting appointment, which though beneficial to the Brigade deprives a Company of its Captain. Captain Fitts is a noble specimen of our most devoted volunteers." Killed commanding his division on September 1, 1862, while personally reconnoitering Rebel positions, his body was sent back to Union lines by Robert E. Lee. Later, at the request of his widow, Kearny's horse, saddle, and sword were returned as well, at Lee's expense.

On lined paper; two horizontal folds, one vertical; light yellowing, left 1/3 of letter; otherwise excellent.

	Price: $1,950.00

Written with a fine pen, the signature is easily see

	Price: $15,500.00

This copy of Lee’s famous farewell to his troops at Appomattox descended through the family of Joseph Milhon of Kansas City, Missouri, who enlisted in Frederick County (VA) with the 39th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, Company A (aka Richardson’s Battalion) in 1861.  This battalion was used as Scouts, Guides, and Couriers.  Organized as two companies, it was later increased to four and attached to General Headquarters, ANV, serving as General R. E. Lee’s personal cavalry escort.  The unit participated in every engagement at which Lee was present, from Fredericksburg to Appomattox.  On April 9, 1865, it contained 1 officer and 80 men. Major John H. Richardson was in command.

	Price: $1,200.00

Known as “Black Jack” because of his hair and black eyes and his swarthy complexion, Logan was considered one of the Union’s finest combat generals. 

A vignetted pose in uniform.

	Price: $1,250.00

Signed as President of the New Orleans & North Eastern Rail Road Company, certifying that George Ingram 'is entitled to Five Shares' of stock for the R.R. 

Interestingly, Ingram happened to also be Secretary of the R.R. and signs it himself.  But in a red ink across the face of the document is written 'Cancelled.'

Unaccomplished printing on the verso, two engravings, and a fine blind stamp also grace the document. 

Excellent. 

	Price: $675.00

Though quite defensive, still a convincing justification for Longstreet’s conduct at Gettysburg. 

Very good; lt. soil.

	Price:$1,250.00

Caroline was the sister and helper of famed astronomer William Hershel.  Books from the library of “The Grey Ghost” are quite uncommon. 

Rubbed; almost loose signature; else v.g

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	Price: $5,500.00

General Rodes wrote this letter of condolence to the wife of Major William Eugene Webster, a volunteer aid on his staff. Webster, the grandson of lexicographer Noah Webster, fell at the Battle of Gaines Mill (June 27, 1862) while leading part of Samuel Garland's Brigade against the Union position near the McGhee house. The four-page letter gives a full account of Major Webster's gallant actions, as well as details on how Rodes came to find the address of his kin, and information on where his remains were buried. A moving condolence from a first rate Confederate commander whose own life was cut tragically short two years later. Rodes' widow famously burned his voluminous personal correspondence, resulting in one of the saddest losses of Civil War documents on record. Any Rodes letter is rare - this one especially so due to the heart-breaking content and the valuable descriptions of Gaines Mill and of the inner workings of Rodes' command.

Light foxing; sharp vertical and horizontal folds starting to give; evidence of previous attempts at shoring the folds with tape do not obscure any script. Clerical hand is clear and readable; signature bold and dar

	Price: $875.00

The long, white haired Ruffin sits with (probably) a Springfield rifle, holding a hat with a cockade and a Virginia militia insignia bearing a “P.G”, for Palmetto Guards, a common nickname for Confederate units.

An important agricultural reformer before the war, Ruffin was a radical “fire-eater” who fired one of the first shots on Fort Sumter form Morris Island in Charleston Harbor, S.C.  Unwilling to live under the U.S. government, he committed suicide 15 June 1865; his suicide was interpreted as an expression of the southern code of honor, the refusal to accept a life in defeat.

Excellent; Scarce and desirable.

	Price: $35,000.00

THE FIRST STATE TO BOLT IN THE SECESSION CRISIS. The "fire-eaters" in the South had made it clear: the election of the "Black republican" candidate Abraham Lincoln meant the end of the Union. One South Carolinian told a London journalist "Nothing on earth shall ever induce us to submit to any union with the brutal blackguards of the New England States!" (McPherson, Battle Cry, 234-35) In vain did Northerners and Southern Unionists try to point out the differences between Lincoln and the more radical abolitionists. Amidst a mood of revolutionary carnival, the Carolinians called a convention to consider secession. Outside bands marched, fireworks flared, and eager soldiers declared themselves neo-Minute Men. Only a single vote was taken, and the momentous ordinance was passed unanimously, 169 to 0. Within fifteen minutes this broadside announcement--probably set in type while the Convention met--was in circulation on the streets of Charleston.

"EXTRA: Passed Unanimously at 1.115 o'clock, P.M., December 20th, 1860. An Ordinance to Dissolve the Union between the State of North Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled 'The Constitution of the United States of America.' We, the People of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention, on the twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also, all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of this States, ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of 'The United States of America,' is hereby dissolved." This began the avalanche. Within weeks six other states joined: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. The more cautious states in the upper South wavered, but the momentum towards disunion ultimately carried them into the Confederacy as well.

	Price: $575.00

The contents of the report are the usual for a war department, covering various matters, including:  Commends the “bold leadership of General Forrest”; Embarrassment of pay to skilled workmen ; Supply department’s difficulties from the scarcity existing in considerable portions of the Confederacy; Expediency of the tithe tax; Expenses; Conscription; Chaplains; Corps of Engineers; Raids on the enemy; Etc.  Included is a report (with charts) from Colonel John S. Preston of the Conscription Department. 

Very good; lt. outer soil only; sm. wrinkle bottom corner pg.1; had once been folded, but marks are light. 

	Price: $1,750.00

He calls for “a few more able-bodied recruits to fill up the company,” because his unit had already been accepted by the government for the “duration of the War.”   

The company, also called the “Flushing Battery” completed its organization in November, 1861, and served some time in the defenses of Washington.  In August of 1862, designated Battery L, 2nd New York Light Artillery, the battery took the field as part of John Pope’s army, and saw their first battle at Cedar Mountain, Virginia.  Later designated 34th Independent Battery Light Artillery they served through the war with Burnside’s IX Corps. 

Robinson makes a fascinating explicit appeal to the general community of Flushing to support the battery (beyond just providing recruits) since it “will be the only corps at the Seat of War representing the Town and the County.”  He clearly relied on the Golden Cord that connected Civil War units to their communities of origin.  Before the war ended seven of Flushing’s artillerists fell in battle and fourteen more died of disease. 

An uncommonly clean copy; well-preserved with light discoloring near the bottom; a stamp on the verso from the New York Bureau of Military Statistics (July 2, 1866) shows through lightly, and suggests the cause for the uncommonly fine state of preservation.  This copy was, perhaps, submitted to the State by Captain Robinson for archival purposes and never posted. 

An uncommonly vivid artifact of the first year of the war.

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	Price: $575.00

Though from an unidentified source, an important letter written under fire at Vicksburg.  This Union soldier writes to his mother over the course of three days (May 26-29) to describe the marching and fighting done by General John A. “Black Jack” Logan’s division during the campaign and siege of Vicksburg.  Though the fragment does not include the soldier’s signature, the context does identify the unit, the 68th Ohio regiment.  Logan’s division saw fighting in every major engagement of the Vicksburg campaign, and the writer provides good descriptions of fights at Bayou Pierre, Big Black River, and Vicksburg itself. 

Some fold lines; usual toning with lt. spotting on page 4; no loss at edges; written pencil, sometimes light, but always readable.

	Price: $1,850.00

Found in the diary of W. E. Dudley, Battery B, 1st Illinois Light Artillery (from Chicago), this may be one of a kind – not in Parish & Willingham’s Confederate Imprints.  [Facsimile cdv photo of Dudley included.] 

Printed in two columns, most of the news is contained in very short mentions and news in brief, which include:  reports from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee (report of Van Dorn being assassinated); Capture of a Yankee Gunboat; Outrages by Arkansas Traitors; Guerrillas near Owensboro; Amendment of the Impressment Law; ravages of smallpox; England and U.S. at odds over the arrest of Commodore Wilkes; the dictatorship of Abraham Lincoln through conscription; and a report of Jeff Davis worrying about the army’s “Starving Out Process” (“The rebels cannot be starved out.  They must be whipped in the field, by strategy, by good tactics, and by all the science and art of war.”); and much more. 

Excellent; large margins; evidence of a hurried nature.

	Price: $1,650.00

Wallace, who only a few weeks earlier had been promoted from Colonel of the 11th Indiana to brigadier, writes to his commanding officer, the excellent but ill-fated General Charles F. Smith, as Union forces gathered in western Kentucky for the campaign that would result in the Battle of Belmont. The letter, in its entirety: "Head Quarters 2nd Brigade / Paducah, Oct. 6, 1861 / Gen. C.F. Smith / Dear Sir --- / The morning report of my Brigade shows more deaths, but no diminishing of sickness. A Catholic Father at Indianapolis promises me a number of Sisters of Charity any time they should be needed. Their presence in our Hospitals would be a blessing now[?]. Have you any objections to sending them there? Say for [?] half-a-dozen. / Very respectfully, sir, / Lewis Wallace / Gen. 2ndBrigade".

Very lightly foxed edges; two horizontal folds, with ¾" hole in lower fold; otherwise in very good condition.

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	Price: $725.00

History meets Hollywood!  This book sold more than 300,000 copiesin ten years, helped popularize the historical novel as a literary form, and was twice made into spectacular films.   A true classic by this Renaissance man, who might have saved Washington, D.C. from capture at the battle of Monocacy, and who was a judge at the trial of the Lincoln murder conspirators (while drawing portraits of the criminals).  This edition has stills of scenes and charactersfrom the play.

Wallace's inscription reads "I beg you to believe me most truly and always your sincere friend" Lew Wallace/New York/Dec. 14 1903.

(Visit the Rare Book Section for another edition, signed by the actor who played Messala in the 1925 production).

Minor edge wear, minor head and tailband wear, blistering on back board, small tear on blank flysheet, minor water staining on some pages, does not interfere with text. Very pretty and bright!

	Price:$18,500.00

Sweney – a Philadelphia lawyer – most likely reported the news that Pennsylvania Congressman John Hickman (1810-1875) was switching party allegiance and joining the Republicans.  Hickman had been elected in 1854 as an anti-Lecompton Democrat.  But with the fracturing of that party into Southern and Northern factions in 1860, he was one of numerous anti-slavery-extension Northern Democrats who became a Republican.  As President, Lincoln rewarded Sweney with an appointment as an Internal Revenue assessor.  [Basler, Supplement One, 1-:56]  

Excellent example with strong, bold ink writing; usual folds; lt. dusting on verso. 

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	Price: SOLD

Written one day after his last birthday on earth, Lincoln pens, “Let these men take the oath of Dec. 8, 1983, and be discharged / (date) / (sig)” at the end of a letter to him. 

It seems that either Lincoln secretary John Nicolay or John Hay saw W. R. Morrison at the White House and, giving him Executive Mansion paper, had Morrison write out his plea (on 7 February) to “Mr. President.”  With the war ending and Lincoln being inundated with such requests, it took six days for the President to get around to endorsing it.  Two “Prisoners of War” named here “were at work in the South when war broke out.”  Morrison knows them, knows “they are penitent,” [what took them so long to be penitent?] and they each wish to return home to “Monroe Co., Ills.” [in the Illinois bulge just below St. Louis]; one is confined at Johnsons Island and the other (“a Telegraph operator for the Rebels”) at Elmira, NY.  Morrison goes on about a third prisoner, at “Point Lookout,” who hailed from Virginia, but who has brothers and sisters in Randolph Co., Illinois, and will now live with them. 

	Price: On Hold

In full:  “Let these men take the oath of Dec. 8, 1865 & be discharged.”  Bold; two small ink stains (probably by Lincoln) don’t obscure any writing. 

Excellent; perfect for framing with an original cdv.

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	Price:$27,500.00

In full:  This morning Mrs. [caret] Moore and her daughter Miss. Jane B. Moore, both noted for their philanthropic labor among our sick and wounded soldiers, have done me the honor of a call, and for which I am grateful(.)”  Perhaps cut from an autograph album presented by the Moores to Lincoln for a sentiment when they visited the president in his office.

Both mother and daughter were battlefield nurses, exposed to frontline fire.  In a 1910 letter, written by Jane B. Moore Bristor, the daughter wrote, “As I have entered my seventieth year and am an invalid from exposure and wounds received upon the battle fields of the Rebellion, where with my mother I worked to relieve the wounded….”  Evidently a shrewd business woman, she boasted, “I have made in twenty years more than three times what was left me by my mother, besides giving away about thirty thousand dollars….”  She received a pension for her war service in the 1890s and was an activist on behalf of temperance and woman’s suffrage.

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	Price: $12,500.00

About 200 pages, about half full. The third page bears a 2 x 3 inch card, boarded in black (offset on facing page) with a black mourning ribbon attached, the whole surrounded by a hand-drawn decorative floral border titled, "Our Nations Loss". The card, entirely in Lincoln's hand, reads, "Hon. Secretary of the Treasury, & oblige him if you consistently can. / A. Lincoln / Dec. 27, 1864."

	Price: $10,750.00

A document authorizing the "Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States" to a pardon. Accomplished in holograph: "A Warrant for the pardon of H. W. Pryor, James Pryor and W. L. Ringo." The 1860 census identifies two of these Kentuckians: Ringo, as 38-year-old merchant; and H. W. Pryor, as 51-year-old "hogfeeder". Lincoln was especially sympathetic in pardoning Kentuckians as a way of strengthening Union sentiment in that crucial border state.

A fine example with a full Lincoln signature, which has a very shallow fold through it.

	Price: SOLD - Others Available, Please Inquire

Issued just ten days after the Battle of Gettysburg, George L. Albro as a "Gunner." Naval Commissions can be difficult to fine, especially in this condition.

Bright, intact seal, usual folds. Museum mounted and handsomely framed.