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William T. Sherman Autograph Letter Signed with Rank. ...
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Description
On the Evening Before Entering Raleigh, General Sherman Authorizes Union Forces to Chase Johnston Only Days Before His Surrender
William T. Sherman Autograph Letter Signed with Rank. One
page of a bifolium on Head-Quarters Military Division of the
Mississippi letterhead, 7 ¾ x 9 ¾ inches, Gulley's [Station, N.C.];
7 P.M. [April] 12, 1865.A letter written in pencil to Union General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick authorizing Kilpatrick's cavalry to charge ahead. Sherman writes:
"Your note is received. Certainly you may go into Raleigh tonight and press Johnston's Rear. I want him to go towards Greensboro and I will cut across toward Charlotte via Ashboro [sic], cut across the rear of his column right & left - I will come to Raleigh early. Keep me advised of the direction of Johnston's retreat as often as possible.
W.T. Sherman / MG."
Sherman ordered Kilpatrick to target Johnston on the evening of the day he received word from Grant that General Lee had surrendered his entire army at Appomattox. In Volume II of, Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman, the decorated general writes, "On the evening of the 12th [of April] I was with the head of Slocum's column, at Gulley's, and General Kilpatrick's cavalry was still ahead, fighting Wade Hampton's rear-guard, with orders to push it through Raleigh. While I would give a more southerly course to the infantry columns, so as, if possible, to prevent a retreat southward. On the 13th, early, I entered Raleigh...on the 14th General Kilpatrick reported... that a flag of truce had come in from the enemy with a package from General Johnston addressed to me."
Four days later, Sherman and Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston signed the "Memorandum or Basis of Agreement" near Durham Station, North Carolina in which Johnston agreed to disband his armies and establish a general amnesty. Sherman believed that the arrangement followed Lincoln's orders, but he had negotiated with Johnston without authorization from General Ulysses S. Grant or the newly installed President Andrew Johnson. Although Grant saved Sherman from full dismissal, U.S. Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, leaked the memorandum to the press and insinuated that Sherman had gone easy on Johnston because he had taken bribes from Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
After the war, this letter was presented to Samuel Field. It has remained in the family until now and is being offered at auction for the first time.
Condition: Creased along folds with offsetting to the first page. The first page recto and integral page verso have been reinforced with Japanese tissue along horizontal folds. There are two small mounting remnants along the top margin of the integral page verso.
Auction Info
2023 December 15 Historical Platinum Session Signature® Auction #6280 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2023
15th
Friday
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