LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 December Signature Texana Auction #661  / 

56255

Albert Sidney Johnston Autograph Letter Signed

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:2,700.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Albert Sidney Johnston Autograph Letter Signed
<B>Albert Sidney Johnston Autograph Letter Signed</B></I> "<I>A.S. Johnston</B></I>," as Colonel 2d Cavalry Commanding Dept., two pages, 7.75" x 9.75", front and verso. Head Qrs Dept Texas, May 27, 1856. To Col. Samuel Cooper, Adjutant General, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C, In full, "<I>For the information of the Secretary of War I have the honor to enclose Dept. order No. 64 of this date and also a copy of a letter of instructions to Lieut. R.E. Lee in connection therewith - The vigorous movements of the troops on this frontier, since the renewal of the depredations of the Indians in Feby. have had the effect to drive them back to their retreats on the Colorado & Brazos rivers, and although there have been no incursions of the Indians for predatory purposes for more than two months, I have thought it injudicious to suffer them to remain when they are quietly to arrange new plans for future annoyance of the inhabitants of the frontier - convinced of the hostile disposition of Sa-na-co's band of Comanches and from information derived from our scouts and also from the Superintendent [sic] of the Indians Dept. of Texas, that the greater portion of the robberies & murders on this frontier by Indians for some time past was done by Sa-na-co's band associated, perhaps, with northern Comanches, I consider the movement of the 2d Cavly. against them as absolutely necessary to the establishment of permanent security on the frontiers. The result of the operations ordered I do not doubt will go far to accomplish the object desired.</B></I>" <BR><BR>On December 22, 1838, Albert Sidney Johnston was appointed Secretary of War of the Republic of Texas by President Mirabeau B. Lamar and in December 1839 he led an expedition against the Cherokee in East Texas. During the Mexican War, he was Colonel of the 1st Texas Rifle Volunteers and served with W. O. Butler as Inspector General at Monterrey, Mexico. On December 2,<I> </B></I>1849, Johnston became Paymaster in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Texas frontier. He went to the Great Plains in 1855, and on April 2,<I> </B></I>1856, he was appointed Colonel of the 2nd Cavalry. Lieutenant Colonel <B>Robert E. Lee</B></I> was with Col. Albert Sidney Johnston's 2nd Cavalry regiment in Texas from March 1856 to October 1857 and again from February 1860 to February 1861. Soon after his arrival at San Antonio on March 27, 1856, Lee was assigned to command the two squadrons of the 2nd Cavalry at Camp Cooper on the Comanche reservation. On April 9th, he arrived at his post, which for the next 19 months he called "my Texas home." In June 1856, with four squadrons of cavalry from Camp Cooper and forts Mason and Chadbourne, Lee led a 1,600-mile expedition out to the foothills of the Llano Estacado and returned, scouting the headwaters of the Colorado, Brazos, and Wichita rivers. Most probably this expedition was in the "<I>letter of instructions to Lieut. Col, R.E. Lee</B></I>" Johnston mentions in this May 27th letter. The Texas legislature had passed a law in 1854 that established the Brazos Indian Reservation and also provided four square leagues of land, or 18,576 acres, for a Comanche reserve to be located at Camp Cooper on the Clear Fork of the Brazos in Throckmorton County. In compliance with the treaty of August 30, 1855, about 450 of the Penateka or southern Comanches settled on the reservation and were taught farming. Sa-na-co was the principal war chief of the southern Comanche. We now know that the Kickapoos and northern Comanche bands raided the settlements. The reservation southern Comanche received the blame. In fact, in this letter, Johnston blames Sa-na-co's band. Six years later, on April 6, 1862, the first day of the Battle of Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing, General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of the Department of the West, was killed while leading an advance against a Union position. Very fine condition.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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