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338

Christopher Memminger

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,000.00 - 1,500.00 USD
Christopher Memminger

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Auction Date:2010 Jul 14 @ 22:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Prominent political leader and the first Secretary of the Treasury for the Confederate States of America. War-dated ALS signed “C. G. Memminger,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 7.75 x 10, July 5, 1861. Letter to Major Edward McCrady discussing the merits of Confederate Ordnance Chief Josiah Gorgas against the merits of Colonel, later Brigadier General Roswell Ripley. In part: “Your letter of the 2nd in relation to Col. Ripley was received today and I immediately made inquiry into the subject.

According to the views of the War Department, every just consideration has been made to Col. Ripley’s. It was thought that if he were placed in the same grade relatively to other officers which he would have held had he continued in the army, it was dealing properly with his claims…One of the most valuable and highly regarded officers in the service is Major Gorgas, whose commission dates in the army to 1841; Ripley’s is in 1843. Gorgas is now Chief of Ordnance & highly esteemed by Government and has the commission of Major…When the commission of Major was offered to Ripley, it put him just behind Gorgas, and if accepted…the President would have been able to offer him any special duty above his grade; and I understand from the President that he would have assigned him the command of Charleston Harbor upon the withdrawal of Beauregard…You will see, therefore, that Ripley himself has been the only obstruction to his own way.” In very good condition, with intersecting folds, two through single letters of signature, a uniform shade of toning, and a bit of light soiling.

Memminger was the man responsible for preparing the document that acted as South Carolina’s secession from the United States, and later served as chairman of the committee that drafted the Confederate Constitution before serving in the Confederacy’s cabinet. In this correspondence, the treasury secretary was asked to comment on Roswell Ripley, a Confederate officer whom his biographer called a ‘troublesome’ yet proficient field officer who got along with neither his superiors nor his subordinates. Memminger notes that in the opinion of the War Department of the Confederacy, “every just consideration has been made” for Ripley, and “that Ripley himself has been the only obstruction to his own way.” On April 12, 1861, following orders from General P. G. T. Beauregard, Ripley’s artillery began the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Following the surrender and evacuation of the fort, Beauregard placed Ripley in charge of its repairs, and on August 15, 1861 Ripley was promoted to brigadier general. Great content involving some of the men involved in the opening salvos of the Civil War.
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