Auction Date:2009 Jun 24 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Location:6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
a 5" x 8" leather bound autograph book descended in the family of its original owner Jacob M. Wood, Company L., Maynard Rifles, 154th Tennessee (Senior) with annotated 1930s Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper clippings and obituary attesting to Wood’s ownership. Penciled on the front fly in Wood’s hand is, J.M Wood/Memphis/?/Salisbury, N.C./1862. Below that, another later family inscription added by Blanche Wood, Jacob’s wife, that reads, Found on the battlefield/ of Shiloh by/J.M. Wood who/was badly wounded/on that day-/Mother.
The entire contents of the album have been transcribed. While there are no high-profile autographs per se, the first 63 pages contain pencil and ink signatures of numerous officer-prisoners captured at Fort Donelson together with a handful of Confederate naval personnel, most dating to the first half of 1862, all prisoners at Fort Warren, Boston. Some of the later entries are dated May 1865 and signed by former 154th Tennessee men recently paroled.
A fair number of the autographs are (Baltimore) Maryland civilians, politician and public officials, incarcerated under questionable circumstances (suspension of habeas corpus) made abundantly clear—arrested after midnight, sent to Boston in irons— by the tone of their salutation. The most recognizable signature is that of George Dewey/Admiral US Navy/Memphis T. 7 May 1900 (p. 16) signed at the "Peabody Hotel."
Blanche Wood, by then a widow, entered the notation some months after Jacob’s death in February 1900. Page 64 commences with terse diary-like entries from High Point, N.C. being J.M. Wood’s Journey Home from the War 1865. Pages 68 through 107 are assembled "quotes and sayings"—thoughts to live by—collected by Wood over the course of the next 35 years. At the back of the album are a series of General Orders hand copied by Wood pertaining to the formal surrender of Confederate forces and the end the Civil War, enshrined like the birth of the "Lost Cause." Foremost is Lee’s manifest tribute to the Army of Northern Virginia, GO No. 9, whose circumspect opening line After four years tedious service marked by unsurpassed courage... still inspires.
Organized in March 1862 at Memphis from Shelby County men, Jacob Wood joined the Maynard Rifles as a private. Named after the carbine they were issued, the Maynard Rifles were soon attached to the 154th Tennessee (Senior) as Company L. commanded by Captain E.A. Cole. Cole’s company acted as the regiment’s skirmishers at Shiloh and was in the thick of the fighting as evidenced by Colonel Preston Smith in his battle report. Private Wood was evidently wounded and probably captured shortly after Shiloh and ultimately held for some time at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. A copy of Wood’s February 4, 1900 obituary from the Memphis Commercial Appeal fills in the balance of his service reporting that, He served throughout the war with the Army of Tennessee...He was in many important battles among them Shiloh, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Nashville. He was wounded at Shiloh but refused to be conveyed to the hospital remaining with his command and being treated in a soldiers’ tent. He surrendered at Greensboro, N.C., May 1, 1865, being then senior officer of his company, numbering only twenty-three men at that time.
Lacking National Archive records, questions about what exactly transpired and when remain to be answered. Thomas Wood cannot be confirmed as an enlisted prisoner at Fort Warren. While the abbreviated timeline between the battle of Shiloh and certain signatures dating from early April at Fort Warren are implausible. Sixty-nine years after Jacob Wood came upon this album, an April 5, 1931 article with photographs of Shiloh from the Commercial Appeal is notated with an "X", where Grandfather Wood was wounded. Another section of the same paper highlights an article entitled, Where the Fighting was fiercest at Vicksburg making reference to yet another Confederate relative, Where your great Grandfather George E. McConnell was killed...
A most unusual Confederate cameo linking the Civil War to the 20th century.
Condition: Leather album G, with worn boards and top 0.5" of spine missing. Some interior pages loose with minor foxing.
Auction Location:
6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
Previewing Details:
Tuesday, June 23, 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday, June 24 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Taxes:
| Tax | Rate | Desc. |
| Ohio |
5.5% |
Ohio State Tax |
Buyer's Premiums:
| From (Incl.) | To (Excl.) | Premium |
| 0.00 |
Infinite |
17.5% |
Additional Fees:
Shipping Details:
Cowan's is happy to provide a shipping estimate in advance of the auction. We have partnered with an outside shipper - Wrap-It Postal. Their services to our respected customers are based inside the Cowans facility.Please contact Wrap-It Postal by email at shipping@cowans.com, or call 513.871.1670 (ext.19). You can also submit a request for an online quote . All shipping and packing costs will be charged separately by Wrap-It Postal to your credit card on file.
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Buyers who are present at the auction must pay the full purchase price at the time of the sale. Buyers who bid by telephone or who are absentee bidders will be invoiced within 5 days after the close of the auction and must pay the full purchase price for each purchased lot within 14 days after the date of the auction. By signing the absentee bid form or placing an absentee bid by telephone, an absentee bidder authorizes Cowan's to charge the purchase price (hammer price, plus buyer's premium) for each lot for which such bidder is the successful bidder to the credit card number provided by telephone or on the absentee bid form, unless payment in full or alternative payment instruction is received within 14 days after the date of the auction. No property will be released by Cowan's unless the purchase price has been paid in full.
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Cowan's is happy to provide a shipping estimate in advance of the auction. We have partnered with an outside shipper - Wrap-It Postal. Their services to our respected customers are based inside the Cowans facility.Please contact Wrap-It Postal by email at shipping@cowans.com, or call 513.871.1670 (ext.19). You can also submit a request for an online quote . All shipping and packing costs will be charged separately by Wrap-It Postal to your credit card on file.
Cowan's is in no way responsible for the acts or omissions of independent handlers, packers or shippers of purchased items or for any loss, damage or delay from the packing or shipping of any property.
ADVICE TO INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: Cowan's will not ship any package containing a firearm to any location other than within the United States. Buyers outside the United States must make their own shipping arrangements taking full risk for the transportation of any firearm.
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Buyers are required to pay for all packing, shipping and insurance charges. Overseas duty charges are the responsibility of the successful bidder. Be aware that for larger and/or valuable items, shipping charges can be substantial.
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