7056

J. E. B. Stuart Autograph Letter Signed

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:8,500.00 - 9,500.00 USD
J. E. B. Stuart Autograph Letter Signed

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Auction Date:2017 Oct 26 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, 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
ALS signed “J. E. B. Stuart, 1st Lt. 1st Cav.,” three pages on two sheets, lightly lined, 7.75 x 9.75, March 23, 1857. Written from Fort Leavenworth, a letter to Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, in full: “I have the honor to transmit herewith copies of testimonials this day furnished direct to the Com’y General of Subsistence U.S.A. to be laid before the Hon. Sec’y of War. Availing myself of your kindness and the disposition expressed in your note of Dec’r 22d 1856, to Serve a Son of my lamented father, I send you certified copies of these papers for your assistance, premising that a vacancy may occur any day and be filled before you can hear it even at Richmond, which makes it necessary to urge an appointment for the first vacancy before it occurs. I have made it a simple application to the Hon. Sec. Mr. Floyd through the proper channels, and have not gone out of my way for testimonials confining myself entirely to the officers of rank with whom I am now serving; but there are some remarks which I deem it not improper to make to you, in which I promise to be as brief as possible. The appointment which I seek, is the only way in which a Lieutenant of the line can anticipate the tardy progress of promotion as a kind of Brevet, retaining at the same time his lineal or Regimental rank as Lieutenant, but having the pay and emoluments of Captain. And in as much as his appointment as Captain in the Staff Dept. gives him no additional command or lineal rank, it can not be considered an encroachment upon the rights of Lieutenants Senior to him. In fact, the provisions of the Law making it entirely at the discretion of the president as, regards the selection, it would be quite reasonable to give such an appointment, other things equal, to the junior because the Senior will soon get his promotion in the regular way, entitling him to all the prerogatives of Captain.

I understand (I have not seen them yet) that the Edition of the Army Regulations published just as Mr. Davis made his exit from the War Dept, have the extraordinary provision that no mt’d officer shall be eligible to appointment in the Staff Departments. I can only account for such an absurdity by supposing that the unjust proscription of the Subalterns of the mounted Regt has been so long practically followed out, that it has passed unnoticed into the code. Any one endowed with reason common sense and, a common sense of Justice, except Mr. Davis, must agree that such an outrageous distinction has no foundation whatever in either law, justice, or reason. From my limited acquaintance with Mr. Floyd I cannot for a moment believe that he will allow himself to be trammeled by such a Regulation. The law expressly provides that the appointments shall be filled by the President by selection from the Subalterns (not of the Artillery & Infantry alone, but) of the line of the Army. And there have been appointments from mounted Regts. to the Staff—though I must say they are 'like angel’s visits few & far between.’ You will find by the Army Register that in the entire Subsistence Dept three are from the Infantry and the remaining nine from the Artillery. It can not be denied that the Cavalry portion of our Army perform by far the most arduous duty belonging to the Service, ought it not then have a share of the immunities of the Service. I respectfully request that upon a full consideration of whatever claims, if any, I have you will if you feel justified in so doing, at your earliest convenience bring my appointment, to fill the first vacancy which occurs in the Subsistence Dept U.S. Army, to the favorable consideration of the Hon'le Sec. of War and the President.” Reverse of second page bears a brief ALS from Wise directed to the Secretary of War, dated April 9, 1857, in full: "I enclose to you the within testimonials, well assured as I am that you will give to them all due consideration." Additional docketing also features an endorsement signed by Acting Secretary of War Samuel Cooper forwarding the matter to the "Commissary General of Subsistence." In fine condition.

Dated four years before the start of the American Civil War and three years after his graduation from West Point, this letter finds the 24-year-old Stuart imploring to prominent Virginian politician and sitting Governor Henry A. Wise his deserving of an appointment. Stuart had been transferred to Fort Leavenworth in the newly formed mounted 1st Cavalry Regiment and was soon promoted to first lieutenant in 1855. Led by Colonel Edwin Sumner, Stuart and his regiment were tasked with controlling tensions between pro-slavery and free-state factions and random Indian attacks on settlers during the violent Bleeding Kansas affair. Desirous of attaining an appointment within the Subsistence Department, Stuart attempts to convince Wise of the antiquity of a provision that denies mounted officers eligibility of “appointment in the Staff Departments.” As evidenced by the handwriting of Wise and Cooper, Stuart’s plea was indeed approved and he was soon appointed as both a quartermaster and commissary officer. Just four months later, on July 29, 1857, Stuart was wounded during a skirmish with the Cheyenne Indians on the Solomon River, a retaliatory attack for a series of deadly wagon train ambushes the preceding summer. An exemplary early letter from the future Confederate general written during a formative period of his life.