477

John Pegram

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:8,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
John Pegram

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Auction Date:2014 Apr 16 @ 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
Confederate officer (1832–1865) who fought with distinction at Murfreesboro and Chickamauga; he was killed in action in a skirmish at Hatcher’s Run, Virginia, in February of 1865. Civil War–dated ALS signed “Jno. Pegram,” one page, 9.75 x 7.75, Fort McHenry, September 4, [1861]. Letter to H. L. Abbot, a Union general and Pegram’s former classmate at West Point. In part: “That was a noble letter you sent me whilst I was at Bedford…My most sincere thanks…When the sectional bitterness is at its height, it is delightful to know that there are some who do not intend to allow it to influence their old friendships, or make them forget the duty of man to man. I hope that your wound has ceased to give you any trouble [Abbot was wounded at Bull Run]…I trust that you will not receive another during this cruel war. Of course I cannot wish success to your arms, but…I am far from having any bitterness to any of the Regulars who, like yourself, are led by their duty to take part in invading the Old Dominion. I heartily enter into your feelings about our poor friend Greble [John Trout Greble, also a West Point classmate, was the first regular army officer to die in action]…I do especially regret that he fell on Virginia soil, and deeply sympathize with his poor wife and family…he had not a single enemy…Thank you for your delicate offer of assistance. I really have no excuse for accepting…although I am a prisoner…I am very comfortable…there is nothing you can do for me unless you can make Mr. Lincoln give up the ridiculous notion about not exchanging prisoners. Remember me to any of my friends.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds (two vertical folds passing through letters of the signature and a tiny hole at one intersection).

Pegram resigned his lieutenant's commission in the US Army as soon as his native Virginia seceded, joining the CSA where he was given command of the 20th Virginia Infantry in Robert S. Garnett's brigade. The brigade was met by George McClellan's Union forces at Rich Mountain, Virginia, on July 9, 1861. With the support of of William Rosecrans and Thomas A. Morris, the Union troops attacked, splitting the Confederates in two—while one half managed to escape, Pegram controversially surrendered his entire regiment to the Federals on July 13. The rest of his troops were paroled but Pegram was taken as prisoner, making him the first Confederate officer captured during the war. He was held at Fort McHenry until September 11, 1861, which is where he wrote this letter. Lincoln had a generally strict policy on prisoner exchange during the war, disallowing the practice because every prisoner they released would simply increase the manpower of the Confederacy. This was relaxed for a period, and in January 1862 Pegram was paroled in Baltimore and allowed to travel to Richmond while awaiting a formal exchange for a captive Union officer. Penned near the beginning of the conflict, this exceptional letter demonstrates a level of respect and humanity between sides that would wane as the "cruel war" trudged on for the next four years.