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Lincoln, Abraham - 1862 ALS to Gen. Meigs

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:10,000.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Lincoln, Abraham - 1862 ALS to Gen. Meigs
<Our item number 111078><B>Lincoln, Abraham.</B> &#40;1809-65&#41; 16th President of the United States &#40;1861-65&#41;. Autograph Letter Signed &#34;<I>A. Lincoln</I>&#34; as President, one page, 8&#34; x 5&#34;, Executive Mansion, 4 Jan. 1862. To Brigadier General and Quartermaster of the U.S. Army Montgomery C. Meigs: &#34;<I>Gen. Meigs / My dear Sir / Gen. Cooper, who will present this, is anxious to have Alfred A. McGaffey appointed Q.M. for his Brigade; & I am willing to oblige him, only that I have an impression that </I>[&#34;that&#34; is crossed out] <I>you have some objection. If you have not, so write below this, and he may be appointed</I>.&#34;<BR><BR>Meigs writes below: &#34;<I>The Q M Genl cannot recommend this appointment. MC Meigs / QMG</I>.&#34; On 6 January, Gen. Cooper wrote Lincoln that Meigs&#39; objection stemmed from &#34;the belief that McGaffey is a gambler….&#34; There is no record of McGaffey&#39;s appointment and he has not been otherwise identified. Gen. Meigs served as Quarterm aster General of the U.S. Army during and after the American Civil War, establishing a reputation for being efficient, hard-working, and scrupulously honest. He was responsible for the largest amount of money ever disbursed by a single individual in military history up to that point: some fifteen hundred million dollars. The General Orders &#40;January 4, 1892&#41; issued at the time of his death declared that &#34;the Army has rarely possessed an officer … who was entrusted by the government with a greater variety of weighty responsibilities, or who proved himself more worthy of confidence.&#34;<BR><BR>Gen. James Cooper, once a student in the Gettysburg law office of Thaddeus Stevens and a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, had been a member of the committee which drafted the Compromise of 1850. Because of his Whig antecedents and Maryland birth, Lincoln appointed him a brigadier in May 1861 to recruit &#34;loyal Marylanders.&#34; He briefly served under Franz Sigel in the Army of the Sh enandoah during Stonewall jackson&#39;s Valley Campaign, then commanded parole and prison camps in Ohio before his death in March 1863.<BR><BR>Dark bold writing by both Lincoln and Meigs; a few light vertical folds; some mounting traces on blank verso; two minuscule tears and a thread-thin line of toning along the left margin, otherwise fine. Published in CWAL, Vol. V, pp 90-91. <BR>Estimated Value &#36;20,000-30,000. <BR><BR>Our item number 111078<BR><IMAGES><P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="http://64.60.141.195/photos/40jpegs/111078.jpg"> </P></IMAGES>