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1769

Philip Kearny

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,000.00 - 2,500.00 USD
Philip Kearny

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Auction Date:2012 Mar 14 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : 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
In the Civil War Kearny distinguished himself during the Peninsula Campaign, rising to major general. In the build-up to that campaign, 2nd Lt. George Armstrong Custer served as Kearny’s aide and it is said that Kearny drummed into Custer the maxim that, “fortune favors the brave.” He was killed in action in September 1862. ALS signed “Phil,” two pages both sides, 5 x 8, July 29, 1862. Lengthy chatty letter to "My dear John," in which he discusses the merits of a soldier named "Watt" and his (Kearny's) love of horses, "You have no idea of our elegant horses. I have five or six elegant models. I am ready to buy more.” On the last page he writes: “Capt. Morris Peck’s aide came to see me last night. I rode back with him to visit Watts. He has just finished his Court Martial; & I am sure, if you could have seen him, so changed for the better, in manly physique & a ‘character’ of the ‘twilight.’” In very good condition, with intersecting folds, red ink notation across top right corner of last page, and scattered toning.

Kearny had a lifelong love of horses; at the age of eight, he could ride better than most adults. He delighted in racing horses on his grandfather’s estate in upstate New York and became known as “a perfect horse killer” for his recklessness in the saddle. During the Mexican War, Kearny raised a troop of cavalry and spared no expense in outfitting his men, acquiring 120 matched dapple gray horses with his own money. Kearny lost an arm in that conflict, and in the Civil War rode with the reins in his teeth, his one arm brandishing a sword. In this letter he refers to Watts, who could have been a relative—his grandfather was John Watts, a New York politician. A month after writing this letter, Kearny ignored a demand to surrender at the Battle of Chantilly and was fatally felled by a single bullet which struck his spine. A fine letter penned by the Union’s “One-Armed Devil.”
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