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Philip St. George Cocke

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Philip St. George Cocke

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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 (1809–1861) best known for organizing the defense of Virginia along the Potomac River after the state's secession, and briefly commanding troops before committing suicide. Extremely rare ALS signed “Philip St. Geo. Cocke,” five pages, 6.5 x 8.5, January 12, 1860. Letter to Reverend S. B. S. Bissell. In part: “What think you of the present unhappy political and social relations between the North & the South? You know the people of both sections and you are too enlightened & too just I know to sympathize with the extremists in either section. But do you know how much danger & how imminent that danger is to the peace of the country! I assure you that we are thinking of little else in Virginia just now but of preparations for defense against the crusade which for thirty years has been cruelly waged against our property, our lives and our sacred honor, by that mad faction at the North which…is marshaling its forces to attack us…seeking to place us between two fires that of our slaves on the one side & of our abolition enemies at the North. We have accepted the issue as inevitable, and are preparing to meet it, with a full sense of all the dangers that surround us—but we shrink not! We quail not—and shall be prepared to meet our enemies with the disposition of men who know there is no quarter, and also fight for life, for home, country & liberty!” In fine condition, with a few light stains and slight show-through from writing to opposing sides.

A remarkable letter with Cocke's evaluation of the war as inevitable—it was not until well over a year later, on April 17, 1861, that Virginia officially decided to secede from the Union. His fervor for the fight, however, was quashed soon after the war began—his rank as general was downgraded and his position lost during a bureaucratic shuffle, and he then failed to receive credit for his skillful leadership during the First Battle of Bull Run, seeing all the recognition go toward P. G. T. Beauregard. Shortly thereafter he returned home, feeling 'shattered in body and mind,' despondent from his unappreciated service, and shot himself in the head on December 26, 1861. An exceptional letter that captures the fever pitch of the South as it prepared to fight, as well as a stark reminder of the psychological and physical tolls of warfare.