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(SIGNAL CORPS LETTER AND LOCK OF REBEL COLONEL'S HAIR)

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(SIGNAL CORPS LETTER AND LOCK OF REBEL COLONEL'S HAIR)
"An unusual unsigned war-date letter 2pp. 8vo., ""Office of the Signal Officer"", Washington, Nov. 6, 1862, concerning a lock of hair that was clipped from the head of a dead Confederate colonel. Presumably written by Colonel Albert Myer, an army surgeon who developed the ""wig-wag"" communication system and served as McClellan's chief signal officer on the Peninsula, the letter is addressed to Colonel William Hays, in full: ""On opening my papers upon returning from the Maryland campaign I find the enclosed lock of hair. It was cut by me from the head of Colonel Ward [George T. Ward commanded the 2nd Florida and was killed in action 5/5/62 at Williamsburg] of Florida. I had known the colonel in Florida. I found him dead at Williamsburgh. I took the lock that his family might have a memento of one whom I remembered kindly and that they might feel that his body came after his death to those at once his enemies and his friends. I am informed that you colonel are connected with this family and I forward the lock to you in order that through you it may reach its destination"". Included with the letter is the lock of hair housed in an ambrotype preserver, frame, and glass. Ward was born in 1800 and became a successful planter and banker in Leon County, Florida. An important figure in Florida history, he was a member of the convention that enacted that state's 1838 Constitution, and in 1861 represented his state at the Confederate Secession Convention at Montgomery, Alabama. Enlisting in the Confederate army, he organized and led the 2nd Florida Volunteers only to lose his life in the regiment's ""baptism of fire"" at Williamsburg, Virginia. Very good." 2430 An unusual unsigned war-date letter 2pp. 8vo., ""Office of the Signal Officer"", Washington, Nov. 6, 1862, concerning a lock of hair that was clipped from the head of a dead Confederate colonel. Presumably written by Colonel Albert Myer, an army surgeon who developed the ""wig-wag"" communication system and served as McClellan's chief signal officer on the Peninsula, the letter is addressed to Colonel William Hays, in full: ""On opening my papers upon returning from the Maryland campaign I find the enclosed lock of hair. It was cut by me from the head of Colonel Ward [George T. Ward commanded the 2nd Florida and was killed in action 5/5/62 at Williamsburg] of Florida. I had known the colonel in Florida. I found him dead at Williamsburgh. I took the lock that his family might have a memento of one whom I remembered kindly and that they might feel that his body came after his death to those at once his enemies and his friends. I am informed that you colonel are connected with this family and I forward the lock to you in order that through you it may reach its destination"". Included with the letter is the lock of hair housed in an ambrotype preserver, frame, and glass. Ward was born in 1800 and became a successful planter and banker in Leon County, Florida. An important figure in Florida history, he was a member of the convention that enacted that state's 1838 Constitution, and in 1861 represented his state at the Confederate Secession Convention at Montgomery, Alabama. Enlisting in the Confederate army, he organized and led the 2nd Florida Volunteers only to lose his life in the regiment's ""baptism of fire"" at Williamsburg, Virginia. Very good.