LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 June Civil War Grand Format Auction #663  / 

72265

The Louisiana Commission of Confederate Major Bo

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,500.00 USD Estimated At:6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
The Louisiana Commission of Confederate Major Bo
<B>Bloodstained Commission of Confederate Major Bob Wheat of the 'Louisiana Tigers' - Found on Gaines' Mill Battlefield</B></I> Partially printed Document Signed "<I>Tho. O. Moore</B></I>", Governor of Louisiana, 13" x 16", Baton Rouge, Louisiana, June 8, 1861. This State of Louisiana commission names C. R. Wheat "<I>Major of the First Special Battalion of Louisiana Volunteers</B></I>". It carries a vignette of the Louisiana State Seal and is affixed with a secondary red paper seal in the lower left corner. Folds, aging and old separation archivally repaired. Two verso panels appear to be smeared with mud, blood, or both. This document was found on the battlefield where Wheat received his mortal wound. It is conceivable that this document, being on his person, was tossed as the dying major was attended to.<BR><BR>Chatham Roberdeau 'Bob' Wheat was born in Virginia, practiced law in Louisiana, and served in the Louisiana legislature before being commissioned a Major at the outbreak of the Civil War. Wheat was known as an adventurer having traveled around the world as a military officer, first in Latin America and then in Italy serving under Garibaldi. He returned to the South to recruit the Louisiana battalion made up of rough-neck New Orleans men.<BR><BR>The unit saw action at Manassas where Wheat was shot through both lungs. Obviously a serious wound, Wheat struggled to recover, but did manage to fight in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. He was killed at the Battle of Gaines' Mill, his unit disbanded thereafter since they had lost the only leader that could control their rough behavior.<BR><BR> Perhaps the best characterization of Wheat came from the August 1912 issue of <I>Confederate Veteran</B></I> as the magazine described the great men each state had contributed to the Confederacy. Wheat was included as follows:<BR><BR>“Louisiana gave the incomparable Bob Wheat, the white-plumed Knight of Navarre of the Army of Virginia, who fell at the Battle of Gaines' Mill while bravely cheering on his “Louisiana Tigers”, waving aloft the sword presented to him by his State and clasping to his bosom the Bible given him by his Christian mother.”<BR><BR>A handwritten sleeve in which this commission was found has the inscription "<I>Gen Robert Wheat Commission found on the battlefield of Antietam (later struck through and corrected 'Gaines' Mill') where he was killed.</B></I>"<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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