LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2006 Dec Signature Civil War Auction #642  / 

25231

Union Gen John A Dix 1863 LS to CSA Gen Wise

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 500.00 USD
Union Gen John A Dix 1863 LS to CSA Gen Wise
<B>Union General John Adams Dix 1863 Letter Signed to Confederate General Henry A. Wise</B></I> "<I>John A. Dix</B></I>", three pages, 8" x 10", "Head Quarters Department of Virginia" letterhead, Fort Monroe, Virginia, April 28, 1863. In this important letter, Dix strongly advises Wise to cease his attacks on the Union forces occupying Williamsburgh. It reads, in full: "<I>The Town of Williamsburgh has been occupied, as you are aware, by the troops under my command as a picket Station or outpost of Yorktown. A large portion of the inhabitants are known not to be well disposed to the Government of the United States. They have nevertheless, while quietly pursuing their domestic avocations, been unmolested, and have been permitted to supply themselves with the necessaries and comforts of life at Yorktown and Fort Monroe. The Insane Asylum at Williamsburgh has been put under the Superintendence of an Army Surgeon and its three hundred helpless inmates supplied, at the expense of the United States, with every thing necessary to their comfort and with the remedial treatment they require. While exercising these offices of humanity, the troops at Williamsburgh have been several times attacked by your forces, not with a view to gain and hold possession of the place and to assume the guardianship which has been extended to the inhabitants and the tenants of the Asylum by us, but for the purpose of harrassing those who were performing this generous service. - On the 31st ult. your forces entered and endeavored to take possession of the town, occupying several houses & firing upon the troops; and in this, as I am informed, they were aided by some of the inhabitants, who have been living for nearly a year, under our protection. More recently your forces entered the town and took possession of it, placing our employes in the Insane Asylum under parole, carrying off some of the servants and depriving its inmates of the care to which they have been accustomed and which their helpless condition renders indispensable. You have by withdrawing your forces, left the Asylum again to our charity and compelled Major General Keyes the Commanding Officer of the troops at Yorktown and Fort Magrader to supply it with food to save the patients from starvation. - <BR><BR>These raids under the peculiar circumstances are in violation of every dictate of humanity. Having no result and apparently no object but annoyance & a useless sacrifice of life, they are also in violation of every principle of honorable warfare. - I have directed Maj. Genl. Keyes to re-occupy the town; and that the aggressions referred to may cease, I give you notice in case of any repetition of them. 1st- That the inmates of the Asylum will be sent to Richmond, and the United States relieved of the burden of their support; - 2nd That any house which may be taken possession of for the purpose of firing upon the troops stationed there will be razed to the ground; and 3rd That any citizen of Williamsburgh not belonging to a regularly organized corps, who shall be found co-operating in these attacks and rising in arms against the occupying troops, will be put to death as a violator of the laws of civilized warfare.</B></I>" Major General Dix, at this time, was commander of the Department of Virginia. Wise, a former governor of Virginia who signed the death warrant for John Brown, was a brigadier general who would later fight bravely with Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House and urge him to surrender. Fine condition.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Small Flat (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
Sign In to Bookmark Lot