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William T. Sherman

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:5,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
William T. Sherman

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Auction Date:2013 Jul 25 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : 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
Archive consisting of three multi-page ALSs and a one-page LS, ranging in date from November 1888 to July 1890.

The LS is dated November 27, 1888, signed “W. T. Sherman,” written to General William Strong in regards to a Grant statue reads, in part: “In my judgement, the horse and rider are excellent, and reflect great credit on the designer. I am glad you have made such progress in this matter. Ours at St. Louis was the first done, but you are entitled to great praise notwithstanding.”

The second letter, an ALS, signed “W. T. Sherman,” dated March 27, 1890, again written to General Strong, reads, in part: “I have received your letter of the 24th and am embarrassed by the long delay…My remembrance is that when the local committee had reported a specific date for the completion of the statue. I as president was to call the Society together to participate in the Ceremony…I am especially glad that this whole matter was concluded by the Society at the last meeting.”

The third (and longest) ALS, signed “W. T. Sherman,” dated April 3, 1890, reads in part, “I will not undertake to attempt an oration in the life…of General Grant, in any event especially since he himself participated and published his own memoirs almost up to the moment of his death. I wish however to retain the good opinion of such men as Gen’l Strong and Hickenlooper, therefore will aid them in every way…General J. R. Hawley once an enthusiastic soldier now a…Senator would fill the bill.”

The final ALS, signed “W. T. Sherman, President of the Society,” dated July 15, 1890, reads in part: “Of course General Hickenlooper is right. The Society of the Army of the Tennessee adjourned last year at Cincinnati to meet in Chicago at the time of unveiling of the Equestrian statue of General Grant due notice of the time to be published after the completion and erection of the statue on the redstate already completed which you took me to last year. It was then supposed this statue would be ready in all, September 1890, surely not later than October and all calculation have been based on that conclusion. Now it appears, from causes, not unusual, this statue cannot be moulded and placed in position till Mid-winter indeed another season may pass before the statue can be unveiled and dedicated.”

In overall very good to fine condition, with mild toning and scattered light soiling, and intersecting mailing folds.

After Grant's death in 1885, The Society of the Army of the Tennessee sanctioned the commission of an equestrian statue of Grant to be erected in Chicago. Within four days of his death, nearly 100,000 people raised the $65,000 to cover the costs. General Strong was a member of the finance committee and sought the advice of fellow veteran, General Sherman, one of Grant's closest friends, who said of their relationship, ‘[Grant] stood by me when I was crazy and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now, sir, we stand by each other always.’ Sherman had already successfully spearheaded the movement of a Grant memorial in St. Louis so Strong found his advice invaluable. Louis Rebisso, Director of the Cincinnati Art Academy, was tapped as the sculptor. The cast for the bronze statue was sent to a foundry in the east where it was finally finished in 1892, and it was unveiled in Chicago's Lincoln Park on October 7, 1893, to a large crowd and ceremonies befitting the late president and general. Among the attendees were Mrs. Grant, close friends of the general, veterans from his old regiment and over 20,000 uniformed men under the command of General Miles in a three-mile march. Among the participants were Generals Stockton, Clark, Fitzsimmons, Sexton, Berge, Butterfield, and Bragg as well as Senator Sherman and Governors Fifer and Bulkeley. Both Sherman and Strong died before the unveiling, but Strong's daughter Mary had the honor of revealing the statue as the salute was fired.