Auction Date:2013 Nov 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : 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
War-dated ALS signed “W. T. Sherman, Maj Genl,” one page, lightly-lined, 7.75 x 9.75, Headquarters, Military Division of the Mississippi letterhead, October 29, 1864. Letter to Colonel Isaac F. Shepard. In full: “I regret exceedingly that you were not promoted and confirmed as appointed. As the Govr seemed to lay great stress on the Negro troops I thought it would be grand to have one like yourself. Enthusiastic in the Cause. As to trading across lines, it is simply impossible. We cannot count on bread & meat, much less recruiting. I must now prohibit all trade as impracticable. Wishing you all kind of good luck, and advising you to try the service again, assuring you it is not half over yet.” Replaced top upper blank of page and last word of letterhead, otherwise fine condition.
In the midst of his 1864 march through Georgia as commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi, Sherman wrote to Colonel Isaac Shepard to express his disappointment in Shepard’s missed promotion. Commander of the 52nd U.S. Infantry, Colored, from 1863 onwards, Shepard served as ranking regimental officer of all colored troops in the Union. A fierce abolitionist, intolerant of hostile treatment towards his troops by white Union soldiers, he had received severe scrutiny after an incident in May of 1863; when a member of the 10th Illinois Cavalry went on a drunken rampage—attacking a black private, breaking in to a slave cabin, attempting to rape a ten-year old girl there and attacking her family members (including her mother and grandmother)—Shepard apprehended the man and ordered him to be whipped by two black soldiers. In response he was removed from his command while the matter was investigated, held up in court for a lengthy period defending his actions and testifying to the countless racially motivated atrocities committed against his troops. Though the charges were eventually dismissed by Grant, Shepard had missed his opportunity to lead his men at Milliken’s Bend, and failed to secure the following promotion, which Sherman “regret[ted] exceedingly.”
Auction Location:
5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
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