246

William T. Sherman

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:500.00 - 600.00 USD
William T. Sherman

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2016 Aug 10 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, 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
ALS signed “W. T. Sherman, General,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, Headquarters Army of the United States letterhead, June 8, 1877. Letter to General Henry L. Abbot, commanding officer of the Torpedo School in Willet’s Point, New York. In part: “Yours of June 4 with the photographs of the Torpedo, of May 18, on the occasion of Sec. McCrary’s visit, was received yesterday and I have kept two, gave two to Greene, and four to Mr. McCrary. We all agree that the Photograph is unusually good, the spray being all the better represented by the apparent obscurity. I am always amazed that the chemicals can be so sensitive as to record the effect, at the smallest conceivable sub-division of Time. I assure you that we were all charmed with our visit at Willet’s Point, as I always am personally.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds (a vertical fold passing through a single letter of the signature), and light show-through from writing to opposing sides. Accompanied by two reproduction photos of torpedo explosions at Willet's Point from the next two years, which would be similar in appearance to the photographs referenced here. Sherman must have recently visited the Torpedo School with Secretary of War George McCrary, where they observed Abbot's torpedo tests. At this point in time ‘torpedo’ generally referred to a stationery mine, though Abbot was beginning to experiment with propelled torpedoes as well. The connection between Sherman’s awe at the photographic process and the technological progress of naval warfare makes this an especially interesting letter.