LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 December Signature Texana Auction #661  / 

56252

William W.S. Bliss Manuscript Letter Signed

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:540.00 USD Estimated At:900.00 - 1,500.00 USD
William W.S. Bliss Manuscript Letter Signed
<B>William W.S. Bliss Manuscript Letter Signed</B></I> "<I>W.W.S.Bliss/Asst. Adj. Genl.</B></I>," two pages, 7" x 9.5", front and verso. Head Qua[rt]ers, Army of Occupation, Corpus Christie, Texas, November 30, 1845. To Col. W.S. Harney, 2nd Dragoons, Commanding at Bexar, Texas. Bliss encloses a letter about "<I>the recent seizures of a party of Comanches and also the line of buildings in Bexar...the General now directs that the buildings occupied by the troops in Bexar, with the exception of a hospital, and a storehouse if indispensable, be at once vacated, and that the Command be encamped at some position affording wood, water, and grass, from five to ten miles from town. In relation to part of your duties connected with Indian affairs," </B></I>Bliss relates instructions given on October 15th:<I> "'Reports alleging hostile intentions on the part of the Indians are always to be received with great cautio[n], and the Gen[era]l would deem it a great misfortune to embroil our government with any Indian tribe, without the most imperative necessity, resulting from our obligation to defend the settlement of Texas. In every case of alarm near you, the General directs that you dispatch a regular officer to inquire closely into the facts of the case, as great allowance must be made for the habitual exaggeration of frontier people on such subjects.'</B></I>" During the Mexican War, Bliss was chief of staff to General Zachary Taylor, the General giving orders in this letter, and took an active part in the engagements of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Pahna, Monterey, and Buena Vista. In 1848, 33-year-old Col. W.W.S. Bliss married Mary Elizabeth Taylor, Gen. Taylor's 24-year-old daughter, and served as secretary to his father-in-law in the White House. The blank left margin has been trimmed. Two holes affect six letters of three words noted above. Trimmed. The letter is in fine condition. <I>From the collection of Darrel Brown.</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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