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Table of Contents > Autographs > Lot 6 |
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Lot Number: 6
Click for a Printable PageSign-in to Bid or Register to Bid Estimate Range: $10,000 - $15,000 |
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General George Armstrong Custer’s April 9, 1865 “Farewell Address” to his Third Cavalry Division Soldiers Original Manuscript Contemporary Copy Written by Custer’s Aide |
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(General George Armstrong Custer) Archive featuring: Headed “Headquarters” an Original Four Page Manuscript Copy of General George Armstrong Custer’s Farewell Address to his Third Cavalry Division of April 9, 1865, completely Handwritten by Custer’s Staff Aide: “L.W. Barnhard, Capt & AA General,” as noted at the conclusion of this Contemporary Period Document reading: “Presented to Robert McKinley, Com. 4, 2nd West Va. Cavalry Third Cavalry Division,” Very Fine. Highly important Three Item Archive related to General George Armstrong Custer.Each item having belonged to Private Robert McKinley, Co. I, 2nd West Virginia Cavalry, a unit of George Armstrong Custer’s Third Cavalry Division, who were present at the time of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s “Surrender” to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865. On April 8, 1865, General George Armstrong Custer with some 4,000 troops, captured and burned three Confederate supply trains waiting for Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox Station. After his battle lines were broken, General Lee retreated to Appomattox Court House, while being pursued by the Union army cavalry. Custer's Third Cavalry Division blocked Lee's retreat on its final day, and in triumph, the 3rd Cavalry received the “First Flag of Truce” from the Confederate forces. Within hours, General Lee made his fateful decision to Surrender his Army. General George Custer was himself at Appomattox Courthouse when General Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. The very table upon which Robert E. Lee's “Surrender” was signed was also afterwards presented to General Custer as a gift for his wife, by Major General Philip Sheridan (who also included a note to Custer’s wife, praising her husband’s, General Custer's, gallantry). On April 9, 1865 both Robert E. Lee and George A. Custer delivered their “Farewell” Addresses to their troops. 1. This Archive’s first item is a historic original handwritten true original Contemporary Copy of “Custer’s Farewell” apparently contemporarily written that same day on April 9, 1865, by Custer’s aide, where his staff member has noted, written by: “L.W. Barnhard, Capt & AA General”. This Handwritten Address is 4-pages (single sheet folded at center into two sheets and written both front and back). This manuscript document is on period wove writing paper, easily readable written in rich dark brown ink. A notation, written in the same hand, on page three Barnhard writes, in full: “Presented to Robert McKinley, Com. 4, 2nd West Va. Cavalry Third Cavalry Division.” The pagination is unusual with the first page (1) & 4 on the same sheet written front and back; pages 2 & 3 are written on the second sheet. Page 3 has a thin line of clear early archival type reinforcement of the vertical centerfold. This period manuscript of General Custer’s farewell address to his troops, lacks proper puncuation and it contains an occasional trivial variance from the known printed broadside version, likely resulting from having been quickly written in person. At the bottom of page four is the written attribution: “L.W. Barnhard, Capt & AA General.” Levant W. Barnhart actively served on General Custer’s Staff until the close of the Civil War, succeeding Custer’s prior Staff Aide, Jacob L. Greene. For one of his age his record as scholar and soldier Levant W. Barnhart was exceptional and bright. Barnhart was barely twenty-one when he joined General Custer's staff, who was himself not much older in years. Custer was twenty-six years of age when Commanding Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House. This April 9th, 1865 contemporary transcript of Custer’s “Farewell Address” reads, in full: “Headquarters Third Cavalry Division Appomattox Court House. Va. April 9, 1865 Soldiers of the Third Cavalry / Division With profound gratitude toward the God of battles, by whose blessings our enemies have been humbled, and our arms rendered triumphant, your commanding general avails himself of this, his first opportunity, to express to you his admiration of the heroic manner in which you have passed through the series of battle which today resulted in the surrender of the enemy's entire army. The record established by your indomitable courage is unparalleled in the annals of war. Your prowess has won for you even the respect and admiration of your enemies. During the past six months, although in most instances confronted by superior numbers, you have captured from the enemy in open battle, one hundred and eleven pieces of field artillery, sixty-five battle flags and upwards of ten thousand prisoners of war, including seven general officers. Within the past ten days, and included in the above, you have captured forty-five pieces of field artillery and thirty-seven battle flags. You have never lost a gun, never lost a color, and never been defeated, and notwithstanding the numerous engagements, including those memorable battles of the Shenandoah, you have captured every piece of artillery the enemy has dared to open upon you. The near epoch of peace renders it improbable that you will be called upon again to undergo the fatigues of toilsome march or the exposure of the battlefield, but should the assistance of keen blades wielded by your sturdy arms be required to hasten the coming of the glorious peace for which we have been so long contending, the general commanding is proudly confident that in the future, as / in the past, every demand will meet with a hearty and willing response. Let us hope that our work is done; that, blessed with the comforts of Pice (sic), we may soon be permitted to return to the Pleasure of home and Friends for our Comrades who have fallen in Battle let us ever cherish a grateful remembrance to the wounded and those who Languish in Southern Prisons let our hartfelt (sic) Sympathay (sic) be tended an now Speaking of my self alone, when the war is ended and the task of the Historian begins when those deed(s) of daring which have rendered the Name and fame of the third Cavalry Division imperishable are inscribed uppon (sic) the bright pages of our Country's history. I only ask that my name may be written as thst of commander of the third Cavalry Division. (Signed) G. A Custer Brevet Major General Commanding. (Noted at left bottom:) “LW Barnhard, Capt & A A General”. Nicely written in dark brown ink, some old folds, two minor centerfold edge splits, pages 2, 3 and 4 noted, yet written out of sequence, even in tone well handwritten on light blue-lined wove period writing paper measuring 4.75” x 8”. 2. Carte de Visite Photograph of General George A. Custer (Katz-70), with front mount, “John Brown - Wheeling, West Va.” This copy print was originally taken by photographer Goldin, May 1865. The reverse side has inked notation, reading in full: “Presented to Robert McKinley June 7th 1865 by Brevet Major General George A Custer, Commanding 3rd Cavalry - as a fare well momento.” The Carte de Visite is somewhat worn and its mount toned, having some scattered spotting and some creases at its outer edges, none of which affect Custer’s Photograph image. The ink presentation has been written over a barely visible earlier pencil notation. The manuscript presentation to McKinley on both the Farewell and the reverse of the CDV are in the same hand, likely McKinley’s. Also included, is Robert McKinley’s Civil War Discharge Certificate, as Private “Company G, 2nd Regiment of West Va. Cavalry” dated June 30, 1865, at Wheeling, W. Va., Signed by his Commanding Officer, Captain Jasper A. Smith. This Document measures 7-3/4” x 9-3/4” being 1 page, worn condition Very Good. The Certificate notes that McKinley was born in Scotland, that he joined in 1862 for three years and that he was a farmer by occupation, toned and soiled, still fully legible. The 2nd West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry remained in the battle line until the evening of April 9th, and then went into camp. The unit then started south to join General Sherman. However, on April 28th, they became aware that Johnston had also surrendered. On the next day, the division began its return north. They proceeded to partake in the “Grand Review of the Armies” on May 23, 1865 during the Union celebration of the end of the Civil War. Union troops paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. with the parade led by General George Custer's 3rd Division. That historic Division was led by Company F of the 2nd West Virginia Cavalry as part of Capehart's Brigade. In early June 1865, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd West Virginia Cavalries were ordered to proceed to Wheeling, West Virginia where they were officially mustered out of active service on June 30, 1865. As comparables for value, we point to a far more common printed Broadside version of this Farewell Address that sold in October 2018 for $4,750. In June 2007 a similar contemporary manuscript copy of Custer’s Farewell to the Third Cavalry, sold at auction for $7,760. In the current collector market we anticipate this important historic rarity and its archive of items to exceed those prior records by a significant margin. (3 items) One known form is a single printed sheet, measuring 5" x 8", Headquarters Third Cavalry Division, Appomattox Court House, Virginia; dated April 9, 1865 (printed circa April 15, 1865). This rare printing of Custer's letter to the soldiers of the Third Cavalry Division informing them of the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army and thanking them for their outstanding service, courage, and accomplishments during the Civil War. Custer signed the letter as "Brevet Major General Commanding". The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought in Appomattox County, Virginia, on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War (1861-1865). It was the final engagement of Confederate General in Chief, Robert E. Lee, and his Army of Northern Virginia before they surrendered to the Union Army of the Potomac under the Commanding General of the United States Army, Ulysses S. Grant. General Lee, having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia after the nine-and-a-half-month Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the remaining Confederate forces in North Carolina, the Army of Tennessee under General Joseph E. Johnston. Union infantry and cavalry forces under General Philip Sheridan pursued and cut off the Confederates' retreat at the central Virginia village of Appomattox Court House. Lee launched a last-ditch attack to break through the Union forces to his front, assuming the Union force consisted entirely of lightly armed cavalry. When he realized that the cavalry was now backed up by two corps of federal infantry, he had no choice but to surrender with his further avenue of retreat and escape now cut off as, if he hadn't, his forces would have been decimated. The signing of the Surrender Documents occurred in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean on the afternoon of April 9, 1865. On April 12th, a formal ceremony of parade and the stacking of arms led by Confederate Major General John B. Gordon to federal Brig. General Joshua Chamberlain, marked the disbandment of the Army of Northern Virginia with the parole of its nearly 28,000 remaining officers and men, free to return home without their major weapons, but enabling those men to take their horses, and officers to retain their sidearms (swords and pistols), and effectively ending the Civil War in Virginia. This event triggered a series of subsequent surrenders across the South, in North Carolina, Alabama and finally Shreveport, Louisiana, for the Trans-Mississippi Theater in the West by June, signaling the end of the four-year-long Civil War. |
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Lot Number: 6
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Estimate Range: $10,000 - $15,000 |
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Early American History Auctions, Inc. 1520 Commerce St., # 312 • Winchester, VA 22601 Phone: 858 • 759 • 3290 Email: Auctions@EarlyAmerican.com |
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