A not too long ago found letter written by President Abraham Lincoln that gives a glimpse into his pondering throughout the early a part of the Civil War offered this week in Pennsylvania for $85,000, based on an autograph seller.
The beforehand unpublished letter had been in the identical personal assortment for a minimum of a century earlier than it was acquired earlier this 12 months, mentioned Nathan Raab, the principal of the Raab Collection, which buys and sells historic autographs, paperwork and signed letters.
“Discovering unpublished, unknown letters of Abraham Lincoln is increasingly rare,” Mr. Raab mentioned in an announcement in regards to the doc on the Pennsylvania assortment’s web site. The letter, which measures 5 by 8 inches, was offered to a non-public collector within the southeastern United States on Wednesday, Mr. Raab mentioned.
Dated Aug. 19, 1861, the brief letter is addressed to Charles Ellet Jr., an American civil engineer and Union Army colonel, who had met the president and lobbied him for the creation of a civil engineering corps. Colonel Ellet had insisted that instant motion be taken to know the South’s infrastructure as a result of he felt that Washington was susceptible.
“So here we see Lincoln taking on an effort to document the Southern infrastructure and to exploit that information to benefit the Union and protect Washington,” Mr. Raab mentioned on Wednesday.
Mr. Raab mentioned the doc confirmed the sixteenth president in his position as commander in chief within the early months of the Civil War, which started in 1861 and led to 1865.
He added that Colonel Ellet was a “very well-known engineer” and that his letters to Lincoln had been digitized by the Library of Congress.
In the letter, Lincoln directs Colonel Ellet to debate the matter of the corps with Gens. Winfield Scott, George B. McClellan and James Totten, all of whom Mr. Raab described as main gamers within the conflict.
“You propose raising for the service of the U.S., a Civil Engineer Corps,’’ Lincoln opened in the letter addressed from the White House, which he called the “Executive Mansion.”
Lincoln continued, “I am not capable to judge of the value of such a corps; but I would be glad to accept one if approved by Gen. Scott, Gen. McClellan & Gen. Totten. Please see them and get their views upon it.”
Lincoln signed the letter “yours truly” adopted by his identify.
Mr. Raab mentioned that “we know from Ellet’s next letter to Lincoln that he took this very letter to McClellan, who refused to see him in spite of the order, physical proof, from the president.”
But Colonel Ellet’s recommendations went unheeded by the Union Army, and on March 9, 1862, the Merrimack, a Confederate ramming ship, destroyed a fleet of Union boats on the Battle of Hampton Roads.
Overall, Mr. Raab mentioned, the letter “fills in a part of the historical record that had been missing.”
Presidential artifacts are in excessive demand by collectors. Historical significance typically performs a serious position within the worth vary. A uncommon copy of the Emancipation Proclamation offered for greater than $2 million in New York City in 2012.
Obscure curiosity will also be an element. A locks of Lincoln’s hair, wrapped in a bloody telegram reporting his assassination, offered for $81,000 in 2020. Another strand of his hair offered in Dallas in 2012 for $38,837.
A letter by Lincoln on Executive Mansion stationery that demanded the resignation of the postmaster common earlier than the 1864 election offered for $115,000 final 12 months, whereas a one-sentence notice calling for a cupboard assembly offered for $43,125.
“Abraham Lincoln is really popular with manuscript collectors, and anything written from the White House, or Executive Mansion, is pretty special,” mentioned Bobby Livingston, govt vp for RR Auction, primarily based in Boston.
Newly found letters written by Lincoln flip up each few years, however the letter to Colonel Ellet was necessary as a result of it confirmed the president’s efforts to steadiness engineering, army and political calls for, mentioned James Cornelius, a historian and editor of The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association.
Harold Holzer, a Lincoln historian, mentioned the letter was arcane however important.
“We’ve long known about Ellet and his prescient concerns about the safety of Washington, D.C., during the early months of the Civil War, but not so much about Lincoln’s almost casual willingness to let subordinates decide on how to resolve such crucial matters — while he was still trying to educate himself about military tactics and strategy,” Mr. Holzer mentioned in an electronic mail.
Mr. Raab mentioned on Friday that the letter to Colonel Ellet offered inside hours of being provided on the market.
“Its content was not part of the collected works, which adds to the excitement,” he mentioned. “There is also the intangible element that it has not been on the public market, so it is the first time a collector alive today would have had a chance to own it.”
Source: www.nytimes.com