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Lot #11
U. S. Grant

Grant releases "seventeen of the Camp Jackson prisoners" in the wake of "a wicked hoax"

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Estimate: $1500+
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Description

Grant releases "seventeen of the Camp Jackson prisoners" in the wake of "a wicked hoax"

Civil War-dated LS signed “Your obt. svt., U. S. Grant, Brig. Gen. Com.,” two pages, 7.25 x 9.5, December 22, 1861. A courteous letter to Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk, in full: "I send you under a flag of truce some seventeen of the Camp Jackson prisoners who were released under the Fremont Price agreement. Three prisoners were brought here on Tuesday last and would have been immediately forwarded to Columbus, but a dispatch was sent to me purporting to be official stating that they were impostors and not the men they assumed to be. In consequence of this dispatch I had the parties arrested here and put at labor for a few hours and then sent them back to St. Louis. I turned out however that the dispatch was a wicked hoax perpetrated by a man in St. Louis who has been detected and arrested and will be properly punished. No one regrets the occurrence more than I do. Col. J. D. Webster has charge of the expedition and will receive any communication you may desire to send me." In addition to his signature and rank, Grant inserts Webster's name into the dispatch, and adds the recipient's name at the bottom, "To Maj. Gen. L. Polk, Com'g, Columbus, Ky." Archivally double-matted and framed to an overall size of 22.75 x 16.25. In very good to fine condition, with some light creasing, and light toning to the fold beneath Grant's signature.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autographs and Artifacts
  • Dates: #563 - Ended August 07, 2019





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