TLS as president, two adjoining pages, 7 x 9, White House letterhead, December 16, 1947. Truman writes to E. Maurice Bloch in New York City. In part: “Replying to yours ... regarding the activities of General Bingham of Independence, I’d suggest that you might get in touch with the following people: Mrs. Walter Brown who lives at the Knickerbocker Apartments in Kansas City, Missouri and who owns one of the originals of Order No. 11 painted by [George Caleb] Bingham while he was in Independence. The picture belonged to Mrs. Brown’s father.... Mrs. Cora Jamison who lives on South Ruby Street in Independence in the old Waggoner residence is a niece of William Waggoner who was one of the original incorporators of the Waggoner-Gates Milling Company. The Gates is [sic] my wife’s grandfather. Mrs. Jamison can tell you about Bingham’s studio which was located on the Waggoner property. C. B. Rollins at Columbia—his name is Coleb [sic] Bingham—is the son of a cousin of Bingham’s and owns the other original Order No. 11 picture. The Mercers and Rollins[es] always claim that each has the original but they were both painted by Bingham at the same time as far as I can find out....” Truman goes on to recommend a number of local historians, concluding, “I know nothing about the situation myself because my family lived in Southwestern Jackson County from 1840 until the present time and our residence in Independence only dated from 1890....” Though born in Virginia, the renowned American genre painter George Caleb Bingham (1811–1879) spent most of his life in Truman’s home state of Missouri. Order Number 11, a military proclamation issued on August 25, 1863 by Union general Thomas Ewing, required all rural residents living in four Missouri counties, regardless of loyalty, to leave their homes within fifteen days. Those who could prove Union loyalty were permitted to stay in the region, but had to leave their farms and move to communities near military outposts; those who could not do so had to vacate the area altogether. The immediate consequences included border raids, plunder, and violence, and the area affected by the controversial order quickly became a no-man’s-land, charred devastation taking the place of once-fertile farmland. The pro-Union Bingham strenuously resented the order and appealed personally to Ewing’s superior officer, General John M. Schofield, to have it rescinded, but to no avail. When he was told the order would have to stand, he reportedly warned Schofield, “If God spares my life, with pen and pencil, I will make this order infamous in history.” As Truman indicates, Bingham made two versions of the painting. When the first version was reproduced as an engraving in 1868, it caused much agitation and was denounced as being sympathetic to the Confederacy. In March 1870, Bingham completed a second version, incorporating small changes in details, pose, and costume. This version soon became one of the best-known paintings of the era and remains a landmark in American art of the nineteenth century. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope. Light marginal toning to the second page from previous matting, otherwise fine condition. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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