ALS signed “J. A. Early,” eight lightly-lined pages on two sets of adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, March 7, 1872. Letter to a colonel interested in his history. In part: “I was commissioned Colonel in the Virginia service on the 2nd of May 1861…I was commanding a brigade of 3 regiments, the 7th and 24th Va, and 7th Louisiana at the 1st Battle of Manassas, my rank being then colonel. I was commissioned a Brigadier General in the Confederate service, to rank from the 21st of July 1861…On the 5th of May 1862, I was wounded at Williamsburg…On my return, the 1st of July 1862, I was assigned to the command of Elzey’s brigade, he being wounded…I was commissioned Major General to rank from the 17th of January 1863…I was made Lieut General with Temporary rank from the 31st of May 1864, and assigned to the command of Ewell's…then composed of my division Rodes', and Gordon's. On the 13th of June 1864 I was detached from the Army of Northern Va, with the 2nd corps, and Breckinridge command of three brigades of infantry and five small brigades of cavalry were united with my command for the campaign into Maryland and the Valley. Subsequently, during the Valley campaign, Kershaw's division of infantry, two brigades of cavalry under Fitz Lee and one under Rosser were united to my command. By the capture of the greater part of Johnson's division of Ewell's corps on the 12th of May 1864, a considerable change was made in the organizations of the divisions—Gordon's brigade and Hays' brigade were transferred from my division and united in with the remnant of Johnson's so as to make a division for Gordon composed of his own brigade (Georgia) under Evans, two Louisiana brigades into one under Hays, and the rest of Johnson's division into one brigade under General William Terry." In fine condition, with trivial mounting remnants to extreme edges, having been previously inlaid into a larger sheet. Early served under Stonewall Jackson and then Robert E. Lee for almost the entire war, and had risen to become a key Confederate leader by its conclusion, with some historians contending that he extended the war six to nine months because of his efforts near Washington, DC—“the campaign into Maryland and the Valley,” as he mentions here—during which his raids posed a serious threat to the federal capital. During the period that he wrote this letter, Early was also a significant contributor to popularizing the idea of the ‘Lost Cause,’ a movement that emphasized the tradition and nobility of the antebellum South. A remarkable, thoroughly detailed account of his own military career. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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