ALS, one page both sides, 5 x 8, March 4, 1872. Letter to General Braxton Bragg. In full: “Accept my thanks for your prompt compliance with my request for information in regard to Beauregard’s misrepresentation. My impression has been that the order to you caused this application for surgeon’s certificate because my recollection is that he told you that he, as an engineer officer, was not sufficiently acquainted with matters of organization etc. to perform the duties required by the condition of the command at Tupelo, and that he would therefore devolve them upon you. Of this there would be no record, but if you have no objection to stating it, I would be glad to know if your memory is the same as my own. Please make my respects to Mrs. Bragg. I had hoped to have visited Mobile before this time, but things of sufficient importance to detain me have one after another occurred and postponed the projected trip.” On the reverse of the separated second integral page, Bragg has docketed, “Memphis, 4th March ‘72. Jeffer Davis. Beauregard’s public writing about his relief from command of army at Tupelo.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds (one vertical fold passing through a single letter of the signature), and light show-through from writing on opposing sides. Accompanied by two unsigned carte-de-visite portraits of Davis.
After the Union victory at the Siege of Corinth in 1862, Davis relieved P. G. T. Beauregard of his command and appointed Bragg as his successor as commander of the Western Department, which included the Army of the Mississippi. This letter seeking Bragg’s recollections of the controversy was spurred by Beauregard's publication of articles claiming to have been wrongly relieved of command and blaming Davis for the loss of the war. Davis and Beauregard sparred in the press for the rest of their lives, bitterly blaming each other for the South's failure. A unique letter involving several key players in the Confederacy and illustrating the disharmony between them that lasted long after the last shots were fired. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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