British-born American politician and lawyer (1811-1884) who, after serving in the US Senate and rejecting nomination to the Supreme Court, served variously as attorney general, secretary of war, and secretary of state for the Confederacy. Civil War-dated ALS signed “J. P. Benjamin,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 10, Confederate States of America, War Department letterhead, October 31, 1861. As Acting Secretary of War, Benjamin writes to Major General Earl Van Dorn. In full: "In the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, your Command of the First division was intended by the President to be composed of all the cavalry, two brigades of Mississippians and Hampton's Legion. The infantry was attached to the cavalry, because we had not enough cavalry to form for you a division.
General Johnston, the commander of the Department of Northern Virginia, has suggested some objections to this disposal of the cavalry which seem to us well founded, and has proposed that additional brigades of infantry be assigned to your division, leaving the cavalry under his immediate separate command. Before, however, making any change the President will receive your views on the matter and consider them. The objections made by General Johnston, and to which the President is disposed to attach great weight, are, ‘that all the cavalry of the army is now employed on outpost duty. The officer at the head of that service (Brig. Gen’l Stuart) should be under the immediate orders of the commander of the army, and make his reports to and receive his instructions from him. In like manner in battle the commanding general must keep under his own control the largest portion of the cavalry, so that Gen’l Van Dorn's division would actually become the weakest in the army, altho’ he is the senior major-general, with high reputation.’
In addition to this is the consideration that your rank would entitle you to the right wing, and in any battle that may occur in the neighborhood of the present position of the army, the ground to the right is unfavorable for cavalry, which would of necessity be thrown to the center or to the left, thus separating you from either the cavalry or the infantry of your division during actual conflict. The President is therefore inclined to increase your division, by the assignment of other infantry brigades, to its due strength in proportion to your rank, and to leave the cavalry as a separate command. Be good enough to answer me as promptly as possible." In very good to fine condition, with staining and old tape along the hinge, and minor paper loss to the edge of the last page.
In this letter, Benjamin takes on the task of reorganizing the Army of the Potomac, taking into account General Joseph E. Johnston's wishes that the cavalry remain a separate command—under Brigadier General J. E. B. Stuart—and that it report directly to him. Later, in the summer of 1863, the various troops of cavalry in the Confederate Army would be consolidated into one division under Stuart, known as the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. A significant Civil War letter connecting several key figures of the Confederacy.
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