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Civil War-dated ALS signed "M. Van Buren," one page, both sides, 5 x 8, August 16, 1861. Addressed from his Lindenwald estate, a handwritten letter to General James S. Wadsworth, who was mortally wounded in battle during the Overland Campaign on May 6, 1864, and died two days later. In part: "The arrangement you propose is satisfactory to me, and would have been still more so if you had put the extension at five years. Three may suffice to last my time, but such a result does not seem more certain than it would have done several years ago, & my wish is to have to do with nobody but yourself in respect to the matter at hand. Accept my earnest congratulation on the credit to which you entitled yourself in the Battle of Bulls Run, & the promotion which was so honorably earned." In fine condition.
Written during the opening months of the Civil War, this letter dates from the final year of Martin Van Buren's life. The former president, then residing at Lindenwald in Kinderhook, New York, had publicly declared his support for the Union following the outbreak of hostilities in 1861. Its recipient, James S. Wadsworth, was a prominent New York landowner, political figure, and early advocate of the Union war effort who had recently participated in the First Battle of Bull Run and, days before this letter was written, was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers. Wadsworth later commanded Union forces at Gettysburg and was mortally wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864, dying of his wounds two days later.
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