Nov 18, 2008 - Sale 2163

Sale 2163 - Lot 85

Price Realized: $ 5,520
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
ON BRAXTON BRAGG'S "IMBECILITY AND VIOLENT TEMPER" (CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Archive of 8 wartime letters to Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk. 9 leaves, various sizes and conditions, most strong except as noted. Vp, 1861-63
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These letters touch upon a variety of topics, most notably a feud between Polk and his commanding officer Braxton Bragg which resulted in Polk's transfer in 1863. Includes: James A. Rogers. Concerning the difficulty of finding laborers on the fortifications at Memphis; wonders "how many negroes can be obtained." Separations at folds. Memphis, 21 December 1861 George W. Rains. Concerning the family of the foreman at the Confederate gunpowder works in Georgia. Nashville, 17 January 1862 James S. Brown; Major of the 46th Tennessee Infantry. Requesting guns and reinforcements for his small Kentucky border garrison, and asking "There are many lewd women here, attracting soldiers from Columbus, Moscow, and other places--shall I compell them to leave the town?" Hickman, KY, 24 January 1862 James S. Brown. Sends a deserter and suggests that "an example . . . would have a salutary effect." Hickman, KY, 24 January 1862 Mrs. Devereux. A relative of Polk's wife requests a military commission for her son, who has just graduated from the Virginia Military Institute. Defective with some loss of text. Raleigh, NC, 22 September 1863 Henry Watterson; editor of the Chattanooga Rebel. A remarkable letter denouncing Gen. Braxton Bragg, Polk's commanding officer and nemesis within the Confederate army, in the wake of the Battle of Chickamauga. Watterson is "thoroughly satisfied that he will ruin all" and hopes that "we should soon see the end of a mad and bad man, whose imbecility and violent temper have so largely damaged us," requesting the use of "your good name . . . [for] a determined assault upon Gen. Bragg." Separation at fold, slightly affecting text. Marietta, GA, 15 October [1863] Andrew Ewing; judge of a Confederate military court. Attempting to resolve a dispute between Polk and Gen. A.P. Hill: "It arises from some language used to him by the President as a quotation from one of your letters . . . I respectfully suggest to you the propriety of an interview with Genl. Hill and furnishing him a copy of the paper referred to." Separation at fold and several small holes affecting text. Atlanta, 20 October 1863 "Grandson Jimmy." Letter Signed to "General Rabit." A story of rabbits and tar babies, in an adult hand but apparently signed by a child. Possibly a coded message, as Gen. Polk had no grandsons named James. 2 leaves. Lupinville, 27 April, no year.
with--8 orders and reports addressed to or from Polk's staff, 1862-1863, including contemporary manuscript copies of Polk's reports from the battles of Shiloh and Perryville.