?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
"THIS I PROMISE IS MY LAST DAY AS A CONFEDERATE OFFICER" (CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Wharton, Gabriel C. A letter from perhaps the last Confederate general at large in Virginia. Autograph Letter Signed as "G.C.W." to his wife Nannie Radford Wharton. 3 pages, 8 x 4 3/4 inches, on one sheet; browning, folds, minor foxing. Lynchburg, VA, 20 June [1865]
Brigadier General Gabriel C. Wharton led a division in Jubal Early's army through early May 1865, and then remained at large in Lynchburg, VA through late June. Of the hundreds of Confederate generals, the vast majority were killed, imprisoned, emigrated, or paroled by this point. A handful remained at large in the western states through August. We know of just one other at large in the east after Wharton: Alfred M. Scales, who applied for amnesty in North Carolina on 22 June. In the letter, Wharton still clearly regards himself as an active general, and seems to feel deeply nostalgic for the Lost Cause: "I have seen quite a number of blue coats, tho' have spoken to none of them. This I promise is my last day as a Confederate officer. I feel right blue at the idea of severing the connection which, tho not pleasant all the time, has been a source of much pleasure to me. I shall never forget I owe you, & all the real happiness I have ever enjoyed to my being a Confederate officer. I shall too to remember that always. I will be paroled tomorrow. All my friends advise me to this course. . . . I understand the Emperor of Brazil is offering grand inducements to Confederates to immigrate to his country, but I will write you soon to get the facts." This stirring and emotional letter, written by Wharton on the eve of his parole, is probably the latest letter you'll see from an active Confederate general in the eastern states.
