(CIVIL WAR NEW YORK) William H Seward Pair of letters regar

Sale 2546 - Lot 64

Price Realized: $ 500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(CIVIL WAR--NEW YORK.) William H. Seward. Pair of letters regarding the career of the German-born colonel Baron Egloffstein. 2 Letters Signed as described, one 8vo and the other 4to; the first signature clean and the second smudged with a small nearby tear; each with original Department of State envelope, one franked by the Chief Clerk. Washington, 1861 and 1862

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Baron Frederick Wilhelm von Egloffstein (1824-1885) was a Prussian military officer who emigrated to the United States in 1846, putting together an impressive resumé as a cartographer and engraver of the American West. In September 1861 he organized a volunteer Union regiment, the Seward Infantry, which later became the 103th New York.
Offered here are two Letters Signed from Secretary of State William H. Seward regarding Egloffstein's career. The first is to Assistant Secretary of War Thomas A. Scott, 24 September 1861: "Baron Egloffstein is the German officer who is engaged with organization of the Seward Artillery of which I spoke to you. Will you see him and do what you can for him?" Scott has docketed and signed on verso, indicating that the request was referred to Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas. The other is from Seward to Egloffstein, 27 February 1862, regarding George Washington, "informing me of the patriotic manner in which the regiment under your command had celebrated the birth day of the Father of His Country. For the sentiments personal to myself, to which your letter refers, I offer . . . my hearty acknowledgements. I have directed a suitable stand of colors to be prepared for presentation to the regiment in my name." Egloffstein was seriously wounded as colonel of the 103rd New York in April 1862.