Sep 29, 2022 - Sale 2615

Sale 2615 - Lot 116

Price Realized: $ 750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(CIVIL WAR--SECRET SERVICE.) Louis P. Stone. A Secret Service member recounts his exploits in detail. Autograph Letter Signed as "L.P. Stone" to a Colonel Tracy. 3 pages, 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches, on one folding sheet, with return address on final blank; folds, minimal wear. Cincinnati, OH, 3 May 1863
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"I am a member of the Secret Service, first served under Gen. Rosecrans in southwestern Va. I was taken prisoner by Gen. Floid [John B. Floyd] on the 15th Oct. 1861, one hundred miles within the enemie's lines while on a secret expedition for Gen. Rosecrans. Escaped from Richmond 22nd Feb. 1862 . . . Overtook the army at Mt. Jackson [VA] on the evening of the 4th of June. Capt. Hopper ordered me to make myself generally useful as scout until the chase was on for [Stonewall] Jackson and then report to him for special service. From that time I was advance scout until the battle of Cross Keys, was the first to discover the position of the enemy that morning, and reported the same to Gen. Milroy. . . . I was captured by a band of guerillas. I was sent to Lynchburg, where I met S.J. Callahan of the Jesse Scouts. From that time we were together until we escaped from Richmond by changing our names and getting off as regular soldiers." The Jesse Scouts were Union soldiers who assumed the identity and documents of captured Confederates and went under deep cover.

Louis P. Stone (1843-1903), a Cincinnati druggist, went on to own a hotel in Deadwood, SD. His career in the Secret Service is discussed in Fishel, "The Secret War for the Union," pages 179-180. This letter was written as part of his extended effort to be paid for his services: "It is poor encouragement for me to risk my life as I have done, and get nothing for it." Letters describing life in the Secret Service are rarely seen because, well . . . it was secret.