Sell or Auction Your Joseph Johnston Autograph Letter Signed for up to Nearly $2,000 or More at Nate D. Sanders Auctions
To auction, sell or consign your Joseph Johnston autograph letter signed, please email your description and photos to [email protected] of Nate D. Sanders Auctions (http://www.NateDSanders.com).
Free Appraisal, Auction or Sell Your Joseph Johnston Autograph Letter Signed
We sold some autograph letters signed from Confederate General Joseph Johnston. Please see below for details:
Fascinating autograph letter signed by Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, written from Chattanooga, Tennessee on 26 January 1863, shortly after Johnston assumed command of the Department of the West. Johnston writes to his close ally, Confederate Senator Louis Wigfall, revealing how he believes he is essentially positioned for failure in his command. It’s an intimate letter, with Johnston even writing “I have never been so garrulous before – & won’t be so again”, and then plainly asking Wigfall for help: “If you can help me out of my present place I shall love you more than ever. It will require diplomacy & cunning”. Four page letter on bifolium stationery reads in full,
“My dear Wigfall, I have asked the government by telegraph if any additional troops new or old, can be furnished for Bragg’s army – but have had no reply. Will you suggest to Mr. Seddon [CSA Secretary of War] that we are in a very critical condition in Tennessee & the enemy has fully supplied his losses, I am officially informed – While our army has received stragglers & exchanged prisoners amounting to about a third of our killed & wounded. Such being the case, if there is any truth in arithmetic another battle most [?] as still farther back. If driven across the Cumberland Mountains we can not hold East Tennessee & once in possession of that country Rosencranz [sic] may choose his point on our Southeastern or Eastern frontier – from Richmond to Mobile. It is of the utmost importance, therefore, to reinforce Bragg. The conscription is operating very slowly – can no mode of expediting its enforcement be adopted? I can not draw upon Pemberton, for his force is far too small now – I proposed the bringing to him 18000 or 20000 troops from Arkansas, none of whom ever came. The enemy is again at Vicksburg, too, in heavier force – & doubtless with a different plan- probably to attempt to attack from below instead of from the Yazoo.
Bragg has done wonders, I think. No body of troops has done more in proportion to numbers, in the same time. At Murfreesboro he killed wounded & took 17000 men – & within the three weeks preceding 7500. His own loss in all that time about 9000.
My own official position does not improve on acquaintance. It is little, if any, better than being laid on the shelf. I have endeavoured to explain this to the president – but he thinks it essential to have one here who can transfer troops from this department to [?] & vice versa. That would be extremely well if either dept could possibly spare troops, even for a short time – but that is not the case. Each having too few for immediate purposes – & the distance & character of the intermediate country is completely prevent[ing] them from aiding each other – except an occasional cavalry movement. It is an attempt to join things which cannot be united. It would require at least a month to send 10000 men from one of the two armies to the other. Each department having its own Commander, & requiring – indeed having room for but one, you perceive how little occupation I can find. I can not unite the two armies – because they are too far apart – & each is required where it is. Nor can I take command of one, because each has its proper commander & yet the country may hold me responsible for any failure between N. Carolina & Georgia & the Mississippi – for I am supposed to be commanding in all that country. After commanding our most important & I may add best army for a year, it is hard to lose that command for wounds in battle – & to receive a [?] one. I must confess i can not help [?] at this position. The president, however, evidently intends that I shall hold a high position – & important one, but I think he mistakes the relation between Tennessee & Mississippi.
I flatter myself that I have never been so garrulous before – & won’t be so again. We rarely see Richmond papers – so I don’t know what you are doing for us.
My cordial regards to Mrs. W. & the young ladies. / yours truly / J.E. Johnston”. Johnston then adds two additional notes, written in the margins, “I left Mrs. J. in Jackson a week ago” and “If you can help me out of my present place I shall love you more than ever. It will require diplomacy & cunning, however, & I don’t think you strong in the latter.”
Letter measures 4.75″ x 8.875″ as folded. Separation starting along folds, else near fine. Sold for $1,791.
General Joseph Johnston Autograph Letter Signed From July 1862 While Recovering From His Wounds After Being Replaced by Lee — “…I am very anxious to know what to expect on rejoining the army…”
Revealing autograph letter signed by General Joseph E. Johnston, Civil War dated 31 July 1862, while Johnston was recuperating from his wounds suffered at the Battle of Seven Pines. During his recovery, Johnston was replaced by Robert E. Lee as Commander of the Army of Virginia, and here worries about what he might expect when re-entering the Army, even cautiously hoping that Lee will relinquish control of the northern army to Johnston.
Writing to his friend Louis T. Wigfall, who had just resigned his Generalship for a position with the Confederate Congress, representing Texas, Johnston writes from Amelia Springs, Virginia, in full, “My dear Wigfall, The last mail brought your note from Coyner’s. Many thanks for it. / I send some letters which came the day after you passed. They could not be forwarded sooner. We had heard the name of the place to which you had your baggage checked, but didn’t know that of the post office. / You were lucky in being turned away from this place. It is the meanest of the kind in the world. Kept by three brothers who vie with each other in miserly & unaccommodating spirit & ignorance of ordinary decency. I should follow you immediately but for fear of the effect of the journey. I can’t stand hard shaking. shaking [sic]. When does Congress meet? Did you learn the plans of the government in relation to the war? I am very anxious to know what to expect on rejoining the army. It is evident already that there are to be two armies. I want the one they are forming in the North. But unless Lee chooses to command that of Richmond I shall doubtless be assigned to it. To wait McC’s [McClellan] leisure – I have already had something too much of that. / Very truly yours / J. E. Johnston / What has become of the application for a Captaincy of Eng’s for my friend Schleichen?”
Letter is accompanied by original cover addressed to Wigfall in Coyner’s Springs, Virginia with postmark, partially faded but likely reading “Jetersville Va / Aug 2″. Lot is also accompanied by letter to collector Bessie Gresham, from whose collection the Johnston letter originates, from Louis Wigfall’s niece in 1920 regarding General Johnston’s sword. Johnston letter measures 5.75″ x 7″, with envelope measuring 5.5″ x 3”. Folds and two closed tears, one with a small bit of tape repair to verso. Overall very good condition. Sold for $540.
To auction, sell or consign your Joseph Johnston autograph letter signed, please email your description and photos to [email protected] of Nate D. Sanders Auctions (http://www.NateDSanders.com).