Description:

Sherman William 1820 - 1891 Days after its capture, Sherman writes from Atlanta and does a favor for U.S. Grant


Autograph Letter Signed "W.T. Sherman / Maj Genl.," 1p, 5" x 8". Atlanta, September 24, 1864. To Treasury Agent William P. Mellen. On laid stationery imprinted "Headquarters, Military Division of the Mississippi, In the Field." Scattered light foxing. With original envelope "From Gen. Sherman" in unknown hand. Fine condition.

In full, "Mr OH Ross, late A.D.C. on Gen Grants Staff desires to engage in business at Nashville, Memphis, or Vicksburg. I request that you extend to him the privileges of the most favored Class."

On verso, Ross has written a note, in pencil, which he sent to Sherman: "Your request to Mr. Mellen is in general terms. I want a request to him to give me a military supply store at Vicksburg. Please telegraph him to that effect, and it will be sufficient."

Captain Orlando H. Ross, a cousin of General Ulysses S. Grant serving as aide-de-camp on his staff, resigned his commission on September 7, 1864, and left the Army. On October 18, 1864, Ross wrote to Gen. Sherman asking him to telegraph Treasury Agent William P. Mellen and "request him to give me a military supply store at Vicksburg." Ross was granted authority to open a supply store at Natchez, Mississippi, and, while there, enlisted in Company G, 3d Regiment, Enrolled Militia.

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman captured the city of Atlanta on September 2, 1864. The September 24, 1864, edition of "Harper's Weekly" published a letter from Gen. Sherman dated September 7th which concluded, "The rebels have lost, besides the important city of Atlanta and stores, at least 500 dead, 2500 wounded, and 3000 prisoners, whereas our aggregate loss will not foot 1500. If that is not success, I don't know what is."

General Sherman wrote in chapter XX of his "Memoirs," in part, "By the middle of September, matters and things had settled down in Atlanta, so that we felt perfectly at home ‰Û_ About this time we detected signs of activity on the part of the enemy ‰Û_ and on the 24th [the date of this letter] a heavy force of cavalry from Mississippi, under General [Nathan Bedford] Forrest, made its appearance at Athena, Alabama, and captured its garrison‰Û_"

On September 24, 1864, in Athens, Alabama, about 200 miles northwest west of Atlanta, enlisted men from the 110th Regiment U.S. Colored Troops (233 men and 17 officers) and 111th regiments U. S. Colored Infantry (80 men and 8 officers) were taken prisoners of war by General Forrest's troops at the garrison. The commander surrendered without a fight.

On the 25th, Sherman telegraphed General-in-Chief H.W. Halleck, in part, "A force, number estimated as high as eight thousand, are reported to have captured Athens, Alabama; and a regiment of three hundred and fifty men sent to its relief ‰Û_ If I were sure that Savannah would soon be in our possession, I should be tempted to march for Milledgeville and Augusta; but I must first secure what I have. Jeff. Davis is at Macon‰Û_"

Sherman led his troops out of Atlanta on November 16, 1864, headed east, ending with the capture of the seaport of Savannah on December 21st. In this "March to the Sea," Gen. Sherman's forces destroyed military targets, railroads, industry and civilian property, disrupting the South's economy and its transportation networks.

In the last 20 years, only three other letters written by Gen. Sherman from the day he captured Atlanta to the day he left Atlanta to begin his "March to the Sea" have appeared at any major public auction: September 12, 1864 ($40,250, Christie's, December 9, 1993), October 21, 1864 ($26,290, Sotheby's, December 3, 2004), and October 27, 1864 ($8,962.50, Christie's, June 9, 1964).

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