Description:

Confederacy
Richmond, VA, January 2, 1864
German Man Seeks Passport to Leave Confederacy
ALS

[CIVIL WAR—CONFEDERACY.] B. Stern, Autograph Letter Signed, to James A. Seddon, January 2, 1864, Richmond, VA. 2 pp., 5.375" x 8.25".

In this letter, B. Stern applies to Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon for a passport to leave the Confederacy and return to his native Bavaria. Confederate Congressman Marcus H. MacWillie of the Arizona Territory endorsed Stern's application. Former Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and current Confederate Assistant Secretary of War forwarded the application to Brigadier General John Henry Winder, who commanded the Department of Henrico and policed the civilian population of the Confederate capital. Winder's staff returned the letter with the response that Winder could not issue a passport unless the orders were special and exceptional.

Complete Transcript
Richmond Va Jany 2nd 1864.
Hon. Jas A Seddon
Secty of War
Conf: States of America
Sir
I the undersigned a subject of His Majesty The King of Bavaria having come to this Country some five years ago and having never forfeited the claim of protection from my home Government desire to return to my native land. [?] I would therefore most respectfully apply to your Honor for a passport to leave the Confederate States of America for Europe by way of the lower Rappahanoc. Being very much reduced in pecuniary circumstances it would be next to impossible to take any other route.
Hoping this may meet with your kind consideration and you may be pleased to grant my request
I remain Most
Respectfully Your Obt Svt
B. Stern

[Endorsements on verso:]
I am personally acquainted with the within named applicant & resp'y recommend that his petition be granted. He is not subject to military service.
M. H Macwillie
MC / Arizona Ty

Br Gen Winder
For disposition under orders of Secy of War
J A. Campbell / ASW
By order
4 Jany 64

Hdqrs Dept. Henrico
Richmond Jan 4, 64
Respectfully returned. I am not authorized to give passport unless the order is made special & Exceptional

James A. Seddon (1815-1880) was born in Virginia and graduated from the law school at the University of Virginia. He settled in Richmond and opened a successful law practice. He represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1845 to 1847 and from 1849 to 1851. Seddon was a member of a peace convention held in Washington in 1861 to avert war. President Jefferson Davis appointed Seddon as the fourth Confederate Secretary of War, a position he held from November 1862 to February 1865. Although Seddon was arrested in May 1865 and charged with war crimes for the treatment of Union prisoners at Andersonville, President Andrew Johnson ordered charges against him and others dropped, and Seddon was released in November 1865. He then retired to his plantation along the James River above Richmond, where he died in August 1880.

Marcus H. MacWillie (ca. 1836-1875) was born in Scotland, immigrated to the United States, and established a law practice in Texas. He later moved to the Arizona Territory (modern New Mexico and Arizona), where in 1861, he became Attorney General of the Confederate Arizona Territory. In December 1861, he was elected as the territory's representative to the Confederate Congress. He served in the First and Second Confederate Congresses until the end of the war, despite the fall of the territory to the Union Army in 1862. He later lived in Mexico and worked as an attorney on mining claims. He died in Santa Barbara, California, on a trip to attract investors in a silver mine.

John A. Campbell (1811-1889) was born in Georgia, graduated from the University of Georgia in 1825, and studied at the U.S. Military Academy but withdrew when his father's death in 1828 compelled him to return to Georgia. He gained admission to the bar in 1829 through a special act of the Georgia legislature. In 1830, he moved to Alabama, where he served in the Creek War and won election to the legislature. In 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Campbell to the U.S. Supreme Court, though Campbell had no previous judicial experience. In April 1861, Campbell resigned from the Supreme Court, the only southern justice to do so. He settled in New Orleans, but in October 1862, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him as an assistant secretary of war, a position he held until the end of the war. In February 1865, Campbell was one of three Confederate peace commissioners who met with Abraham Lincoln and William H. Seward at the Hampton Roads Conference in an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate an end to the war. At the end of May 1865, he was arrested for potential involvement in the Lincoln assassination conspiracy and held for five months at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, without charges. When Supreme Court justices intervened, he was released in October 1865. Initially prohibited from practicing law because of his involvement with the Confederacy, he resumed his legal practice in 1867 and specialized in arguing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

John Henry Winder (1800-1865) was born in Maryland and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1820. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the artillery and served in Maryland, Florida, and other stations, gaining promotion to first lieutenant in 1833 and captain in 1842. During the Mexican War, he received brevet promotions to major and lieutenant colonel for his services. In January 1861, Winder commanded the federal defenses at Pensacola, Florida, when the state seceded. A few months later, he resigned his U.S. Army commission and offered his services to North Carolina. He was appointed a colonel and soon promoted to brigadier general. For several months in 1861, he served as assistant inspector general of the training camps in and around Richmond, Virginia. In March 1862, President Jefferson Davis declared martial law in Richmond and appointed Winder as provost marshal general. He employed a gang of Plug Uglies from Baltimore to maintain order in Richmond, but charges of corruption were widespread. He was also responsible for prisons in the capital city, including the notorious Libby Prison, and for policing deserters. During the summer of 1864, he briefly commanded the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia before receiving command of all military prisons in Georgia and Alabama, and then of the entire Confederate Bureau of Prisons, until his death in February 1865.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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