Description:

Hancock Winfield 1824 - 1886 Maj. Gen W.S. Hancock ALS penned during the battle of Williamsburg.

Single page ALS on lightly lined paper, 7.75" x 5.5", inlaid to another sheet to a size of 9.25" x 6.75". Dated "April 22, 1862", and signed by Major General Winfield Scott Hancock as "Maj W. Hancock / Brig Genl". Near fine with small ink smudges. Accompanied by a near fine portrait engraving of him on a sheet sized 7" x 10.75". Accompanied by documented provenance as noted below.

A fantastic ALS penned less than a year before the battle of Gettysburg, and approximately in the midst of the battle of Williamsburg. Shown in part below:

"Camp in front of ....

April 22, 62

Sir,

Your (bunker) has been released from Anul [sic]- or rather his Anul [sic] has been suspended until du promulgation of the processing in his case.

The matter of final disposition is with .... If the original proceedings have been lost the judge (illegible) can finish a duplicate. A letter by him received from the war Dept on the ... which has been ... with my remarks. I suppose it will be heard from soon: ...

Maj W.S. Hancock

Brig Genl

To Mr. S.A, Mieler Esq"

An important letter, penned by Major Brigadier General Hancock from his base camp only days before the battle of Williamsburg. A significant battle in the early beginnings of the Civil War, but also significant in Hancock's contribution which ultimately demonstrated distinction in the Army for four decades. Known to his Army colleagues as "Hancock the Superb", he was later noted in particular for his personal leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. One military historian wrote, "No other Union general at Gettysburg dominated men by the sheer force of their presence more completely than Hancock.

Heading into imminent battle of Williamsburg, Confederate soldiers and impressed slaves had been building a defensive line just east of Williamsburg. Located partly in James City County and partly in York County, Williamsburg numbered 1,895 people, according to the federal census of 1860, 743 of them enslaved. Its location at the narrowest part of the Peninsula between the James and York rivers meant that any Union advance toward Richmond would have to pass through the former capital. The defensive fortifications at Williamsburg and another line to the east at Yorktown were built to defend against such an advance.

The following is the timeline of the battle:

April 4, 1862 - Union general George B. McClellan's army begins its advance toward Richmond but runs into resistance from Confederate general John B. Magruder's Army of the Peninsula based at Yorktown.

April 5, 1862 - Despite outnumbering the Confederates four to one, Union general George B. McClellan decides to besiege Yorktown's defenses instead of assaulting them.

May 3, 1862 - Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston withdraws his army from the Yorktown defensive fortifications under cover of night.

May 4 1862, 5 p.m. - The Confederate army retreats from Yorktown to Williamsburg and is hotly pursued by George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac.

May 5, 1862, Dawn - Confederate general James Longstreet occupies Fort Magruder and the redoubts east of Williamsburg as lead elements of George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac begin to test the Confederate defenses.

May 5, 1862, 10 a.m. - By this time at the Battle of Williamsburg, both armies have been reinforced but neither has an advantage. Fighting, centered around what will come to be known as the "bloody ravine," is intense, confused, and often hand-to-hand.

May 5, 1862, 12 p.m. - At the Battle of Williamsburg, as Confederates gain ground, Union officers learn about an unguarded redoubt from local slaves. Union general Winfield Scott Hancock is sent to investigate the reported lapse in southern defenses.

May 5, 1862, 2 p.m. - At the Battle of Williamsburg, a Confederate attack captures some Union cannon, but Union reinforcements arriving on the York and Hampton roads stop the advance.

May 5, 1862, 4 p.m. - At the Battle of Williamsburg, Union troops stabilize their line and begin to push the Confederates back to their fortifications. Union general Winfield Scott Hancock gains possession of a section of the Confederate line unopposed.

May 5, 1862, Dusk - At the Battle of Williamsburg, Union general Winfield Scott Hancock repulses a spirited but disjoined Confederate charge led by Jubal A. Early, gaining the only clear tactical advantage of the battle. During the night of May 5, 1862, the Confederate army quietly abandoned the Williamsburg line. Ten hours of sustained combat had produced 4,000 casualties (including those killed, wounded, and captured) and no significant change in the position of the armies. For the first time ever, Union soldiers, Hancock's men in this case, captured a Confederate battle flag. In a telegram to his wife, McClellan wrote, "Hancock was superb." (The adjective stuck as the general's nickname.) Seven Union soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for their conduct in and around what would now be known as the "bloody ravine." As the two armies marched west toward Richmond, Seven Days' Battles would overshadow the fight at Williamsburg in all but the veterans' accounts.

Provenance: This item was recently discovered in an extra illustrated volume of "History of the City of New York" by Mary L. Booth, New York W. R. C. Clark, 1867. Originally two volumes, the monumental task of expanding the work to 21 volumes by none other than Emery E. Childs esquire of New York City. In volume 1 of this work exists a lovely india ink Drawing of Mary L. Booth along with a notation "presented by her to E E C" in pencil. Next to the title page we find an original letter of Booth to Childs dated April 4, 1872 " I am in receipt of your favor of the 4th inst., and am grateful to hear that you are taking the trouble to illustrate my History of the City of New York in the manner you describe. I shall be happy to see you, should you favor me with a callas I am usually in my office during business hours and should be pleased to facilitate your Enterprise by any means in my power".

It is assumed that the book took several years to assemble at which point, assumedly through Childs, it made its way to Senator Charles B. Farwell of Chicago who took the seat of John A. Logan in 1887. Farwell had an extensive library that fortunately survived the great Chicago fire in 1871 having been housed in his Lakeside home. In the American Bibliopolist of November 1871 there is an article about the devastation to libraries caused by the tragedy. "Mr C. B. Farwell's library is also fortunately far out from the city, at his country house, and is safe, The same remark will also apply to the extensive collection of books and curiosities belonging to Mr. E. E. Childs." This establishes the Chicago connection between Childs and Farwell.

That these letters were preserved for over 140 years and have never been on the market for that period is remarkable on many levels. It is the state of being wedged in these volumes that also account for what is mostly the pristine state of preservation.

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