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Lot 93
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Rare war-dated ALS from General Grant to the brother of Confederate officer killed at Vicksburg, accompanied by impressive archive of 35+ letters
Rare war-dated ALS from General Grant to the brother of Confederate officer killed at Vicksburg, accompanied by impressive archive of 35+ letters
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Description:

Grant Ulysses

Autograph letter signed "U. S. Grant", 1p, 7.75” x 9.75”. Vicksburg, Miss., August 3, 1863. Bank integral leaf bears large patriotic watermark. Fine condition. With complete original envelope, 5.75 x 3.75”, 3¢ George Washington stamp postmarked Memphis, Tenn, Aug 8, addressed by Gen. Grant to “Chas. J. Hoadley, Esqr / State Library of Connecticut / Hartford / Con.Very Good condition.

In full, "Your brother, Maj. F. W. Hoadly, C.S.A. was killed some time during the latter part of the siege of Vicksburg. He now lays buried I think in the yard of a citizen of this place by the name of Williams. At all events the grave is known to many citizens here with whom your brother was a great favorite. Very Respectfully yours, U. S. Grant Maj. Gen. U.S.A."

Charles J. Hoadly (1828-1900), Connecticut State Librarian, was the only one of later generations to omit the “e” in his family name. His younger brother Frederick W. Hoadley (1831-1863) was raised in Hartford, Connecticut. Present are two almost identical unsigned carte-de-visite bust photographs of Frederick W. Hoadley, photographer's imprint on the verso of W. G. Grotecloss of New York. Also present are 28 Autograph Letters Signed from Frederick W. Hoadly in South Carolina, to his brother Charles in Hartford, 1851-1854, on various subjects.

Capt. Frederick W. Hoadley’s Pulaski County company, the "Magruder Guards" was originally Co. D, 4th Battalion Arkansas Infantry. "The Arkansas Battery" was organized at Little Rock, Arkansas, October 1861. It became Company H, 1st Tennessee Heavy Artillery, organized May 10, 1862, at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, with 10 companies which had previously seen service as independent batteries, under the command of Col. Andrew Jackson III, grandson of the President. During May and June 1862, the Tennessee Heavy Artillery units stationed at Vicksburg were reorganized as the First Tennessee Heavy Artillery Regiment. The remainder of Hoadley’s Battery was merged with the remnants of two Tennessee batteries and part of another. On May 10, 1862, Hoadley was promoted to the rank of regimental major, and William P. Parks was chosen as the captain of the new battery. The company was consolidated and placed in charge of the water batteries at Vicksburg, where Captain Hoadley, while serving his guns, according to “Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History,” Vol. 10, “was instantly killed by a shell from the Federal batteries.”

Collection includes:

Autograph Letter Signed “W.P. Parks” – Captain of Hoadley’s Battery – to Dr. C. Watkins, New York City, Lewisville, Arkansas, August 26-27, 1875. Ten pages, 8” x 10”, front & verso: “It affords me pleasure to state all I may remember touching the career of our friend Major F.W. Hoadley, during the Great war ‘between the states’ – more especially, as it is requested by his brother, James H. Hoadley…” in a postscript penned on a half-page, Parks writes, in part, “I have examined my diary of the Vicksburg Siege, and found the following touching the death of Maj. Hoadley. ‘June 9th 1863. I am indeed sorry to pen the death of Maj. F.W. Hoadley who was killed on yesterday morning, by a piece of Shrapnell shell…’’

Autograph Letter Signed “Victor F. Wilson,” 1.25p, 7.75” x 9.75”. Vicksburg, Miss., November 27, 1863. To Charles J. Hoadly, Hartford, Connecticut. U.S. 3¢ stamped, postmarked envelope included. Retained unsigned copy of Hoadly’s November 10th letter to Wilson is present in which he writes that he has “received authentic intelligence of the death of my brother Major Frederick W. Hoadly, C.S.A. toward the latter part of the siege, and that he is supposed to be buried on your premises, but not of the manner of in which he was killed or other information about him. In November 1862 he wrote my mother a few lines from Vicksburg … it was the last letter we had from him…”

This half-page penciled Autograph Letter Signed “F.W. Hoadley / Major 1st Regt Heavy Artillery C.S.A.” beginning “Dear Mother,” is present.

Wilson writes, in part, “Your Brother Major FW Hoadley is buried in this city in my garden he was killed on the 21 Jun by the Exploding of a rifle shell which killed him instantly…” Wilson’s house was taken over by Federal troops. When he later returned to his house, he found that all of Major Hoadley’s clothing was gone. He had heard of where Frederick's clothing might be: "his uniform I heard of on a negroe in the Federal army…"

In another Autograph Letter Signed “Victor F. Wilson,” 3p, 8” x 10”. Vicksburg, January 8, 1864. To Charles J. Hoadly in Hartford with original U.S. 3¢ stamped postmarked envelope, Wilson writes about Maj. Hoadley, in part, “your brother believed himself right in fighting in defence of the principal of self government and on many occasions spoke of it he was no secessionist nor an enthusiast but took a plain comon sense view of things as they were and always said that the war was brot on by the abolitionists of the north and the disappointed or out of place Polliticians of the south these were his views during the six weeks he was an inmate of my house and member of my family…” Minor flaws. Very Good condition.

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