Description:

T. H. Ruger ALS "The way to put down this rebellion is to overpower them with numbers"

4pp of a bifolium, measuring 5" x 8", "Camp near Warrenton, Va.", dated July 15, 1862. Signed "Howard" and addressed to his wife, Helen. A detailed letter in which Ruger discusses life in camp and strategies to defeat the Confederacy. Reading in part:

"I am heartily glad that we have an army now and not thence in this part of Virginia. Too many generals is quite as unfavorable to success as too few troops…I wish you could pay me a short visit this evening just to see how quietly we settle down to what comfort and homelike aids to enjoyment we possess. It would not look much like a home to you this tent of mine, but I can assure you that, with its simple furniture of a chair table and cot it seems home to me for the time being…Before another year rolls round I hope to be in any real home or at least have you with me. You know I am always at home when you are with me…"

"I see there is quite an enthusiasm on the subject of raising troops in the North in response to the late call of the President. The way to put down this rebellion is to overpower them with numbers, occupy their country showing them the impossibility of maintaining the war. We must have a force very much larger than theirs as it is necessary to occupy the principal points as well as to have troops enough left to move on to conquer what remains. The rebels although having so much less population to draw troops from have been enabled by means of the conscription to bring nearly their whole population capable of bearing arms into the field in some sections of the country at least. Here in Virginia there are very few able bodied men left…The next six months will I think settle the matter, but we will keep a large force for years to come. The day of a nominal standing army has passed for this country…"

The letter is accompanied by the original envelope, hand-addressed by Ruger and including his signature in the address to his wife, "Mrs. T. H. Ruger." The letter has mail folds and is boldly signed. Expected wear to the envelope. Accompanied by a newspaper clipping of General Pope's address, which Ruger mentions as enclosing in the letter.

Thomas H. Ruger was a West Point graduate who had retired from the army to become a lawyer in 1850s Wisconsin. He married Helen Lydia Moore in 1858, and the couple had their first daughter, Helen, in 1859. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Ruger reenlisted in the volunteer army and eventually achieved the rank of brigadier general. He saw action at the Battle of Antietam and led troops at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He was brevetted a brigadier general for his actions at Gettysburg and, after the war, served as the Provisional Governor of Georgia from January 13 through July 4, 1868, and the District of Alabama until February 1, 1869.

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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