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Lot 89
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Two important Lincoln content letters written by abolitionist Gerrit Smith
Two important Lincoln content letters written by abolitionist Gerrit Smith
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Description:

Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1965) Ellsworth's Avengers, the Civil War regiment named in honor of Lincoln's friend, the first Union officer to be killed in the Civil War, and the sale of Lincoln's original draft of the Emancipation Proclamation: two important ALSs by abolitionist Gerrit Smith

Civil War-dated letters written by abolitionist Gerrit Smith (1797-1874), one to Emily Weed Barnes, the other to her husband, William A. Barnes. In 1849, Emily Peck Weed (1827-1889), daughter of New York Whig and later powerful N.Y. Republican party leader Thurlow Weed, married William A. Barnes (1824-1913), one of the organizers of the Republican Party in New York at the 1854 Saratoga Springs Convention. It was one of the earliest mass meetings at which the name "Republican" was used. Barnes organized the New York State Kansas Convention in 1856 and the second National Kansas Aid Convention in Cleveland and Buffalo.

Comprises:

(1) Ellsworth's Avengers. To Mrs. Barnes (Emily Weed Barnes).

Autograph Letter Signed "Gerrit Smith," two pages, 5" x 8", front & verso. Peterboro (N.Y.), October 22, 1861. In full, "I have this moment finished reading your address to Col. Rice & his Reply. God bless you & God bless him, for you have both spoken wisely eloquently & sublimely. Were but the hearts of our military imbued with the spirit of these Speeches, the War would be of short duration. I will hand the Paper containing these Speeches to my wife & daughter. As they read them, their hearts will go out to you, as does my own, in love & gratitude, In speaking as you have honored yourself & your sex, & rendered a precious service to truth to humanity & to your country. I wish that you & your husband would sometime, when you are travelling this way, turn aside to spend a day or two with us. With great regard, Your friend." Fine condition.

Lieutenant-Colonel James C. Rice's 44th Regiment New York State Volunteers was called the Ellsworth Regiment named in honor of Col. Elmer Ellsworth; it was popularly referred to as Ellsworth's Avengers.

In 1860, 23-year-old Elmer Ellsworth became a clerk in Abraham Lincoln's Springfield law office and when the President-elect moved to Washington in 1861, Ellsworth accompanied him. A native of New York State, Ellsworth left Washington for New York City just before the onset of the war. He raised the 11th New York Volunteer Regiment and returned with the regiment to Washington. On May 24, 1861, the day after Virginia voters ratified the state convention's decision to secede from the Union, Ellsworth and his troops entered Alexandria, Virginia, to assist in the occupation of the city. As it happened, an 8 foot by 14 foot Confederate flag, large enough to be seen by spyglass from the White House, had been visible in Alexandria for weeks, flown from the roof of an inn, the Marshall House. Ellsworth approached the inn and took down the flag, but as he descended to the main floor, the inn's owner, James Jackson, fired on Ellsworth at point-blank range with a shotgun, killing him instantly. One of Ellsworth's men then fatally shot Jackson. Because Ellsworth had been Lincoln's friend, his body was taken to the White House, where it lay in state, and then to New York City, where thousands lined up to view the cortege bearing Ellsworth's coffin. Along the route, a group of mourners displayed a banner that declared: "Ellsworth, 'His blood cries for vengeance." Col. Elmer Ellsworth was the first Union officer killed in the Civil War.

From the Saturday, October 19, 1861, edition of "The Albany [N.Y.] Evening Journal," in part, "A large company of ladies and gentlemen met at the house of A. McClure, last evening, on the occasion of the presentation of a sword, etc., to Lieutenant.-Colonel [James C.] Rice of the Ellsworth Regiment. Among those present were Governor [Edwin D.] Morgan, Hon. Erastus Corning, John G. Saxe, Esq., and other distinguished citizens. The Presentation Address was made by Mrs. William Barnes, who spoke with great feeling and in a vein of patriotic fervor which stirred the hearts of all who listened. It will be long before the recipient will forget her eloquent words and impressive counsels. Lieutenant-Colonel Rice responded in an address marked at once by earnestness and scholarly finish. He pledged those present that the sword of which he was the recipient, should return to its scabbard when the war was ended, untarnished; and that no friend should have cause to blush over his record. He was deeply affected and spoke with the pathos of earnest feeling. The sword is beautifully finished, and bears the following inscription: 'Lieut.-Col. Rice, 44th Reg't N.Y.S.V. Presented by his Albany Friends." Among the articles presented, in addition, were a pair of revolvers, belt and sash, etc." Lieutenant Colonel James C. Rice was promoted to Colonel on July 4, 1862, and fought at the battles of Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. He was promoted to Brigadier General on August 17, 1863. The 34-year-old Brigadier General was mortally wounded at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 10, 1864.

The speeches of Mrs. Barnes and Col. Rice were published in their entirely on pages 343-348 of "A History of the Forty-fourth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, 1861-1865" by Captain Eugene Arus Nash (Chicago: R.R. Donnelley & Sons, 1911) and can be seen at http://books.google.com/books?id=L1eQYSRFhIQC&pg=PA296&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

(2) Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. To W. Barnes (William Barnes).

Autograph Letter Signed "Gerrit Smith," one page, 5" x 8". Peterboro (N.Y.), March 20, 1864. In full, "I thank you for your letter enclosing copy of W. Johnston's. If I recollect the Proclamation sold at Chicago for 3 to 4000$ - Why should not this bring in more? I must wait for better offer. Your friend."

From the New York State Library website: "The Albany Army Relief Association (ARA) met for the first time on November 2, 1861. 'Mrs. Governor Morgan (Eliza Matilda Morgan) presided over the meeting and 'Mrs. William Barnes, (Emily Weed Barnes) was named the new organization's recording secretary. The minutes of the executive committee indicate that from 1861 to 1863 the association, true to its stated aims, worked to solicit donations of funds and supplies through direct appeals to local residents, businesses and organizations. The proceeds were sent to the USSC for distribution. [The goal of the United States Sanitary Commission was to bring medical relief to soldiers in the battlefield.]

"In late 1863, the executive committee of the ARA began considering the possibility of holding a fair or bazaar to generate greater community interest, and amplify its already successful fundraising efforts. On January 4, 1864, Assistant Secretary of State, Frederick William Seward, wrote the following letter to Emily Weed Barnes: 'I have the pleasure of sending you, with the President's permission, the original draft of his September proclamation. The body of his own handwriting, the penciled additions in the hand of the Secretary of State, and the formal beginning and ending in the hand of the Chief Clerk." This gift by the President was a major donation to the Albany Bazaar, and an irreplaceable historical artifact. It had been written almost entirely in Lincoln's own hand in September 1862 and was, as Seward noted, the original draft of the proclamation that would lead to the freeing of all slaves still held in the United States. A special committee was formed at Albany to oversee the disposition of the preliminary draft. At its head sat William A. Barnes, a well-known Republican Party official in Albany, and the husband of Emily Weed Barnes. A prize of this magnitude demanded pride of place in the fair schedule, and it was decided that the drawing for it would be the grand finale on the closing day.

"A limited number of tickets, not to exceed five thousand, were to be sold at $1.00 each. The sale - for $3,000 - of the final Emancipation Proclamation at Chicago's Northwestern Soldier's Fair, the previous October, had no doubt increased the public interest in the outcome of the Albany lottery... The final day of the fair was March 9, 1864... as reported by the next day's 'Albany Evening Journal': 'There was a good deal of excitement as the drawing was commenced, and when the venerable Gerrit Smith was announced as the holder of the successful ticket, a loud and hearty cheer went up.' It might be expected that, since he was a member of the committee charged with administering the lottery, Smith's good fortune would be questioned (especially since he had reportedly enhanced his odds by buying a thousand tickets.) However, according to Barnes, this was not the case, and the public jubilation, probably as a result of Smith's general popularity, was genuine'

"The very next day (March 10), Barnes wrote to inform Smith. 'You have the Proclamation. The disposition of it although by chance is eminently just. Mrs. B. and I send congratulations.' Even at that early date, Barnes clearly wanted the proclamation ultimately to remain in Albany and suggested so to Smith: 'It should go by your will to the State Library, allow me to suggest.'... The Proclamation was, by Smith's decree under the control of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, although it is unclear whether it ever actually left Barnes' Albany office."

On March 12, 1864, Smith wrote Barnes, "I feel bound to adhere to my purpose when I purchased the tickets. That purpose was to let it go to the individual or association, who would pay the largest price for it to the Sanitary Commission... You will please retain the Proclamation in your office until the purchaser shall call for it.' Barnes replied on March 17, that he would do just as Smith wished, but at the same time indicating that he was already lobbying behind the scenes to acquire the document for New York State."

In the letter here offered, dated March 20, 1864, Smith wrote Barnes that he acknowledges receipt of a copy of a letter from "W. Johnston" and that he believes his Emancipation Proclamation should be worth more than the one sold in Chicago. Johnston may have made an offer to purchase the Proclamation.

After President Abraham Lincoln's funeral train visited Albany, April 25-26, 1865, the New York State Legislature voted to pay the U.S. Sanitary Commission $1,000 for the Emancipation Proclamation, as part of a general appropriation bill: "For Henry W. Bellows, president of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, for the use of said commission, the sum of one thousand dollars, as a consideration for the original draught of the President's first Emancipation Proclamation, dated September twenty-second, Anno Domini, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, to be placed in the State Library."

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