Details
HARDEE, WILLIAM JOSEPH,General, C.S.A. Autograph letter signed ("W.H. Hardee") TO GENERAL JOHN A. WHARTON, WITH WHARTON'S AUTOGRAPH REPLY TO GENERAL WOOD FROM THE FRONT LINES, Wood's Hd. Quarters, Triune, [southeast of Nashville, Tennessee], 21 December 1862. 2 pages, 4to, page 3 addressed: "General Wharton Commdg.," p.4 with Wharton's reply, minor soiling at folds.
A SKIRMISH WITH YANKEES, ON THE MOVE TO STONE'S RIVER
A fine pair of battlefield letters on a single lettersheet, linking three Confederate commanders: Major General W.H. Hardee, in command of a corps in Bragg's Army of Tennesse, and two of Hardee's important brigade commanders, General John A. Wharton, a Texan, and General Sterling Alexander Martin Wood, of Alabama. Bragg, after retreating from Perryville, had ordered his forces to concentrate near Murfreesboro to oppose any further move by the Union forces commanded by Rosecrans.
The armies began to skirmish, as documented here, some l0 days before the major battle took place at Stones River (December 30 - 3 January).
"Wood has been ordered to move forward about a mile and a half. I can't send him beyond supporting distance. Let me know fully the character of the force which you are fighting. My command will be under arms & ready to give assistance." The hurriedly pencilled reply by Wharton, apparently scrawled from the battle-lines, is dated "In the Field, 3 p.m.": "General, the enemy are not advancing. I have sent a regiment to strike their rear while we will attack them in flank. We are supporting three batteries. You have three carriers with your dispatches. Most Respect. your obedient Jno.A Wharton Brig. Genl."
Communications between commanders on the field of battle, like this, are among the rarest, most vivid and interesting documents of the War Between the States. They are demonstrably far rarer than the same commanders' letters written at leisure in camp or between engagements. The essentially ephemeral nature of these battlefield communiques and and their often cryptic content has worked against their preservation in the intervening years. Most often, these are in pencil, like Wood's scrawled note above, or Custer's note from behind Confederate lines at Antietam (see lot ). Other recent examples include Jeb Stuart's pencilled note to J.E. Johnston during the defense of Richmond, sold in these rooms, 8 June l990, lot 143, or Beauregard's hasty telegraph despatch to Johnston, lot 11 in the same sale. In fact, the use of pencil is a prime indicator that the letter was written in the midst of preparations for, or during battle, or while on the march.
A SKIRMISH WITH YANKEES, ON THE MOVE TO STONE'S RIVER
A fine pair of battlefield letters on a single lettersheet, linking three Confederate commanders: Major General W.H. Hardee, in command of a corps in Bragg's Army of Tennesse, and two of Hardee's important brigade commanders, General John A. Wharton, a Texan, and General Sterling Alexander Martin Wood, of Alabama. Bragg, after retreating from Perryville, had ordered his forces to concentrate near Murfreesboro to oppose any further move by the Union forces commanded by Rosecrans.
The armies began to skirmish, as documented here, some l0 days before the major battle took place at Stones River (December 30 - 3 January).
"Wood has been ordered to move forward about a mile and a half. I can't send him beyond supporting distance. Let me know fully the character of the force which you are fighting. My command will be under arms & ready to give assistance." The hurriedly pencilled reply by Wharton, apparently scrawled from the battle-lines, is dated "In the Field, 3 p.m.": "General, the enemy are not advancing. I have sent a regiment to strike their rear while we will attack them in flank. We are supporting three batteries. You have three carriers with your dispatches. Most Respect. your obedient Jno.A Wharton Brig. Genl."
Communications between commanders on the field of battle, like this, are among the rarest, most vivid and interesting documents of the War Between the States. They are demonstrably far rarer than the same commanders' letters written at leisure in camp or between engagements. The essentially ephemeral nature of these battlefield communiques and and their often cryptic content has worked against their preservation in the intervening years. Most often, these are in pencil, like Wood's scrawled note above, or Custer's note from behind Confederate lines at Antietam (see lot ). Other recent examples include Jeb Stuart's pencilled note to J.E. Johnston during the defense of Richmond, sold in these rooms, 8 June l990, lot 143, or Beauregard's hasty telegraph despatch to Johnston, lot 11 in the same sale. In fact, the use of pencil is a prime indicator that the letter was written in the midst of preparations for, or during battle, or while on the march.