Lot 124 email save

PENDLETON, WILLIAM N.

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124. WILLIAM N. PENDLETON (1809 - 1883) Confederate brigadier general and Episcopal minister, Lee's Chief of Artillery who named four of his field pieces "Mathew", "Mark", "Luke" and "John". A scarce and fine content A.L.S., 4pp. 4to., Staunton, Va., Jan. 27, 1871 to Gov. Thomas Reynolds of Missouri appealing for funds to erect a church in the memory of Robert E. Lee. An Episcopal minister before the war, Pendleton, who counted Lee among his parishioners, worked tirelessly after Lee's death, raising funds for the church project. Discussing Lee and the pitiable condition of the southern people in the years immediately following the war, Pendleton's heartfelt letter reads, in small part: "...For all the interest and pains taken by yourself and the other gentlemen associates...you will...be gratefully remembered by our community and what is much more , the enduring satisfaction will be yours of having rendered valuable aid towards the most sacred of all the memorials to our Model Commander & friend...My appeal has been encouragingly responded to since I left your Western Metropolis for the South. Still, the other Southern towns are in too crippled a condition to do much...The Southern tour has left me both sad and encouraged. Sad to see so much ruin wrought by Northern tyranny - encouraged to find so much strength of heart and recuperative energy among our people. There is a great deal of piety, virtue, & working intelligence sustaining them in their trials...we may hope that other agencies will cooperate in restoring the South to some measure of prosperity and comfort. My own hope, at last, though, lies in that `Better Country' where the naked cease from trembling & the weary are at rest...Without it what does the best of this world amount!..." Remnants of clean mounting strips in the extreme right corner of the last page, and a stain at the top margin, otherwise very good.$600-800

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