(1822-1879) Confederate brigadier general who served with distinction at Stones River and Chickamauga, later a judge in Texas. Fine association and interesting content A.L.S., 2pp. 4to., Marshall, TX, Feb. 2, 1870, to former Vice President and fellow Confederate general JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE (1821-1875). Ector writes to inquire after the case of former Confederate captain RYLAND TODHUNTER (1840-1921), Ector’s Adjutant General at the Battle of Franklin, who has been accused of murder. In full: ‘A report has reached me that Capt R. Todhunter had been convicted of murder. You will very much oblige me, if there is any truth in the report, by giving me the particulars of the sad and unfortunate affair. I feel no ordinary friendship for Capt T. – a friendship the result of years of suffering danger and trial. I have tested him under circumstances well calculated to prove him; and whilst I have ever found him willing to meet danger like a man, I have every confidence that the provocation must have been great, the excitement unnatural or the danger imminent that would cause him to take the life of a fellow being. The best of us are liable to do wrong. If he is alive I wish you would let him know that I have written to you in reference to this matter, and that in common with many of my old ‘Brigade’ I feel a deep sympathy for him in his troubles.’ He signs ‘M. D. Ector’ at the conclusion in black ink. Shows original mailing folds, slightly ragged at the left edge, otherwise in fine condition overall. While details are scant, it appears that Todhunter shot and killed a neighbor in self-defense in November of 1869. This prompted his relocation to Lexington, Kentucky in 1870, where Breckinridge also lived following his postwar return from exile in Europe.