Details:

James H. Wilson autographed handwritten letter signed (ALS), measuring 5.25 x 8.25”, penned at Keokuk, Iowa, on March 9, 1869—the day of President Ulysses S. Grant’s inauguration. Writing to Mr. Mercur, Wilson provides the address of fellow Union General Benjamin D. Pritchard in Lansing, Michigan, noting that while he does not know the whereabouts of several other individuals, Pritchard “can probably give you some of them.” A scarce postwar letter connecting two prominent Union generals, written on the opening day of the Grant administration.

The timing of the letter adds an appealing historical dimension, having been written on the very day Grant assumed the presidency. Wilson’s reference to General Benjamin D. Pritchard is especially noteworthy, as Pritchard is forever remembered as the Union cavalry commander whose troopers captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia on May 10, 1865. Wilson himself had directed the cavalry operations that culminated in Davis’s capture, making the connection between the two officers particularly significant.

Very good condition.

James Harrison Wilson (1837–1925) graduated from West Point in 1860 and quickly emerged as one of the Union Army’s most capable young officers. Serving first as an aide-de-camp to General George B. McClellan during the Maryland Campaign, he later joined General Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater, where he transferred from the Corps of Engineers to the cavalry. Promoted to brigadier general in 1864, Wilson became one of the Union’s finest cavalry commanders, leading successful operations during the Overland Campaign and earning distinction as one of the few Union generals to defeat the famed Confederate cavalry leader Nathan Bedford Forrest, first at the Battle of Franklin and again during Wilson’s devastating March–April 1865 raid through Alabama and Georgia. His forces concluded the Civil War by capturing Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Andersonville prison commandant Henry Wirz in May 1865. Wilson remained active in public service and military affairs for decades, and at the time of his death in 1925 was the fourth-to-last surviving Union Civil War general.

Authentication:
Includes a full letter of authenticity from JG Autographs, Inc.

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Reference sku: 11364 1416598-1