Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 313 - Numismatic Collector's Series - Ft. Worth, TX
Lot: 1436

Civil War: Franklin Buchanan American naval officer (1800-74); admiral in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War; commanded the CSS Virginia, though injury prevented him from participating in the Battle of Hampton Roads. Early postwar Autograph Letter Signed "Frankn. Buchanan," 3 pages, 8vo, Mobile, AL, June 7, 1865. He writes to Mrs P Phillips in LaGrange, GA, "...I was informed of the surrender of the Gunboats to the enemy and that the officers had been paroled and sent here...I came also via Columbus Miss & Meridian. I am paroled and hope to leave here in a day or two for N[ew] O[rleans] & from thence to Norfolk & my home in Md...Thank you, your worthy husband and family for your great kindness to me while under your friendly & hospitable roof...I return your valuable present (with sincere thanks) which you with so much delicacy placed in my pocket...Not until that evening was I aware of the valuable contents of that note. Through the assistance and liberality of my Mobile friends I am in possession of sufficient funds to carry me to my family, and supply all of my wants...The horse procured for me by your worthy husband & yourself proved to be a very fine one, and as I felt under great obligation to those gentlemen, who accompanied me on the journey...I gave it to them..." In a postscript he adds, "I feel for my estimable friends Mrs Mallory & Hill, tell them not to be alarmed, the Yankees dare not HURT THEM." Paste stains on signature page, partial fold splits, VG. Buchanan had been captured after his defeat in the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864, and had been paroled in early 1865.

Estimate
$600 to $800