Rare Book Monthly
Articles - February - 2004 Issue
An Amazing Collection of Autographs<br>And Letters from Steven Raab
Samuel Morse describes immortality of autographs
James Phinney was another eyewitness to the Civil War, only he was from the Confederate side. He was present to view the bombing of Fort Sumter, which set off that terrible conflict. In a series of 21 letters to his wife, Phinney describes the events at Fort Sumter and others. Sadly, Phinney would die in battle near Richmond less than a week after his final letter was written. Item 9. $9,900.
General William Tecumseh Sherman was a brutally effective leader of Union Troops. His “March to the Sea” was devastating to Georgia. Neither buildings, farms, nor civilians were immune to the destruction caused by his troops. Sherman understood that devastation inflicted not just upon troops but the entire community was a quick way to bring an opponent to its knees. It is a brutal form of warfare that has now become part of the arsenal of war. In this 1890 letter, Sherman recognizes the brutality of his march while making clear he had no apologies for what he felt was a necessity to bring the war to a conclusion. It was a decision similar to one that would be faced three-quarters of a century later on a grander scale by Harry Truman with the atomic bomb. Sherman acknowledges that his action left him few friends in Georgia. “Everybody in that region knows my name – but I do not profess to have many personal friends among them.”
Actually, Sherman did have some friends among the local officials. While hard in war, Sherman supported even more generous terms than those given Lee, already quite generous toward a defeated foe. “I prosecuted the war with vindictive earnestness, but when peace came endeavored to befriend them,” Sherman writes. However, he goes on to say “But if they expect me to apologize for any act done, they are d___ly [damnably] mistaken.” This letter, item 56, is priced at $19,900.
Herbert Hoover’s name has come to be synonymous with the Depression, a sad conclusion to the career of a decent man. In reality, he was in the wrong place, the White House, at the wrong time, 1929. Problems of enormous magnitude he had little role in creating overwhelmed his administration. Forgotten is his earlier impressive work providing food and other assistance to war-torn Europe during the time of the First World War. He performed so well that as early as the 1920 election Hoover’s friends were promoting him for president. In this 1920 letter to Robert Marden, Hoover states “We shall have years of great trial in the solution of the most difficult questions…” He couldn’t have known at the time how prophetic those words would prove to be, though had he been elected at that time, rather than eight years later, Hoover probably would be remembered favorably. Item 31. $1,495.
