Description:

CONFEDERATE BALLOON CORPS COMMANDER
A great antebellum poem by the Confederacy's first and only commander of their Balloon Corps, JOHN RANDOLPH BRYAN, JR. (1841-1917) who was a volunteer aide de camp to Gen. John B. Magruder. The poem was written from Bloomfield Academy, May 1860 to fellow student and friend John J. Williams, VMI class of 1864. In full: "...Oh grant him heaven...whether life of ease or care. Be the one to him assigned; that each coming year may find. Noble thoughts and loving words twined within his bosoms chord...riper freshness to his heart'. Them's my sentiments, J. Randolph Bryan, Gloucester, Co., Va.". At the outbreak of the war Bryan volunteered as clerk on Gen. Magruder's staff. During Union General McClellan's Peninsular campaign, rebel general Joseph E. Johnston called for a soldier who was acquainted with the region and asked for a volunteer would be able to correctly estimate the enemy's strength. J. Randolph Bryan answered the call, but he fretted about being "suspended in mid-air by what appeared to me as a mere thread under a hot air balloon". His arbor for the job earned him the nickname "Balloon Bryan", but after being under fire at Yorktown he sought to resign. His request was immediately denied and he was reminded that he was the South's only aeronaut. During its short time in service his corps lofted only two balloons. On July 4, 1862 the first balloon was captured by the Yankees after its transport, the CSS Teaser, ran aground in the James River and the other was lost during the siege of Charleston in the summer of 1863. Certainly one of the rarest of all Confederate signatures obtainable, near fine.

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June 3, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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