731. RALEIGH E. COLSTON (1825-1896) Confederate brigadier general who led brigades under Longstreet and Jackson, and commanded a division at Chancellorsville. Manuscript L.S., 2pp. 8vo., Washington, Jan. 20, 1886 declining membership in a society as he is "...so ill as to be utterly unable to take any interest in the affairs of life..." He notes that his time in Egypt had left him debillitated and "many of my esteemed colleagues left their bones in that torrid region..." Following the Civil War, academic Colston traveled to Egypt, eventually mapping the desert there. Like a number of the Americans serving in Egypt, Colston became ill, struck by paralysis while in the desert outside El Obeid. He spent the better part of a year as an invalid. While he eventually recovered, he became permanently semi paralyzed in 1886. $200-300