Description:

GEORGE W. MORELL
(1815-1883) Union brigadier general in the Army of the Potomac who fought well at Antietam and during the Peninsula Campaign, but whose career was destroyed after he testified in defense of Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter at the latter's court-martial for dereliction of duty at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Good content war-date A.L.S., 3pp. 4to., Arlington Heights, VA, Sep. 26, 1861, to an attorney seeking an officer's commission for a friend or relative. Morell responds rather peevishly, in part: ‘Major [later Major General Abner] Doubleday showed me a letter from his brother today which, referring to Ike, states in substance that [New York] Gov. [Edwin D.] Morgan says a General Officer is restricted to his own Brigade in soliciting his aides. I do not believe such is the intimation or spirit of the law. I understand an order to that effect was issued when Jeff. Davis was Secy. Of War which was violated the next day & has remained torpid ever since. I have but one New York regiment in my Brigade & in that there is no vacancy. It is commanded by Col. James McQuade of Utica. If Ike was commissioned in another regiment an exchange might perhaps be effected though it is not probable. The offer of a commission for $300 of which you wrote me ought to be reported to the Gov. for it confirms the assertion that men call themselves colonels merely to make money out of the operation. It is degrading to levy blackmail in that way… It is putting a General in a straight jacket to compel him first to make up a staff from the raw material & then to select that material from the few regiments he may chance to command' He signs ‘Geo. W. Morell' at the conclusion in black ink. Shows original mailing folds with minor splits thereto, and with mounting remnants to the verso, otherwise in very good overall condition.

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November 14, 2025 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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