Description:

PHILIP SHERIDAN
(1831 - 1888) Union major general of cavalry and famous Indian fighter. Sheridan's fighting prowess was evident throughout the war, from Booneville to Chickamauga and the elimination of J.E.B. Stuart at Yellow Tavern .Fine content L.S. "P. H. Sheridan" as major general, 2pp. 4to., New Orleans, Jan 23, 1866 to Maj. Gen. John. G. Foster concerning the discharge of black soldiers from the Army and the mood of those black soldiers serving on the U.S./Mexico border due to the threat posed by Emperor Maximillian. He writes, in part: "... I was obliged under orders from Genl. Grant to order the muster out of one thousand more of your colored troops. This perhaps will involve a rearrangement of your coast garrisons. I sent a schooner to Tortugas on a direct application from the Post Commander and notified him that if she did not suit for the objects required that I would send another in her place. I cannot send you a Commissary in place of Maj: Foster as the receipt order from Washington soon to contemplate the using of Officers of the line as in old times. We have a good deal of fuss and feathers over on the Rio Grande but there is nothing in it and there will be no fight there. The black troops there have become much incensed at the Franco Mexicans in consequence of the abuse of them in a paper published in Matamoras so that we have to watch them closely." Sherman took command of Union forces west of the Mississippi on May 17, 1865 in order to root out the last major Confederate force under the command of Kirby Smith. His other mission was to guard against a feared attack from Mexico, then under the influence of Napoleon III and his puppet, Maxmillian. Sheridan's biographer Roy Morris noted that Sheridan had great difficulty from preventing adventurers from crossing the border into Mexico. Indeed , to his great chagrin, there was a huge Confederate 'colony' on the outskirt of Vera Cruz established through the encouragement of Maximillian. Many black soldiers, as soon as their enlistments expired, set out to fight for Juarez against the French emperor. Morris observed, 'The black soldiers stationed there [Texas], only recently freed from the onus of slavery themselves, were particularly sympathetic to Mexican peasants trying to throw off an oppressive monarchy' (Sheridan: the Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan, p. 260). Very fine condition.

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

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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