Description:

Good group of items related to the death of Thomas W. Cooper of the 4th Missouri Cavalry, includes: A.L.S, 2pp. 4to., Coopers Plains, New York, Nov. 11, 1862, from a "Fred" to a "Nan". The letter provides a poignant and detailed reaction to Cooper's death by a family member who served alongside him, in part: "I did not receive your letter until a few days since, after my unsuccessful attempt to save our noble Tom. That dear soldier boy left me at a quarter past two on Friday Oct. 31st. He was perfectly conscious to the last... At his request I send the riding whip and buttons. I told him last summer that you wished to cut one from his seventh reg uniform and he said to cut a couple from his service uniform and also from the seventh and give them with his love to you... The soldier was strong in death, he wished his uniform hung on the bed post "˜so he could see what he once was'. My Capt and Capt Ludlow were more like brother to him than any thing else. I did hate Capt Dwight but now I love him as my first love..." Shows original mailing folds and slight foxing, else very good. The information presented in this letter has allowed us to locate the grave of a Thomas Wallis Cooper, who died in St, Louis on Oct. 31, 1862, and is buried in the Coopers Plains cemetery. Additional records also indicate that Cooper belonged to the 4th Missouri Cavalry, which also featured in its ranks a Captain Howard Dwight, likely the officer mentioned in the letter. WITH: group of six brass uniform buttons, three 1" dia. and three ½" dia., with two marked as manufactured by the Scovill Manufacturing Co. of Waterbury, Connecticut, one marked by the Waterbury Button Co., and two additional marked by the T.N. Dale Co. of New York. Four examples bear the standard federal eagle design, but two bear a design used by the New York Militia. These are likely the buttons mentioned in the above letter, taken from Cooper's cavalry uniform and his earlier uniform as a member of the 7th Regiment, New York Militia. All in very good condition. WITH: original carte de visite photograph, 2 ½" x 4" b/w, a bust portrait identified as Cooper by a modern pencil inscription on the verso, which also bears the backstamp of an Easton, Pennsylvania photography studio. This image is accompanied by a second hand-tinted CDV, also 2 ½" x 4", signed on the verso by Charlotte E. Cooper, Thomas's sister, also adding an address and the date "December 20th 1862". Thomas Wallis Cooper's grave records (described above) indicate that he indeed had a sister named Charlotte E. Cooper. A fine, personal grouping.

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November 14, 2018 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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