112. JOHN E. WOOL (1784-1869) Union major general who fought off the Confederates at Fort Monroe and occupied Norfolk. Superb content war-date manuscript L.S. "John E. Wool Major General U.S. Army", 2pp. 4to., Baltimore, Nov. 11, 1862 to the Editor of the Baltimore American. In part: "...In the report, as published in the newspapers...of the Commission, consisting of
the following officers...[Generals Hunter, Cadawalader, Augur, Major D. Piatt, Capt. F. Ball] and Colonel J. Holt, Judge Advocate General, called by the Government to investigate the conduct of certain officers...attending the abandonment of Maryland Heights and the surrender of Harper's Ferry, I find the following remarks applying to myself: 'the Officer who placed this incapable (Col. Miles) in command should share the responsibility...Major General Wool is guilty to this extent of a grave disaster, and should be censured for his conduct'...the report of the Commission...can only be regarded as a fiction, without a shadow of proof for its foundation. It is not true, that I placed 'this incapable (Col. Miles) in command of Harper's Ferry' He was there in command when I assumed control of the Department, and had been ordered to establish his headquarters there on the 29th of March by Major General McClellan...I have not now time to notice further the 'censure' of the Commission, & when I am at leisure, it will receive the attention it merits..." Two tears with no loss skillfully mended on verso, very good. Col. Dixon S. Miles was indeed incompetent, having utterly failed to reinforce the heights above the invaluable arsenal at Harpers Ferry, allowing Confederates under Stonewall Jackson to easily surround the town and bombard it with artillery. Mercifully, Miles was killed with the last salvo shot into the town, but only after surrendering his 12,000 man garrison. Wool correctly described the place as an "indefensible position". Not surprisingly, Harpers Ferry changed hands fourteen times between Brown's raid and 1864. $350-450