JOHN H. WINDER
John H. Winder signs an autograph endorsement trying to visit Norfolk.
Autograph Endorsement signed: "Jno H. Winder/Brig" in pencil on verso of Autograph Letter Signed: "William N. McKenney/Senator from Norfolk/City", 1p, 5x8. Senate Chamber, Va Legislature, 1862 March 24. To "Genl John H. Winder, Commg Dept of Henrico". Senator McKenney requests "permission to visit Norfolk at pleasure for sixty days. My reason is simply this. I now hold the commission of Captain, in the C Regt Va Vols, and have written authority from the Secretary of War to raise a battalion for the war...." Winder writes in pencil in full: "Give the passport subject to Military authority at Norfolk". WILLIAM N. McKENNEY raised Co. A, 6th Virginia Infantry. JOHN H. WINDER (1800-1865), a West Point graduate, served the US Army with distinction during the Mexican War, receiving field promotions for his conduct in the battles on the approach to Mexico City. Siding with the Confederacy, General Winder was placed in command of Confederate prisons east of the Mississippi. His appointee, Captain Henry Wirz, commanding officer at Andersonville prison and the only Confederate military officer tried, convicted and hanged after the Civil War. Winder, Henry Wirz's superior, who had more responsibility for conditions within the prison than Wirz, died of a heart attack before the war ended, on February 7, 1865. Other Confederate leaders, and some later historians, have denied that Winder was deliberately cruel to Union prisoners, explaining that severe Confederate shortages of food and medicine render their proper care impossible. Winder spent a year as an instructor at West Point; among his students was future CSA President Jefferson Davis. Pinhead-size stains at lower right corner. Shaded at horizontal fold. Overall, fine condition.