MAJOR GENERAL JOHN E. WOOL - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 07/11/1867 - HFSID 264507

JOHN E. WOOL
This collection includes a letter signed by the Union General and a second slip that also features his signature!
Comprises: (1) ALS: "Very respectfully your obdt Servt/John E. Wool", 1½ pages, 4½x7, front and verso. Troy, New York, 1869 July 11. To J. W. Ennis, Esqr. In Full: "Herewith you will receive my autograph with pleasure as requested in your kind letter of the 27th June. An afflicted family has prevented me from sooner acknowledging it. Although I have been in the service of my country fifty five years I am in perfect health. With the autograph I send you a letter [not present] which I hope you will read. at the same time I should be gratified with your [Wool leaves out a word] of its contents." On verso, handwritten postscript initialed: "W". In full: "P.S. The printed letter enclosed was originally intended for President Lincoln, but for reasons which may appear here after I gave it to the Editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer - I also sent a copy to the Hon E . Corning." Ink note (unknown hand, possibly Ennis') at lower margin: "The printed Letter referred to in Genl Woods letter is pasted on page 66 of this book." Book not present. Lightly creased, with folds, not at signature. Upper left blank corner missing. Stray ink blots touch 3 words (all legible), lightly soiled. Overall, fine condition. (2) Signature: "Troy 11th July 1869/John E. Wool/Major General/U.S. Army.", 3¾x2¾ lined sheet. Lightly creased. Show-through from glue stains on verso at perimeter. Fine condition. JOHN E. WOOL (1784-1869) retired from the Army with over 50 years of military service. A veteran of the War of 1812, after war was declared with Mexico in May 1846, Wool organized and supervised the training of volunteers and forwarded some 12,000 troops to General Zachary Taylor. Taylor's second in command at the Battle of Buena Vista, Wool was awarded a vote of thanks and a sword of honor by Congress for his services during the war. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Wool, who had already been a Brigadier General for 20 years, headed the Department of the East. In the early days of the war, Wool and his forces secured Fort Monroe, Virginia, which became the supply depot for General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. In May 1862, he and his troops assumed command of the Norfolk shipyards, which had been abandoned by the Confederates. After retiring in 1863 as the Army's fourth-ranking general, Wool spent his remaining years in Troy, New York. He wrote this letter from Troy just four months before his death on November 10, 1869 at the age of 85. ERASTUS CORNING (1794-1872), whom Wool mentions in this letter, was a U.S. Representative from New York from 1857-1859 and 1861-1863. Therefore, the copy of the letter Wool mentions in the postscript likely had Civil War content or had to do with his retirement. Corning who had previously served as Mayor of Albany (1834-1837) and in the New York state senate (1842-1845), was the founder of the New York Central Railroad. Two items.