MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM H. EMORY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 05/06/1866 - HFSID 87124

WILLIAM H. EMORY
As a colonel in the 5th US Cavalry (1866), he signs an ALS to Senator William Pitt Fessenden, proposing that officers disabled in combat receive retirement pay at their brevet rank.
Autograph Letter signed: "W. H. Emory/Col. 5th US Cav./Bvt Maj. Genl/USA", 2 pages (front and verso), 7½x9¾ folded, 15½x9¾ open flat. Headquarters 5th US Cavalry, Washington, 1866 May 5. "I take the liberty of enclosing you a letter from Bvt Major Genl. McIntock US Vols, a captain in the 5th US Cavalry, stating a proposition that to me seems so eminently just that I hope it will receive the favorable action of Congress. It will be seen that the subject has already been brought to the notice of able chairman of the Mil. Com. of the Senate, but I have thought it might air the matter if you would take an interest in it. General McIntock, like your own son, has lost a leg in the service, and may at any moment be asked to be retiring, and if such should take place there is no proposition closer to my mind than that they should be retired in the rank that the were exercising at the time the disability was incurred, or in the rank which may have been subsequently conferred on them as a reward for gallantry. A general officer exercising command in the field over volunteers must, to be successful, lead his men into action, and as they have to incur those risks, both of life and reputation, so it seems to me that when successful, they should be secured in all the rank brevetted at the time of becoming disabled by wounds received as a consequence of those risks. I have the honor to be with regard your obedient". During the American Civil War, William Hemsley Emory (1811-1887) served as a brigade commander in the Union's Army of the Potomac (1862) before being transferred to the Western Theater, where he commanded a division in the Port Hudson and Red River campaigns in Louisiana (1863-1864). Returning to the East, Emory was Commander of the 19th Corps, which performed badly in the Shenandoah Valley (1864), especially during the Battle of Cedar Creek, during which Emory and his forces were saved by the arrival of General Philip Sheridan. After the War, Emory held a number of posts, including commander of the Department of the Gulf (a Reconstruction assignment that included overseeing soldiers in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi), but Sheridan removed him from command and saw that Emory was retired in 1876. Emory, who had graduated from West Point in 1831, was a civil engineer who had specialized in exploration and conducting border surveys along the Texas-Mexican border (1844), the U.S.-Canadian border (1844-1846), the U.S.-Mexican border (1848-1853) and the Gadsden Purchase (1854-1857). He was married to Matilda Wilkins Bache, the great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin. 1 vertical 2 horizontal fold creases. Fold creases and top edge lightly toned. Top right corner lightly creased. Otherwise fine condition.