MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM B. HAZEN Scares carte-de-visite of the Union General best known for defending 'Hell's Half Acre' Autograph Signed Photograph: " W. B. Hazen, Maj. Genl.". 2¼ x4. William Babcock Hazen (1830-1887), a West Point graduate (1855), was severely wounded in a battle with the Comanche in 1859, returning from a long convalescent just in time to become a brigade commander in the Union Army at Shiloh. His Ohio brigade fought heroically at Stone's River (December 31, 1862), with a defense of "Hell's Half Acre" which prevented a collapse of the Union line. (He was wounded again at this battle.) Brevetted a brigadier general in April 1863, he led a division under Sherman during the assault on Atlanta and the march to the sea. Stationed on the Plains after the war, he advocated fair treatment of Native Americans, giving sanctuary to a band of Kiowa pursued by Custer. Now a colonel in the regular army, Hazen was an observer with the Prussian Army in its 1870-1871 war with France. Hazen gave testimony against Secretary of War Belknap, making corruption allegations which hastened Belknap's resignation. read more...

FITZ JOHN PORTER Unique near-profile carte-de-visite of the Union General who fought at Antietam and Second Bull Run Autograph Photograph Signed: " F. J. Porter/Maj. Genl." backmark of R. W. Addis, Washington, DC on verso. 2½ x4. Admiral David Porter's cousin, Fitz John Porter (1822-1901) was a West Point graduate who also taught there. He was wounded in the Mexican War and served on the frontier. At the end of August 1862, Brigadier General Porter failed to cut Stonewall Jackson's and James Longstreet's forces and allowed the Confederates to emerge from Second Bull Run with a victory. General Pope blamed the Union Army's failure on Porter, charging him with willfully disobeying his orders. Porter was court-martialed, found guilty in January 1863 and forced out of the Army. After spending the next 23 years trying to clear his name, in 1886, by Act of Congress, his rank was restored and Porter was reinstated so that he could honorably retire. A board of investigation also decided that Porter had shown better judgment by ignoring Pope's orders. read more...

ALFRED T. TORBERT Exceedingly rare carte-de-visite photo of Torbert in uniform by Mathew Brady! Autograph Signed Photograph: "Yours  truly/A. T. A. Torbert, Brig. Genl: Vols." 2½x4 carte-de-viste with backstamp of Brady's National Photographic Portrait Galleries, New York & Washington. Alfred Thomas Archimedes Torbert (1833-1880), an 1855 graduate of West Point, was appointed a First Lieutenant in the Confederate States Army on March 16, 1861, just before the start of the American Civil War, but the Delaware native declined the appointment and remained a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. By August 1862, he was a Brigade Commander of the VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac, and Torbert was promoted to Brigadier General on November 29, 1862. On April 10, 1864, he was given command of the 1st Division of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. During Major General Philip Sheridan's Valley Campaigns (1864), Torbert commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Shenandoah. He later commanded the Army of the Shenandoah from April 22, 1865-June 27, 1865. read more...

THE FORMER UNION OFFICER IS SUPPORTED BY CONFEDERATE OFFICERS AS HE FIGHTS TO CLEAR HIS NAME   FITZ JOHN PORTER. ALS: "F.J. Porter", 4p, 5x7¾. New York, 1882 January 24. To Colonel Charles Marshall, Baltimore, Maryland. Begins: "My dear Colonel". In full: "I Thank you warmly for your full reply to my letter - I knew or believed that no written messages had passed between Longstreet & Gen Lee to the effect I wrote you - but Longstreet had testified to that effect before the Board. had written it years before. and Col. W.M Owens of New Orleans. had without confering (sic) with Longstreet. stated he heard Gen Lee about 1. PM. tell Longstreet to advance. & Longstreets reply that he wanted to hear from Stuart of the force coming up on this right - and So I took it for granted it was so. I am glad to have the details you give. That Genl Lee had a contempt for Genl Pope and justly I never doubted. He knew Pope. I don't think that any grounds could have induced him to make the moves he did. unless he was vastly superior in numbers to Pope and knew Pope would not be reinforced in time to save him. read more...

GENERAL COURTNEY H. HODGES Photograph signed in 1946 by the Commanding Army General that was first to enter Paris in World War II! Autographed Photograph Signed: " Courtney H. Hodges/Gen. U.S. Army/Dec. 1, 1946.", 8x10. Reverse bears a Signal Corps credit stamp. Hodges (1887-1966) was the Commanding General of the Third U.S. Army from February 16, 1943 to January 25, 1944, when he turned it over to Lieutenant General Patton. First Army soldiers commanded by Hodges were the first Americans to enter Paris on their way across Northern France and through the Ardennes Forest. They were also the first to cross the Siegfried Line into Germany in September 1944 and reach the Rhine in March 1945. Minor surface creasing and slightly creased and worn at corners and edges. Ink stamps and notes (unknown hand) on verso. Fine condition. Accompanied by PSA/DNA LOA. read more...

JEFFERSON DAVIS, JOHN H. WINDER and THOMAS J. GREEN Davis signs an autograph endorsement forwarding to Confederate Secretary of War Benjamin a handwritten letter from Green, a former general in the army of independent Texas, warning that Confederate soldiers were carrying CSA weapons home with them. General Winder adds a handwritten note to the same document, ordering that guards be posted at depot and they confiscate these weapons. Civil War-date Autograph Endorsement signed: "Sec of War attention./J D", as President of the Confederate States of America in pencil in upper blank margin of letter to him. THOMAS J. GREEN. ALS: "Thos J Green", 1p, 7¼x9¼. Esmeralda near Warrenton North Carolina, 1862 March 17. To "HIS EXCL./JEFFERSON DAVIS/PRES. C.S.A.". In full, original spelling: "I feel it my duty to call your attention to what I believe is highly detrimental to the public service. read more...

GEORGE WASHINGTON Just returned from presiding at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, he endorses receipt of materials to be used on a favorite project: construction of a canal linking Virginia (and what will become Washington) to the West. Also signed by company directors and personal friends George Gilpin and John Fitzgerald. Document signed: "G. Washington", "John Fitzgerald", "George Gilpin" and "Gerrard Green" (twice), 2 pages (front and verso), 7¾x5¼. [Mount Vernon], 1787 October 18. Signed by Washington, Fitzgerald and Gilpin as Directors of the Powtowmack Company on verso, and by Green on both sides. Recto reads, in full: "Alexandria [Virginia] June 2d, 1787 Recd. of Wm. Hartshorne Two Iron fifty Six weights, one quire paper, Ten quarter Casks Powder, Two Bundles Soal Leather, one Bundle upper Leather, and one Keg Nails - to be delivered to James Smith at the Great Falls of Potomac - for which I have received one Dollar & a Quarter for the carriage thereof [signed] Gerar Green." On verso, above signatures: " read more...

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON As the Whig Party candidate for President, Harrison devotes 3 pages to defending his conduct at the Battle of the Thames (War of 1812). He is so anxious to vindicate his military record that he is traveling to Cincinnati to have copies of depositions made and published! Harrison's signature is rare, especially so close to the date of his brief Presidency! Autograph Letter signed: "W. H. Harrison", 3 pages with integral address leaf, 7¼x12½. North Bend (Ohio), 1840 February 14. To Moses B. Corwin, House of Representatives of Ohio. In full: "Your letter of the 10th was brought to me yesterday from Cincinnati. I had seen an article in the journal that Flood was charged with having written in his place, an assertion that I was not in the sortie of the Thames. I immediately addressed a note to him which I enclosed to General [Joseph] Vance demanding to know whether he had made such an assertion and the ground upon which it was made. In answer to my letter to him, the general expressed an opinion that I gave too much importance to the matter and declined delivering my note to Flood until he would hear from me again. read more...

J. E. B. "JEB" STUART Demanding carbines for his men, Stuart writes an insistent letter to Porter Alexander as he readies his cavalry for the first of their many daring raids behind Union lines. Autograph Letter signed: "J. E. B. Stuart", 1 page, 3¾x6. Headquarters, Cavalry Brigade [Army of Northern Virginia], 1862 May 17. To "Dear Major" [E. Porter Alexander. Chief of Ordnance]. In full: "Have you done anything for that Blakely yet? Please attend to it at once as we are almost in daily use of it. I need carbines of long range, do make an effort to procure me a few hundred or even one or two. The 6th N[orth] C[arolina] vol[unteers] has 10, and other Inf[antr]y reg[imen]ts 20 [more], & various other non-combatants are thoroughly armed & equipped. Eradicate & eliminate for the cavalry." James Ewell Brown (J.E.B.) Stuart (1833-1864), called Jeb by his friends and by history, graduated from West Point in 1854, serving on the Western frontier. read more...

FITZ JOHN PORTER Court-martialed after Second Bull Run, the Union officer defends his actions to Robert E. Lee's biographer and tells of his long friendship with the Confederate General. Important ALS: "F.J. Porter", 3¼ p, New York, 1870 January 22. To General Robert E. Lee's former Aide-de-Camp, Colonel Charles Marshall, who at the time was in the midst of writing an autobiography of his experiences with the General: An Aide-De-Camp of Lee, Being The Papers of Colonel Charles Marshall. Marshall corresponded with many of Lee's subordinates in an effort to collect their correspondences with Lee for reference and publication in the book. Porter had known Lee since his boyhood and was "close to him" in the Mexican War and "at West Point, where for a time I [Porter] was his adjt". General Lee died just nine months after this letter. Porter writes, in full: "I have yours- and thank you. The opinions quoted in my 'data' are all from original letters - I had Genl Lee's written permission to use his letters, whenever I deemed read more...

HAYM SALOMON The political financier and business man pens his signature on this promissory note/bill of exchange for $1776.05! Promissory Note Signed: "Haym Salomon" and "Robert Morris" 4x7½ page. In full: "Good for 3000___Philadelphia, 6 27 may___/ ___/___ ___ ___/days of sight you will like to pay by this fourth exchange the first/ a second and third only, to monsieur  Haym Solamon/No 28/ or a for order the ___ ___ ___ ___/ received value that will pafferez the opinion of/ your very humble servant " Salomon began his journey by joining the secret organization Sons of Liberty. This organization was put in place to fight against the British Government for taxation. Salomon was then arrested as a spy in 1776. He was placed on a boat with Hessian soldiers and used as in interpreter. In this time, he decided to use this to his advantage and help prisoners escape the British, he was arrested again, in which he escaped. Salomon resettled in Philadelphia. While working as a broker he became the paymaster and consul for the French forces. He then met Robert Morris in 1781 and began working with the finances for the Thirteen Colonies. read more...

"BUFFALO BILL" CODY Handwritten letter to former rival - now partner - Pawnee Bill Lillie -  outlining plans for a California tour of their wild west show. "And if all goes well we could clean up a wagon load of money." Autograph Letter signed: "Col.", 1 page, 8½x11. Saco, Maine, May 30 (circa 1908). On letterhead of Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Pawnee Bill's Far East to "Dear Major" [William Lillie]. In full: "The reason I would not sign up with Craft. They went back on the Contract they had Bacon draw and sent two of their own fixing. You see by the route of Sells Floto that they are playing all of the Country west of the Rockies and North West. And I think we should do it. I think the summer of the Great Panama Fair at San Francisco we could show all that Country. In the Spring three shows. San Francisco July, Aug. Sep. Then Southern Cal. Oct. And if all goes well we could clean up a wagon load of money." William Frederick Cody (1846-1917) earned the name "Buffalo Bill" for killing thousands of buffalo as a hired hunter in 1867 and 1868. read more...