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Auction archive: Lot number 18

BRAGG, BRAXTON, General, C.S.A. Autograph letter signed to an unidentified corespondent ("My Dear General"), possibly to General P.G.T. Beauregard, Tupelo, [Mississippi], 22 July [l862]. 4 pages, 8vo, minor spotting, a small clean tear.

Auction 05.12.1991
5 Dec 1991
Estimate
US$2,000 - US$3,000
Price realised:
US$4,180
Auction archive: Lot number 18

BRAGG, BRAXTON, General, C.S.A. Autograph letter signed to an unidentified corespondent ("My Dear General"), possibly to General P.G.T. Beauregard, Tupelo, [Mississippi], 22 July [l862]. 4 pages, 8vo, minor spotting, a small clean tear.

Auction 05.12.1991
5 Dec 1991
Estimate
US$2,000 - US$3,000
Price realised:
US$4,180
Beschreibung:

BRAGG, BRAXTON, General, C.S.A. Autograph letter signed to an unidentified corespondent ("My Dear General"), possibly to General P.G.T. Beauregard, Tupelo, [Mississippi], 22 July [l862]. 4 pages, 8vo, minor spotting, a small clean tear. BRAGG LAYS PLANS FOR THE INVASION OF KENTUCKY A letter written less than a month after Bragg had replaced Beauregard as Commander of the Confederate Army of the Tennessee, and just prior to his bold but ultimately unsuccessful invasion of Kentucky. From internal evidence, the letter is likely to be to the officer he succeeded. "As I am changing entirely...the place of operations here, I submit to you what I propose and beg your candid criticism. And in view of the cordial and sincere relations we have ever maintained, I trust to your compliance. I am moving the 'Army of the Miss.' 34,000 effectives, to East Tennessee to join with [General Edmund Kirby] Smith and take the offensive. The reasons are - Smith is so weak as to give me great uneasiness for the safety of his line - to lose which would be a great disaster.....To aid him at all from here necessarily renders me to weak for the offensive against Halleck, with at least 60,000 strongly entrenched in my front....Neither of us could well advance in the absence of rail transportation. It seemed to me, then, I was reduced to the defensive altogether or to the move I am making. By throwing my cavalry...towards Grand Junction & Tuscumbia the impression is greater that I am advancing on both places. The Memphis and Charleston road has been cut....Before they can know of my movement I shall be in front of Buell at Chattanooga, and by cutting off his transportation may have him in a tight place. "[General Earl] Van Dorn will be able to hold his own with about 20,000 on the Miss. [General Sterling] Price stays here with l6,000. Thus you have my plan. I leave tomorrow for Mobile, thence to Chattanooga. Our cavalry is paving the way for me in Middle Tennessee and Ky. Crittenden is quite a prize, and the whole affair, in proportion to numbers, more brilliant than the 'grand battles,' where 'Strategy' seems to have been the stable production on both sides. And if I am any judge, the enemy beat us at it. We may congratulate ourselves that McClellan was satisfied with changing his base, for it occurs to my obtuse mind that a bold strike at Richmond whilst we were hunting for him would have ruined us." "The papers seem to be groping...as to the reasons which influenced the change here [Bragg's replacing Beauregard], and attributing motives to each of us never entertained by either. Fortunately we know each other too well, and have this cause to much at heart to be influenced by these things. Hoping for your restoration and return...."

Auction archive: Lot number 18
Auction:
Datum:
5 Dec 1991
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
Beschreibung:

BRAGG, BRAXTON, General, C.S.A. Autograph letter signed to an unidentified corespondent ("My Dear General"), possibly to General P.G.T. Beauregard, Tupelo, [Mississippi], 22 July [l862]. 4 pages, 8vo, minor spotting, a small clean tear. BRAGG LAYS PLANS FOR THE INVASION OF KENTUCKY A letter written less than a month after Bragg had replaced Beauregard as Commander of the Confederate Army of the Tennessee, and just prior to his bold but ultimately unsuccessful invasion of Kentucky. From internal evidence, the letter is likely to be to the officer he succeeded. "As I am changing entirely...the place of operations here, I submit to you what I propose and beg your candid criticism. And in view of the cordial and sincere relations we have ever maintained, I trust to your compliance. I am moving the 'Army of the Miss.' 34,000 effectives, to East Tennessee to join with [General Edmund Kirby] Smith and take the offensive. The reasons are - Smith is so weak as to give me great uneasiness for the safety of his line - to lose which would be a great disaster.....To aid him at all from here necessarily renders me to weak for the offensive against Halleck, with at least 60,000 strongly entrenched in my front....Neither of us could well advance in the absence of rail transportation. It seemed to me, then, I was reduced to the defensive altogether or to the move I am making. By throwing my cavalry...towards Grand Junction & Tuscumbia the impression is greater that I am advancing on both places. The Memphis and Charleston road has been cut....Before they can know of my movement I shall be in front of Buell at Chattanooga, and by cutting off his transportation may have him in a tight place. "[General Earl] Van Dorn will be able to hold his own with about 20,000 on the Miss. [General Sterling] Price stays here with l6,000. Thus you have my plan. I leave tomorrow for Mobile, thence to Chattanooga. Our cavalry is paving the way for me in Middle Tennessee and Ky. Crittenden is quite a prize, and the whole affair, in proportion to numbers, more brilliant than the 'grand battles,' where 'Strategy' seems to have been the stable production on both sides. And if I am any judge, the enemy beat us at it. We may congratulate ourselves that McClellan was satisfied with changing his base, for it occurs to my obtuse mind that a bold strike at Richmond whilst we were hunting for him would have ruined us." "The papers seem to be groping...as to the reasons which influenced the change here [Bragg's replacing Beauregard], and attributing motives to each of us never entertained by either. Fortunately we know each other too well, and have this cause to much at heart to be influenced by these things. Hoping for your restoration and return...."

Auction archive: Lot number 18
Auction:
Datum:
5 Dec 1991
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
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