Beschreibung:

Comprising Dyer’s pre-printed captain’s commission dated September 15, 1862, signed by Missouri Governor Gamble; a leather bound autograph book with numerous military signatures from Pilot Knob, Missouri; thirty-one typical war-dated letters, some with covers, exchanging news to/from Dyer family members without substantive battle content; plus seven photographs of Captain Dyer (two are duplicate CDVs found in a letter) five of which are in uniform. Five additional documents, each one page, on the “Headquarters” letterhead of the 29th Missouri are brevet daily orders, with one detailed company ordnance invoice, directed to Capt. George R. Dyer as commander of Company C. Another fine manuscript document dated October 15, 1862 (SO No.43)reflects the brutal nature of internecine warfare in Missouri ordering Captain Dyer to escort six named Rebel prisoners, "spies, guerrillas, and a horse thief," under guard to "General Davidson at St. Louis." Two other newsy letters are from George’s cousin Midshipman Charles G. Dyer, USN. The full size STATE OF MISSOURI paper commission with black lithographed border and state seal measures 11 x 8.5 in. thin oak frame, numbered 1406 upper left and signed by both Wm. D. Wood, State Adjutant General and Governor Hamilton R. Gamble (1798-1864). The 12mo brown leather gilt autograph book contains 58 pages of civilian acquaintances and identified military subjects, usually one per page, spanning the December 1861 to August 1863 time period. George Dallas Dyer/Plainfield, Illinois is inked on the fly page followed by at least thirty-four officers associated with the post at Pilot Knob, Missouri, signed with rank and regiment. The noteworthy signatures are Clinton B. Fisk/Brig. Gen. Vols. and Chas. E. Hovey/Brig Genl. Vols., both brevetted major general for war service. Three more officers ended the war as Brevet Brigadier Generals — Colonel Joseph. W. Bell, 13th Illinois Cavalry, Colonel Robert R. Livingston, 1st Nebraska Cavalry, and Lt. Colonel Geo. W. Baldey, 2nd Colorado Cavalry & 65th USCT. Numerically, the album is dominated by sixteen signatures of various 13th Illinois Cavalry officers plus seven from the 9th Illinois Cavalry including Colonel Albert Brackett. The 13th Illinois Cavalry was based at Pilot Knob from February to June 1862. Eleven additional officers hail from various regiments on duty in Southeastern Missouri, specifically Lt. Colonel Thomas N. Pace, 1st Indiana Cavalry, (later Col., 10th Indiana Cav.), several men from the obscure 1st Nebraska Inf., and two unfortunate Missourian’s later accidentally killed during the war—Colonel Francis H. Manter, 32nd Missouri Infantry (his horse fell on him), and 1st Lieutenant Thomas B. Mitchell, Battery L., 1st Missouri Light Artillery (killed in the sensational City of Madison explosion). Most of the autographs are rendered without the typical salutation of the period suggesting a lack of familiarity between Dyer and his signatories. The autograph book contains an old penciled note in the hand of an unknown Dyer relative alluding to “Uncle George’s death” recounting how utterly distraught “Grandpa was” George Randolph Dyer)in loosing his son, “…I placed my heart too much on him.” The eighteen letters span June 1861 through August 1863, with twelve concentrated in the 4th qtr. of 1862 coinciding with George joining the 29th Missouri as captain commanding Company C. The young Captain Dyer wrote twelve of the letters to family members, primarily his mother, with the last dated April 1863 from the “AQM Office/Pilot Knob, Mo.” The other six letters were addressed to George from several inquisitive friends, the most articulate from a female admirer named Fannie Bartlett who was evidently a student at Lake Forest Academy in Chicago and later the Granville Female Academy in Ohio. Her last letter from Granville written in September 1863 mentions “so many Copperheads in Ohio” and then described in great detail an elaborate “Union Convention held at N