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THBGeneral Joseph K.F. Mansfield Archive
About Seller
6270 Este Ave.
Cincinnati , OH 45232
United States
With offices in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Denver, Cowan’s holds over 40 auctions each year, with annual sales exceeding $16M. We reach buyers around the globe, and take pride in our reputation for integrity, customer service and great results. A full-service house, Cowan’s Auctions specializes in Am...Read more
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About Auction
LiveJun 22, 2018
Cowan’s American History: Premier Auction, scheduled for June 22, 2018 is comprised of early photographs, documents, manuscripts, broadsides, flags, and more dating from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, Late Indian Wars, World War I and II and beyond. Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com
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- Lot Description
Lot of 35 letters and dozens of additional documents, newspaper clippings, imprints, and other ephemera. Includes approximately 17 war-date letters written by Major General Joseph King Fenno Mansfield and a ca 1830s leather bound notebook titled "Laying Out the Works" with Mansfield’s own mathematical equations and hand drawn diagrams. Civil War letters in this collection are highlighted by a fascinating letter of September 16, 1862, the eve of the battle of Antietam, written by Mansfield to Major General McClellan. The majority of Civil War letters were written by Major General Mansfield to his son, Samuel M. Mansfield, who was a cadet at West Point at the onset of the war. Several additional letters in the collection were written by Mansfield to family members ca 1850s while serving in remote frontier military outposts.
Joseph King Fenno Mansfield (1803-1862) was born in New Haven, CT. He entered West Point graduating 2nd in his class in 1822. Thereafter he embarked upon a lengthy military career which initially focused on his work as an engineer for the elite US Army Corps of Engineers. During the Mexican War, Mansfield was Chief Engineer under then General Zachary Taylor, serving with distinction and earning several promotions in the process. After the war, in May 1853, he was promoted to Inspector General of the US Army with the rank of colonel and spent much of the next few years west of the Mississippi. When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Mansfield was appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers and placed in command of the Department of Washington. Likely due to his lack of combat experience, Mansfield was passed over for several high-profile army commands until finally being given command of the XII Corps of the Army of the Potomac days prior to the Battle of Antietam. Mansfield courageously led his men into combat when that battle commenced before suffering a fatal wound on September 17, 1862.
An interesting assortment of items in the collection stem from Mansfield’s early career. These include a leather-bound notebook, approx. 31pp, ca 1830s, with the handwritten title on the cover “Notes / Laying the Works” and the signature “Lt Mansfield.” The interior pages are filled with Mansfield’s engineering notes, diagrams, and equations for an unidentified structure, likely Fort Pulaski, Savannah, GA. While Mansfield was stationed at Fort Pulaski it seems that he was actively courting Miss Louisa M. Mather of Middletown, CT. The collection includes four letters written between the two ca 1837-1838 which appear to show a rocky courtship. Nevertheless, they married in September 1838.
Mexican-American War-era documents include a copy of a December 9, 1846, letter from Secretary of War, William L. Marcy, and Sec of Navy, J. Y. Mason, to J. Burrows Hyde, assignee of the invention known as Hale’s War Rocket. The letter is marked "Confidential." Also included is Specifications for the Construction of the Wrought Iron Floating Caisson and the Wrought Iron Floating Gates, for the US Dry Dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Designed by Wm. J. McAlpine. New York: Printed by J. F. Throw, 1849. 18pp. No cover.
After being appointed Inspector General of the Army in 1853 Mansfield headed west to inspect fortifications. Mansfield’s letters from the frontier demonstrate the difficult nature of his work and his interest in the native population. Writing on July 10, 1853, from "Camp at Pawnee Creek, 290 miles from Fort Leavenworth" Mansfield describes for his wife in a lengthy 4pp letter his journey thus far: ”We have seen a few Indians & Squaws & Pappooses. They were of the Kaw tribe and located on the Kaw or Kansas River, where there is a Methodist Mission. They appear quite peaceable. The men are highly painted on the face & head. The head is shaved close except a little like a horses mane…. I think the men are well formed & graceful as well as athletic. We track from 12 to 22 miles per day according to the facilities of getting wood & water & grass….It is quire remarkable we have seen no Buffalo, as thousands have been seen on this route by several officers now with us I hope to see some before many days….” Mansfield’s letters during this period also reflect a keen awareness of the danger posed by hostile tribes and his genuine belief that he may not return home from his assignment. Writing to his son Samuel on April 12, 1856, while on board the Steamer Tecumseh, Mansfield shares words of wisdom and a warning: “Do not waste the precious moments of your youth. Time will never return to you. / And now I must close this letter. Let it not be lost on you. The words of a father are the words of your best friend and my child they may be the last you may ever receive. I may never return to see you again.”
The fourteen Civil War-date letters in this collection written by the General to his son Samuel Mansfield while he was a cadet at West Point demonstrate a father’s love – and a preoccupation with ensuring that his son performs well at the Academy. Mansfield writes that he expects Samuel to graduate near the top of his class and helps orchestrate an appointment for him in the Army Corps of Engineers. Samuel does receive news from his father about the ongoing war and in particular about the General’s war-time activities. General Mansfield often notes that he feels his forces are inadequate to do much but hold ground. Despite sharing such confidences with his son, the General shares his most honest commentary on the war with his wife.
In a letter dated November 8, 1861, Mansfield writes to Louisa from "Camp Hamilton Fort Monroe. Old Point Comfort, VA." The letters reads in small part, “…Fremont is relieved and Genl Scotts lost [?] Halleck is soon to be provided for. I see tho’ the whole of Cameron’s acts & will trust him no more. He has not capacity for his position- I wish you would say so to Mrs. Douglas & Mr. also, when you see them…. For my own part I cannot understand why Cameron should be attending hops at West Point in these times of Civil War. I cannot enjoy such things at all. I feel sad that my country should be so unhappily circumstanced….” A month later on December 15, 1861, Mansfield’s distaste for Simon Cameron is still simmering as he writes his wife: “That man Cameron at Washington, Secretary of War, is so obtuse that, the army will not do much till he is turned out, & such a man as Mr. Holt made Secretary. I want to see a change in the War Department….”
Perhaps the most interesting letter in the collection, however, is from September 16, 1862 – the day before Mansfield suffered his fatal injury at Antietam. The day prior, September 15, McClellan’s amassed troops began to arrive for an offensive against Lee’s Confederates who were in defensive positions behind Antietam Creek. Mansfield commanded the XII Corps and was en route to join the other troops on September 16th when this letter was written. Mansfield writes to "Major Genl McClellan/Commanding" stating, “I am within a mile & ¾ of Portesville with my whole Corps together except my baggage train which is not up & my rations are exhausted…./I would have reached Portesville after dark yesterday had I not met a party of your command directly from there./I have lost Genl Sumner and wait your orders as to the direction I shall move in.” Significantly, Generals McClellan and Sumner’s same day responses are written on verso of Mansfield’s original letter. Writing from the headquarters of the II Corps, Sumner’s Chief of Staff J. H. Taylor writes "By command of Maj Gen Sumner" that “If Gen. Mansfield had followed the 2nd Corps as directed on the march of yesterday he would not have lost Gen Sumner.” Then, writing from the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac at 7:45 PM on the 16th, Col. George D. Ruggles writes "By Command of Maj. Gen. McClellan" that “Brevet Maj Genl Sumner will give the necessary orders.” It seems this critical correspondence was removed from the person of General Mansfield after he was mortally wounded on the 17th at Antietam. A penciled note, written above Mansfield’s address to McClellan, reads "Taken from the Gen’s pocket."With controversy still surrounding McClellan’s action, and inaction, at Antietam, this letter offers fascinating insight into the timing of events leading up to that devastating battle.
The remainder of the collection is very personal to the Mansfield family. It includes the Order of Exercises at Mansfield’s funeral and letters of condolence written to Mrs. Mansfield by friends and family members. Other items include a calling card from Mrs. Samuel Colt, invitations to miscellaneous society events, letters written by Samuel M. Mansfield after the war, items related to Mansfield family properties, an 1859 imprint titled The Tract Society and Slavery. Speeches of Chief Justice Williams, Judge Parsons, and Ex-Governor Ellsworth: Delivered in the Center Church, Hartford, Conn., and a notebook with handwritten notes from ca late 19th century on Mather genealogy and family history.
Items are generally in good condition. The September 16, 1862, letter from Mansfield to McClellan is in good condition and is easily legible, with expected creasing along fold lines and minor toning.Condition
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