Rare Civil War Autograph Book of Confederate Prisoner's At Johnson's Island, Ohio

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American History Auction

By Cowan's Auctions

Nov 18, 2016 - Nov 19, 2016

Set Reminder 2016-11-18 10:00:00 2016-11-19 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American History Auction https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-history-auction-1870
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• Lot Description
  Quarto album in pebbled calf, 8 x 5.5 in., with gilt imprint Autographs on cover, inscribed on a free end paper, To Miss Laura H. Doane From a Friend. "Military Prison", Johnsons Island, Feb 24th/64, 62pp. An extraordinary album, apparently compiled by a Confederate internee at this island prisoner-of-war camp located in Lake Erie just off present-day Sandusky, OH. Nearly 3000 CSA officers were held here. Approximately 377 Confederate officers' signatures are inscribed on the front and back of each page. Many of the signers include their name, rank, regiment, hometown, and date and place of capture. Most of the autographs were collected in 1863.
  
  The range of signatures in the album is breathtaking, including officers serving with Colonel John S. Mosby, the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, and a host of Arkansas units. The album also features autographs of the following Confederate Generals:
  
  Brigadier General William N.R. Beale (1825-1883). Commander of the post at Port Hudson, LA, where he was captured on July 9, 1863;
  
  Major General Isaac Ridgeway Trimble (1802-1888). Severely wounded at Second Manassas, he returned to the field in time for Gettysburg, succeeding William Dorsey Pender on the second day, taking command of his division while it was forming for Pickett's charge. Wounded during the charge, he lost his leg, was taken prisoner, and not exchanged until February 1865;
  
  Brigadier General John R. Jones. (d. 1901). A captain in the Stonewall Brigade, he was made brigadier at the insistence of Jackson himself. Wounded at Second Manassas, he took command of Jackson's Division at Harper's Ferry. Later he led his Brigade at Chancellorsville; 
  
  Brigadier General William H. R. Payne (1830-1904), commissioned captain of the Black Horse Cavalry at Harper's Ferry in 1861, he later commanded the 4th Virginia Cavalry during the Peninsula Campaign and was severely wounded at Williamsburg. After exchange and convalescence, he returned to combat, leading the 2nd NC cavalry at Chancellorsville. As part of Stuart's Pennsylvania raid, his horse was shot from under him at Hanover, and wounded by a saber thrust, he was captured again. Sent to Johnson's Island, he was exchanged and appointed brigadier general on November 4, 1864. Wounded again at Five Forks, he was captured in Richmond and again returned to Johnson's Island;
  
  Brigadier General Levin M. Lewis, 3rd Missouri Volunteers, assigned by General Edmund Kirby Smith as brigadier general in the Trans-Mississippi Department on May 16, 1865;
  
  Brigadier General John W. Frazer, captured at Cumberland Gap on September 9, 1863 along with 2000 of his troops. He was charged with cowardice but was later cleared by CSA president Jefferson Davis.
  
  A significant number of autographs are from Arkansas Confederates, a number of whom were captured at the Big Black Bridge, MS, and a number incarcerated after Lee's Gettysburg campaign and thereafter. Other conflicts include Ports Hudson and Gibson, Lookout Mountain, Champion's Hill, Cumberland Gap, and more. Little is known of Laura Doan, the owner of the album, but her signature is also among the signers: Lt. L(aura)V. Doan, Co. (G) 2nd Mo. Regt. Captured Sturgeon, Missouri.
  
  A remarkable album, previously sold in these rooms as Lot 417, Cowan's Historic Americana Auction, May 4, 2002.

  Condition

  Mostly fine, though spine of album is chipped. Signature virtually all in ink.
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