Catalogue Note: Lost to time for over two hundred years and recently rediscovered, this silver seal is one of only two surviving objects related to the famous 1st Continental or Rifle Regiment, the first American unit to be raised, equipped and paid directly by the Continental Congress. Also known as the Continental Rifle Regiment, [...] Click here to continue reading.]]> Sotheby’s Catalogue Note regarding the silver hand seal of the 1st Continental Rifle Regiment.

Sotheby’s, Important Americana, 24-25 January 2014.

Catalogue Note: Lost to time for over two hundred years and recently rediscovered, this silver seal is one of only two surviving objects related to the famous 1st Continental or Rifle Regiment, the first American unit to be raised, equipped and paid directly by the Continental Congress. Also known as the Continental Rifle Regiment, it was organized on January 1, 1776 from remnants of Thompson’s Pennsylvania Riflemen (then serving at the siege of Boston). The 1st Continental served with great distinction during the 1776 campaign, fighting valiantly against overwhelming odds during the battles of Long Island, Throg’s Neck and White Plains, and playing decisive roles in the American victories at Trenton and Princeton. In the ensuing years of the Revolution, it fought in nearly every major battle fought by Washington’s main army (Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Yorktown) and was disbanded in 1783 at the close of hostilities.

Colonel Edward Hand (1744-1802), its first commander, was one of General George Washington’s most valued and trusted subordinates. (1) Upon assuming command of the regiment, Colonel Hand, to promote in his riflemen a sense of esprit de corps, commissioned the fabrication of a regimental standard according to the specifications prescribed by General George Washington’s General Order of February 20, 1776:

As it is necessary that every Regiment should be furnished with Colours, and that those Colours should, if it can be done, bear some kind of similitude to the Uniform of the regiment to which they belong, the Colonels with their respective Brigadiers and the Qt. Mr. Genl. may fix upon such as are proper, and can be procured.–There must be to each Regiment, the Standard (or Regimental Colours)…The Number of the Regiment is to be mark’d on the Colours, and such a Motto, as the Colonel may choose, in fixing upon which, the General advises a Consultation amongst them. The Colonels are to delay no time, in getting this matter fix’d, that the Qr. Mr. Genl. may provide the Colours as soon as possible… (2)

A March 8, 1777 letter from Colonel Hand to Jasper Yeates describes the design selected for the 1st Continental’s flag:

Our standard is to be a deep green ground, the device a tiger partly enclosed by toils [a net], attempting the pass, defended by a hunter armed with a spear (in white), on crimson field the motto ‘Domari nolo.’ (3)

Through Hand’s lobbying effort, Congress authorized spending $9000 to provide uniform and other martial equipment for the Rifle Regiment. (4) The colonel subsequently wrote to James Milligan to oversee the contracting of distinctive green uniforms, a regimental standard made to the description noted above and a “regimental seal.” Milligan paid a good sum for the flag and the seal, being reimbursed 29 pounds, 13 shillings and 6 pence for the pair. (5)

Seals were of circular or oval form and crafted from either silver, gold, copper alloy or soft mineral. Those intended for heavy use were typically mounted on turned handles of hardwood, ivory or precious metal. Seals were used to ensure a document’s privacy and authenticity and their primary military use was for the authentication or notarization of important documents, such as discharges, that were frequently forged. (6)

While the maker of the 1st Continental’s seal is unknown, he was likely a leading silversmith working in the greater Philadelphia area. The stamp itself replicates the device found on the field of the regimental standard as described in Hand’s letter of March 8th. Both the standard and seal have ‘P.M. / 1st Rt.’ Superimposed above the device, for ‘Pennsylvania Militia, 1st Regiment’ (Milligan not realizing that Hand’s 1st was a regular Continental regiment, not Pennsylvania militia). Below the device is a scroll bearing the patriotic motto DOMARI NOLO or ‘I will not be subjugated’. As with the standard, the seal was entrusted to the successive regimental commanders and carried through the entire war, as evidenced by Hand’s May 12, 1777 letter to Lieutenant Colonel James Chambers, the new commanding officer of the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment (as the 1st Continental was redesignated in 1777):

Dear Sir,

No. 15 The Seal was Sent by C [aptain James]. Ross against Mr. [Frederick] Hubley in the Qr. Mastr. G[enera]ls Bill No. 4 you can pay by his Acct… (7)

Irrefutably authenticating this seal to the 1st Continental Regiment is Private Christopher Hartong’s surviving discharge paper from the regiment dated Long Island, July 1, 1776, which bears the wax impression from this seal next to Colonel Hand’s signature. (8)

Notes

(1) Hand (1744-1802) originally came to Pennsylvania in 1767 as a surgeon’s mate in the 18th (or Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot, having earlier completed his medical studies in Edinburgh, Scotland. Part of the 18th Foot, Hand included, were stationed at Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh). In 1772, Hand obtained an ensign’s commission, serving simultaneously as a company officer and regimental surgeon. When the 18th Foot returned to Philadelphia in 1774, Hand sold his commission and resigned from the army, married, and took up the practice of medicine in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mark M Boatner III, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, NY: David McKay Co, Inc., 1974), 484-485, 1099.

(2) The Library of Congress; George Washington Papers, Series 3g, Letterbook 1, p. 185.

(3) Latin for ‘I will not be subjugated; letter, Hand to Judge James Yeates of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania Archives. 2d series, X (1890), 12.

(4) Peter Force, American Archives, v. 5: 1178 and v. 6: 1202.

(5) National Archives, Record Group 93, M246. Muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83; reel 80, folder 3, 162.

(6) Thomas Simes, The Military Guide for Young Officers. 2d ed. London: J. Millan, 1776, 172-173; Bennet Cuthbertson, Cuthbertson’s System, for the Complete Interior Management of Oeconomy of a Battalion of Infantry, Bristol: Rouths and Nelson, 1776; unauthorized, revised printing from 1st edition of 1768, 135-136, 141-142.

(7) University of Wisconsin Spec. Colls., Draper Manuscripts, ‘U’ Series, v. 1, Edward Hand Papers, Ltr, Hand to Chambers, May 12, 1777.

(8) National Archives, Record Group 15, Pension Applications of Revolutionary War Veterans; Pennsylvania; S.22810 of Private Christopher Hartong of Captain Charles Craig’s Company, discharged at Long Island on 1 July 1776 (discharge is found on page 22 of this file).

Sotheby’s offers thanks to Revolutionary War material culture expert James L. Kochan of Frederick, Maryland, who kindly granted us permission to publish a heavily abbreviated version of his forthcoming article on the subject, along with his photographs of the seal and related documents. Kochan is the author of numerous books, including Soldiers of The American Revolution, 1775-1783, 2007, and the recently published reference work, Insignia of Independence: Military Buttons, Accoutrement Plates and Gorgets of The American Revolution, 2012.

Jesse Woodson James was born Sept. 5, 1847 in Clay County, Missouri. He had an older brother, Frank and a sister. His father, a minister, left soon after Jesse was born to go to California to “minister” to the 49er miners. He died in [...] Click here to continue reading.]]> Jesse Woodson James, American Outlaw

Courtesy of James Julia Auction Company, presented in conjunction with the sale of Jesse James’ personal Colt revolver and holster rig (p4A item # D9737835)

Jesse Woodson James was born Sept. 5, 1847 in Clay County, Missouri. He had an older brother, Frank and a sister. His father, a minister, left soon after Jesse was born to go to California to “minister” to the 49er miners. He died in California when Jesse was three. His mother, Zerelda, remarried to Ruben Samuel with whom she had four more children. At the outbreak of the Civil War the James/Samuel family sided with the Confederacy with Frank soon joining on the Confederate side. Frank became ill early on and returned to Missouri where, after he recovered, he joined a small guerrilla band operating in their neighborhood.

Sometime in 1863 to 1864 the Union Army sent a force to try to capture Frank’s group and came to the Samuel farm searching for them. They briefly hanged Mr. Samuel and allegedly whipped Jesse, to no avail. Frank escaped and in 1864 he and 16 year old Jesse joined the notorious Confederate raider and guerrilla fighter Bloody Bill Anderson. Apparently they didn’t stay with Anderson very long before joining the more notorious William Quantrill. The James Boys, along with three of their cousins, Robert Hudspeth, Rufus Hudspeth & William Napoleon “Babe” Hudspeth all rode with Quantrill until at least January 1865. It is unclear when the James Boys returned home but it is known that in January 1865 the three Hudspeth boys left Quantrill and returned to Missouri. Another cousin, Lamartine Hudspeth maintained a farm in the area of the James/Samuel place and was later to play a role in supplying them with horses and sanctuary.

Frank & Jesse James and Babe & Rufus Hudspeth were with Bloody Bill Anderson at the battle & massacre at Centralia, Missouri on Sept. 27, 1864. That morning Anderson led about 80 guerrillas, some dressed in stolen Union Army uniforms, into Centralia to cut off the North Missouri Railroad. The guerrillas looted the town, blocked the rail line, stopped an approaching train and overran it. There were about 125 passengers on board which were separated into civilian and soldier groups. The soldiers were stripped of their uniforms and when Anderson called for an officer, Sgt. Thomas Goodman bravely stepped forward, expecting to be shot. Instead, Anderson’s men ignored Goodman and shot the others, then mutilated and scalped the bodies. The guerrillas then set fire to the train and sent it down the tracks after which they torched the depot and rode out of town. About 3 p.m. that same afternoon, 155 men of the newly formed 39th Missouri Infantry Regiment (mounted), rode into Centralia in pursuit. This force soon encountered the guerrillas and decided to dismount and fight on foot. The Federal recruits with single-shot muzzle loaders were no match for the guerrillas with their revolvers. Of the 155 Union soldiers in this regiment, 123 were killed that afternoon. According to well-known history, in addition to carbines & shotguns, the guerrillas usually had at least two revolvers and some with as many as four or five on or about their persons most of the time and would have been able to present a formidable wall of lead.

When the Confederacy surrendered Jesse was still riding as a guerrilla under the command of Archie Clement, one of Quantrill’s lieutenants, while Frank had ridden to Kentucky with Quantrill. Clement’s group was apparently trying to decide their next course of action when they encountered a Union patrol and Jesse was severely wounded with two bullets in the chest. Jesse was returned to his uncle’s boarding house where he was attended by his cousin, Zerelda Mimms, who was named after Jesse’s mother. Jesse & Zerelda were later to marry. Jesse recovered from his wounds and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Jesse & Frank and the Younger Boys with various other occasional members formed a gang and robbed trains & banks over the next sixteen or so years. After the fiasco at Northfield, Minnesota where the gang was badly shot up with three being killed and the others wounded, only Frank & Jesse escaped the law and the gang was never the same afterward, with the new members they recruited. During the course of the criminal career of Frank & Jesse and various members of their gang, they would frequently stop by various family members’ homes for food, rest or horses. Family history relates that Lamartine Hudspeth, cousin to Jesse & Frank, who owned a farm in the area, always kept fresh horses in the stable should they be needed. Frequently he would come out in the morning to feed the animals and find the fresh horses gone and hard ridden, tired horses in their places. Other members of the James/Hudspeth/Samuel extended family were also frequently called on for food, shelter or horses for members of the gang. As in all things there is an end and so it is with Jesse & Frank James. Jesse was assassinated by Bob Ford on April 3, 1882 in his own home.

An ancient [...] Click here to continue reading.]]> The Sarcophagus in Decorative Arts

Derived from the Greek sarx, meaning flesh, and phagein, meaning eat, a sarcophagus is, essentially, a container for a body, much like a coffin or casket. Historically, sarcophagi were typically made of stone (though sometimes of other materials, such as wood or metal), with a relief-carved or pediment top, and designed to be above ground, and have been used by many cultures since ancient times.

An ancient Egyptian miniature bronze sarcophagus

(p4A item # D9789825)

In the early modern era, the sarcophagus shape began infiltrating the decorative arts, appearing as a design element in pieces of furniture, or contributing its entire form to smaller objects. The most common places to find the sarcophagus shape are on the pediments of sophisticated case furniture, most notably clocks, and in tea caddies, which from the late eighteenth through the end of the nineteenth century, often drew their inspiration from sarcophagi, even if stylized.

Boston Queen Anne tall case clock with a pediment in the shape of a sarcophagus

(p4A item # E8909171)

Victorian tea made of sharkskin (called shagreen) and in the form of a sarcophagus

(p4A item # D9814453)

It is difficult to generalize about the shape that a sarcophagus takes when it is integrated into decorative arts objects. The variety of sarcophagi-inspired objects is as diverse as the ancient sarcophagi themselves. From subtle appearances, such as on the bases of this pair of French bronze girandoles…

A pair of French Renaissance Revival bronze girandoles
(p4A item # D9668672)

and lid of this American Victorian sewing table…

Victorian Rococo Revival rosewood sewing stand by Mitchell and Rammelsburg
(p4A item # D9837246)

to overt adaptations, such as this English cellarette…

An English Regency mahogany cellarette

(p4A item # E8929234)

and tea caddy…

English Regency mahogany tea caddy with ebonized handles

(p4A item # D9661450)

even to objects seemingly modeled after real sarcophagi, such as this Continental bronze inkstand.

Late 19th-century Continental bronze inkwell

(p4A item # E8948126)

p4A editorial staff, March 2013

Frank Ballou Gurley was born in 1834 in northern Alabama, where his father and grandfather had moved in 1818. He grew up in a rapidly growing settlement that would eventually be called “Gurley,” just east of Huntsville in the fertile soils of the Tennessee River. When war broke out, Gurley enlisted in July 1861 in Rev. David Kelly’s (Kelley) cavalry. Meanwhile, Nathan Bedford Forrest was recruiting [...] Click here to continue reading.]]> Confederate Captain Frank Gurley

Courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions

Frank Ballou Gurley was born in 1834 in northern Alabama, where his father and grandfather had moved in 1818. He grew up in a rapidly growing settlement that would eventually be called “Gurley,” just east of Huntsville in the fertile soils of the Tennessee River. When war broke out, Gurley enlisted in July 1861 in Rev. David Kelly’s (Kelley) cavalry. Meanwhile, Nathan Bedford Forrest was recruiting 500 men to become a unit of mounted rangers from Tennessee, Northern Alabama and even Kentucky. Forrest attracted Kelley’s unit, and the lives of Forrest, Kelley and Gurley were entwined for the next few years (actually for the remainder of their lives).

At the outset, many local commanders realized the vulnerability of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, navigable to Nashville and Huntsville (respectively). In May 1861 work was begun on Fort Donelson by Tennessee State engineers, but only proceeded sporadically. Fort Henry, sited in the same month to protect the Tennessee River, was problematic. All suitable sites were in Kentucky, a neutral state. The first Confederate units to arrive noticed the high-water marks on surrounding trees and knew that the first spring rise of the river would inundate the fort. Thus both rivers were vulnerable and the Union, of course, took advantage of the weakness the following spring. In February, Grant had taken both forts and was moving on the major population centers. By April northern Alabama was in Union hands, “ruled” by General Ormsby Mitchel, along with the railroad lines and most of the rolling stock in the region. Although northern Alabama was less enthusiastic about secession than other parts of the state, subsequent treatment at the hands of these forces turned many local Unionists into Confederates.

For the most part Forrest’s units were engaged “harassing” Union troops in the Western parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and surrounding regions. Forrest began to acquire a reputation rivaling Morgan’s. Periodically Gurley returned to his home territory to recruit, or gather up men who had been on furlough. In the summer of 1862, the various partisan units started moving toward East Tennessee to meet up with General Braxton Bragg’s troops moving in that direction, and harassing Federal troops headed that direction. Local “informants” alerted Gurley to Federal units moving on the old Limestone near Gum Spring Road and rode off to “delay” them. What he encountered was the wagon carrying General Robert Latimer McCook, part of the “Fighting McCooks” of Ohio, seven brothers plus father and several cousins who all fought in the war. Later court papers suggest that part of McCooks 9th Ohio got separated from the General, and he sent a messenger to get them back on the right road. He and a small force of cavalry lagged behind the main unit, most sources indicate because McCook was suffering from dysentery and could not ride.

Gurley came upon McCook’s small band after first spotting the dust cloud kicked up by the wagon. Gurley supposedly ordered them to stop. Survivors of McCook’s command all testified that they did not hear any such order in the panic to escape. Shots were fired. McCook was hit in the back, the bullet exiting near his navel, a fatal wound in those times. He was taken to a local farmhouse, the home of widow Jane Word, where the General was made as comfortable as possible, before dying around noon the next day. In his diary Gurley noted that he saw three men in the wagon, only one of whom was in Uniform. This was Captain Hunter Brooke, McCook having taken his jacket off to be more comfortable. Gurley wrote in his diary that he fired at the officer -Brooke -but the pistol was not very accurate. He is generally taken as the one whose bullet hit McCook, but he always maintained that he did not AIM at McCook, but merely shot to get the wagon to stop.

The North was outraged! With each telling, the story got more outrageous and inflammatory. By the time it was published in Harper’s and Leslie’s, woodcuts illustrating the event show McCook in uniform, on his knees begging for his life, with Gurley shooting him in the back -wrong in every detail. The North and the powerful McCook family screamed for Gurley’s head. He became the most wanted man in the Confederacy! The northern troops exacted revenge on the immediate countryside, also. They burned many surrounding farms, including that of the widow who had cared for McCook, turning the widow and her daughter out without even allowing them to take their clothes, then setting fire to their house and buildings.

Gurley managed to elude capture for a year, in part because of the nature of the ranger skirmishing, and he was operating on “home turf.” For much of that time Gurley was not even aware that he was wanted! -most of the reporting was in the North and hardly accessible to rangers on the move. In October 1863 a partisan ranger unit captured the “tail” of an unescorted Union artillery battery moving from Huntsville to Decherd, TN. Among the captured was Captain Lawson Kilbourn of Co. E, 72nd Indiana Mounted Lightning Brigade. Kilbourn was sent under guard a few days later to Andersonville, already notorious among Union troops. However, his “guard” consisted of two boys, 17 and 14. Kilbourn was able bribe them not only for his freedom, but also a coat. Using information gained while a captive, and his Confederate “disguise,” he set off to capture the “notorious” Gurley, and, locating him at his brother’s house, Gurley’s father having been burned out in the earlier retaliation. Gurley nearly escaped while his brother set up a diversion, but Kilbourn’s squad was able to anticipate his escape route and captured him. He was sent to Nashville to stand trial for the murder of McCook.

Gurley was brought before a military commission about a month later. The charge of murder was predicated primarily on the assertion that Gurley did not hold a commission in the Confederate forces, and was thus acting as a private citizen at the time of the shooting of McCook. Union forces were not able to locate a commission, although Gurley maintained that he had one. Some concluded that if it indeed existed, it was probably burned in his father’s house when it was torched the previous year. Evidence was presented by Union Maj. Genl. Lovell Rousseau, who had replaced Mitchel in Huntsville, that he had arrested several of Gurley’s men and was going to try them as guerillas, but the daughter of one of them brought him Gurley’s commission, demonstrating that they were indeed legitimate soldiers in the Confederate Army, not “freelance” terrorists. Nathan Bedford Forrest wrote to the commission to state that Gurley was a commissioned officer, as well as others supporting him. The powerful McCooks wanted Gurley dead, however, and all such testimony, including evidence of the fire at Gurley’s home, was not permitted as evidence. Gurley was convicted and sentenced to hang.

Appeals were made to Washington, DC, and, under pressure from the “McCook camp” Lincoln upheld the sentence, but never set a date for the execution. There seems to have also been some fear of retaliation if Gurley was executed (Forrest sent a message saying as much), and additional fear of creating a martyr. Then, by some as-yet-undetermined snafu, in March 1865 Frank Gurley walked out of prison a free man, included as an officer in a prisoner exchange. Realizing the error, jailers sent messages to Washington, but were told to release all rebel officers, and Captain Goodwin did just that.

The war, of course, ended a few weeks later, and Gurley returned home. His imprisonment left him weak and “soft.” They were released, and taken to confederate territory by boat, but found no way to get home, most railroads having been destroyed. They had to rely on their own two feet. Gurley immediately developed blisters which started bleeding. Gurley ran into his friend General Roddey who gave him a horse to continue his journey. When he reached familiar territory, he hid for a while in the surrounding hills, until May 25, he returned to Huntsville and took the oath of allegiance to the United States.

But the dogs were still hunting. The McCooks and their “representative,” Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt realized that Gurley had slipped through their fingers. They began trying to locate him, not that he was especially hiding. In the fall, quite unsought, Gurley was elected sheriff of Madison County. Apparently someone at the War Department read the paper and immediately sent General Benjamin Grierson to arrest him. He was taken to Nashville for a quick hearing, then returned to Huntsville to be executed Dec. 1, 1865. Many lawyers and military colleagues started petitioning for Gurley’s release. They even got the support of General Grant, and eventually, President Andrew Johnson. Johnson consulted Grant, who was in favor of the case being dropped, since much of the testimony was questionable, and many more points had been omitted in the original (see above). Finally, in a flurry of paperwork dated 28 April 1866, Gurley was to be released, provided he sign an Oath of Allegiance (again), his parole of honor and written promise not to serve in any elected office. He was finally free!

After this, he was a successful real estate agent and farmer. Eventually he built a tidy home on enough land to adequately host reunions, which he did annually for his company. Occasionally larger gatherings were held, many including Union as well as Confederate ex-soldiers -Gurley apparently harbored no resentment over wartime activities. He was active in his church, the Democratic Party and the Masons, and, some would say, along with his mentor, Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan’s original purpose was to rid the country of “carpetbaggers” (Northerners seeking to profit from the “reconstruction” of the South) and “scalawags,” (Southerners supporting the carpetbaggers) and restore order so people could get on with real reconstruction. Forrest’s Klan officially disbanded in 1869, and he died in 1877 (a funeral attended by thousands in Memphis). (Later “incarnations” of the clan took on the more familiar racist overtones.)

A career military man, Audenried graduated 17th in [...] Click here to continue reading.]]> Archive of Colonel Joseph C. Audenried

Born into a well to do Philadelphia family, Joseph C. Audenried (1839-1880) enjoyed a privileged seat at the table of history. Handsome, intelligent, and supremely efficient, he made the most of his innate talents and good fortune as he built a truly unique career, becoming one of the most trusted members of the staff of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman.

A career military man, Audenried graduated 17th in his class at West Point in 1861, and was immediately commissioned 1st Lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Cavalry, however his talents soon attracted the interest of his superiors, and for two years, he served on the staff of one division commander after another. His first staff position was as aide de camp to Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler, one of the Division commanders at the First Battle of Bull Run, and despite the ignominious defeat there — for which Tyler was substantially held to blame — Audenried remained a valued officer. In the late summer, he transferred onto the staff of the 2nd U.S. Artillery in the defenses of Washington, D.C., and then in March 1862, he transferred again to the staff of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Army of the Potomac under Brig. Gen. William H. Emory, and four months later to the staff of the 2nd Army Corps under Maj. Gen Edwin V. “Bull” Sumner, earning a promotion to Captain.

Under Sumner, Audenried witnessed the shocking combat of the late summer months and the unfolding of the Maryland Campaign. In the hellish West Woods at Antietam, he was seriously wounded and obliged to leave the field, but was cited by Sumner for his gallantry. He returned to the 2nd Corps to take part at Fredericksburg, but when Sumner was voluntarily relieved of duty in March 1863, Audenried moved on. After a brief stint under John Wool, he traveled to the western theatre to serve under Ulysses S. Grant, and took part in the fall of Vicksburg and pursuit through Tennessee. Finally, in October 1863, Audenried was transferred under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, never again leaving his staff for the remainder of his life. With Sherman, Audenried took part in the Chattanooga and Knoxville Campaigns, the Atlanta Campaign, and the famous March to the Sea and March through the Carolinas.

During the course of the Civil War, Audenried had the distinction of serving under the most illustrious officers in the Union army and was recognized three times for gallant and meritorious service with brevet promotions to Captain, Major (Atlanta) and Lieutenant Colonel (War service). Although he married 18-year old Mary Colket in 1863 and had a daughter, Florence, in 1867, he apparently never considered settling down to a civilian life, nor did he leave Sherman’s side for long. Promoted to Captain of the 6th Cavalry in July 1866, headquartered in St. Louis, he participated in the Indian wars in the west under Sherman’s command, earning a promotion to Colonel in March 1869, and when Sherman was promoted to Lieutenant General when Grant was elected President, Audenried went along, moving to Washington, D.C.

A sophisticated, polished figure, handsome and popular, Audenried was well known and well respected in the capitol. He accompanied Sherman and Grant’s son, Fred, on a diplomatic and military tour of Europe in 1871-1872 to build ties with foreign governments and review their armies. As early as 1876, however, Audenried began to display the signs of serious, but unknown illness, and at the age of 41, on June 3, 1880, he died in Washington.

The historian Michael Fellman has hypothesized that the relationship between Sherman and Audenried had an unusual wrinkle. Although Mary Jane Audenried was well off financially due to her inheritance and her own family wealth, she was taken under Sherman’s affectionate wing. Although the evidence is not overwhelming, Fellman believes that Sherman and Mary Jane Audenried — 25 years his junior — had a long-lasting affair that began only a few weeks after Joseph’s death.

Poised at the heart of American military power, the Audenried Archive is a large and historically important assemblage offering insight into the mind and personality of the top brass in the army during the post-Civil War years, with particular insight into the enigmatic William T. Sherman. Audenried’s long and intimate association with Sherman (perhaps too intimate, if Fellman is to be believed) gave him unusual access.

Whether touring Europe examining foreign military establishments, traversing the west during the Indian Wars, or traipsing through a tumultuous Mexico or Cuba, Audenried’s letters and diaries are long, well informed, and gloriously well written. The collection is enhanced by the presence of several letters written by Sherman and a chapter from the original manuscript of Sherman’s autobiography. An exceptional survival from the most trusted staff member of one of the most distinguished officers in the nineteenth century U.S. Army.

Information courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions