Brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War (1816-1887) who served as a Kentucky congressman and as the U.S. Minister to Spain. Civil War-dated ALS signed “W. Preston,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 7.5, May 7, 1863. Addressed from Richmond, a handwritten letter to Confederate general and former American Vice President John C. Breckinridge, in part: “On my return from Charleston to Columbia, I received an order from the Secretary to come here, & arrived in the midst of the excitement of the Raid. The members were arriving in hot haste, but the news of the battle, & the arrival of troops have restored tranquility…I have had a long talk with Wigfall. He is a great friend of Johnston's & foe of Bragg. He tells me Johnston wished the command of the Army & yet wishes it, but was unwilling to be put in the position of an inquisitor into his conduct, with the possession of his Army, if his account were unfavorable. Wigfall thinks the Prest. sent J. there with the right to command, if he would assume the responsibility of superceding Bragg…I think Bragg cannot retain the command…The President is looking thin, worn & much older, but is cool, resolute & apparently regardless of popularity, in pursuit of his purpose. He is the government. He did not touch in his conversation on affairs at Tullahoma, but Mrs. Davis afterward made amends by the way she pitched into Bragg, but not in ‘Jeff's’ presence.” In fine condition.
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