Union officer during the Civil War who went on to play a prominent part as a major general in the Spanish-American War (1835–1906). TLS signed “Wm. R. Shafter,” presents as one page, 7.75 x 15, Headquarters Department of California letterhead, San Francisco, March 15, 1899. Letter to Horace Bell. In part: “Thank you for the very kind things you say in your letter concerning myself, and of the very flattering opinion you express of my campaign in Cuba. I knew, as I told you, that every man would eventually be taken sick, and it was only a question as to whether or not I could accomplish that which I was sent to do before disease overtook my command…Had I waited for everything that was necessary to make a properly conducted campaign, our bones would be bleaching on the soil of Cuba now, or we would have come away defeated.” Affixed to a slightly larger scrapbook page. In very good condition, with scattered soiling, various light blocks of toning, and overall vertical rippling from adhesive. RR Auction COA.
