ALS signed “W. T. Sherman,” one page both sides, 5.5 x 8.25, personal letterhead, May 22, 1886. Letter to Ella Steele Brooks in San Luis Obispo, California, about her uncle, Union General Frederick Steele, who served under Sherman. In part: "I am no longer in Washington with half a dozen aids…therefore not as able to supply historic data as I was when I met you in California. My love for the memory of Fred Steele has not lessened with time, but my ability to recall acts, with names, dates &c is much diminished, and I no longer can verify my memory with the official record in Washington…The best thing for you to do is to apply to the Adj. Genl. in Washington for the military history of Genl. Fred Steele, and then make your personal sketches conform to that." In fine condition.
Frederick Steele (1819-1868) was a classmate of U. S. Grant at West Point, and a general in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was in the 1st Division of Sherman's XV Corps during the Siege of Vicksburg. He was then promoted and placed in command of the Army of Arkansas, where he successfully captured Confederate-held Little Rock and continued to push Union boundaries south through the state. He died in 1868 while in active service. A superb letter from Sherman about one of his esteemed officers.
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