Three Items:(1) War Date ALS, April 28, 1863, 1-1/4 pages, 7.75 x 9.75, Richmond, Virginia, C.S. Senate, written by CSA Senator andColonel Robert L. Y. Peyton, and endorsed by two CSA cavalry generals:W.H.F. “Rooney” LeeandR. L. T. Beale.Also endorsed by CSA captainStith Bolling.The letter concerns a request by a private in Beale’s regiment to be transferred.The endorsements support the transfer.Beale, commander of the 9th Reg. VA Cavalry, writes, in part: “….He is a good soldier cut off from home & friends and is without the means to mount himself at the present high prices of horses in Virginia. R. L. T. Beale, Col. Comg.”Clear ink writing.In pencil, General Lee writes: “Respectfully returned/ for records of Capt. of Co. ‘g’/W.H. F. Lee /Comdg. Gen.” [Lee’s signature and writing is very faint.]. Stith Bolling writes “I concur in the above remarks of Col. Beal. Stith Bolling, Capt. Co. G 9th VA Cav.”
Robert L. Y. Peyton(1822-63), the letter author, served as a Confederate Colonel andConfederate Senator from 1861 until his death from malaria 5 months after writing this letter.General W. H. F. “Rooney” Lee(1837-91) a son of General Robert E. Lee, rose to the rank of CSA Major Genl. and was later a U.S. Congressman.General Richard L. T. Beale(1819-93) was a U.S. Congressman before and after the war.As Colonel, he commanded the 9th VA Cavalry under Genl. Lee.He became a Brig. Genl. In early 1865.Stith Bolling(1835-1916) led the largest cavalry company under Genl. J.E.B. Stuart.At this time of this letter he was Acting Asst. Adj. Genl. on Gen. Rooney Lee’s staff.Wounded six times he later became a VA delegate.
(2)Ink signature with rank "G. J. Rains, Brig. Genl.” Clipped from a war period document, 2.75 x 1.25. Gabriel J. Rains (1803-81) was a veteran of the Seminole and Mexican Wars.He was one of the earliest Brigadier Generals in the Confederacy.After a severe wound he commanded the conscription and torpedo bureaus in Richmond.An inventor of land mines and booby traps, his “Raines” land mines were used during the war.He also developed a system of torpedoes and mines that protected the harbors of Charleston, Savannah, Mobile and other port cities.On the reverse side of the clip is the rare partial signatureCol. [E.] C. Edmonds.Col.Edward C Edmonds(1835-63) was leading the 38th VA Inf., when he was shot in the head and killed during Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg.
(3)Ink signature on a 2” x 4.5” slip “Humphrey Marshall, Newcastle, Kentucky, 1850.”Humphrey (1812-72) a great-great nephew of Chief Justice John Marshall, was a CSA Brigadier General, both a CSA and U.S. Congressman, and U.S. Minister to China under President Franklin Pierce.
