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Sale 76
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Lot 112
Davis, Jefferson (1808-1889) CSA president; he had served as Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce (1853-57). War-date autograph letter signed "Jeffers. Davis", one page, on blue paper, 6 x 7½ in., n.d., Nov. 1 (18)62. Light creasing, else fine. To General Louis T. Wigfall, Confederate senator from Texas and former Brigadier General of the Texas Brigade. "I inquired for you to day….The purpose to ask your opinion as to the selection of a Brigadier for your old Brigade. Col. [Jerome Bonaparte] Robertson has been recommended but I recollected that you had expressed a doubt as to the propriety of promoting either of the Texas Cols….It is desirable to have the matter closed to night. Send me your advice…."
The Texas Brigade was an infantry brigade organized Oct. 22, 1861. It was intitially under the command of Wigfall (1816-1884), who had a reputation as a hard-drinking, violent man. He fought numerous duels, including one in 1840 with Preston Brooks (1819-1857), the future South Carolina Congressman who gained fame (or notoriety) for savagely beating abolitionist Massachusettes Senator Charles Sumner with a cane on the floor of the U.S. Senate in 1856. Wigfall served in the Texas Legislature, the United States Senate, and the Confederate Senate.
When Wigfall took a seat in the Confederate Senate, John Bell Hood took over command of the Texas Brigade (also known as "Hood's Brigade" or "Hood's Texas Brigade") and served until Nov. 1, 1862, the date of this letter, when Robertson was promoted to take over command. Robertson was known as "Aunt Polly" to his men, because of the care with which he looked out for them. The Texas Brigade fought in all the battles in which the Army of Northern Virginia engaged except for Chancellorsville. Estimated Value $4,000 - 6,000
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