Raynors HCA 2019-05
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/30/2019
On February 3, 1864 Union General William T. Sherman advanced from Vicksburg, Miss. in order to disrupt the Mississippi's main rail lines. General Leonidas Polk, as commander of the Department of Mississippi and Alabama has his was headquarters in Meridian. Failing to check Sherman's advance he abandoned Meridian and fell back towards Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Sherman and his men occupied Meridian on February 14th while Polk, in the telegrams being offered here, prepared his ultimate retreat into Alabama. The Meridian Campaign was a tactical success for Sherman and historically is known as his dry run for the March to the Sea. Offered are two "South-Western Telegraph Company" telegrams, totaling 3pp. oblong 8vo., Columbus, Miss., Feb. 13, 1864, issued by General Polk to subordinate Daniel Ruggles, at Columbus, Miss., ordering him to prepare his retreat. The first telegram, reading, in part: "Have all the cars in Columbus loaded with the most valuable of the Q. M. & Ordnance stores & send them to this place immediately…L. Polk, Lt. Genl." The second telegram, reading, in part: "…you will have the cars loaded with commissary stores bacon, wheat & flour as ordered in my last dispatch. Give them the preference, leaving the meal & corn out . Use the post wagons & press others from town & country[side] to transport the most valuable of the Q. M. stores…if possible to Tuscaloosa, Ala. The trains pressed can then return. Let them leave as they are loaded &…parked at a point some miles beyond the river…do the same with ordnance stores. Distribute the residue of the subsistence stores to the poor & other families of the town…these cars should [be] loaded as quick as possible to pass with safety [to] points on the Rail Road below Columbus [which is] now threatened…L. Polk, Lt. Genl." Expected soiling and wear, one telegram with two small mounting hinges remaining on the verso, else VG
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