Raynors HCA 2019-05
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/30/2019
An important original archive containing Three Items of unique value. Each belonging to Private Robert McKinley, Co. I, 2nd West Virginia Cavalry. That unit which was a part of George Armstrong Custer’s Third Cavalry Division at the time of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. On April 8, 1865, Custer, with 4000 troops, captured and burned three supply trains waiting for Lee's army at the Appomattox Station. Within hours, Lee made the decision to surrender. Custer was present at that surrender. On that day, April 9, 1865 both Robert E.Lee and George A. Custer delivered their Farewell addresses. The first item is a manuscript copy of Custer’s Farewell. Written on four pages with a notation on page three”Presented to Robert McKinley, Com. 4, 2nd West Va. Cavalry Third Cavalry Division.” The pagination is unusual with page 1 & 4 on the same sheet; page 2 7 3 on the second sheet. The copy lacks puncuation and contains an occasional variance from the printed broadside. At the bottom of page four is the attribution, “L.W. Barnhard, Capt & AA General.” Levant W. Barnhart served on the staff of General Custer until the war closed—succeeding Jacob L. Greene. For one of his age his record as scholar and soldier was of exceptional brilliancy. He was barely twenty-one when he went on Custer's staff, who was himself not much more than a boy in years. Custer was but twenty-six when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. The manuscript in full: “Headquarters Third Cavalry Division, Appomattox Court Houser April 9, 1865.. Soldiers of the Third Cavalry Division: With profound gratitude toward the God of battles, by whose blessings our enemies have been humbled, and our arms rendered triumphant, your commanding general avails himself of this, his first opportunity, to express to you his admiration of the heroic manner in which you have passed through the series of battle which today resulted in the surrender of the enemy's entire army. The record established by your indomitable courage is unparalleled in the annals of war. Your prowess has won for you even the respect and admiration of your enemies. During the past six months, although in most instances confronted by superior numbers, you have captured from the enemy in open battle, one hundred and eleven pieces of field artillery, sixty-five battle flags and upwards of ten thousand prisoners of war, including seven general officers. Within the past ten days, and included in the above, you have captured forty-five pieces of field artillery and thirty-seven battle flags. You have never lost a gun, never lost a color, and never been defeated, and notwithstanding the numerous engagements, including those memorable battles of the Shenandoah, you have captured every piece of artillery the enemy has dared to open upon you. The near epoch of peace renders it improbable that you will be called upon again to undergo the fatigues of toilsome march or the exposure of the battlefield, but should the assistance of keen blades wielded by your sturdy arms be required to hasten the coming of the glorious peace for which we have been so long contending, the general commanding is proudly confident that in the future, as in the past, every demand will meet with a hearty and willing response. Let us hope that our work is done; that, blessed with the comforts of Pice, we may soon be permitted to return to the Pleasure of home and Friends. for our Comrades who have fallen in Battle let us cherish a grateful remembrance; to the wounded and those who Languish in southern Prisons, let our heartfelt sympathy be tended. an now, speaking of myself alone, when the war is ended, and the task of the Historian begins, when those deeds of daring which have rendered the Name and fame of the Third Cavalry Division imperishable, are inscribed upon the bright pages of our Country's history, I only ask that my name be written as the commander of the Third Cavalry Division. G A. Custer. Brevet-Major-General, Commanding.L.W.Barnhard, capt & AA General”. Dark ink, old folds, two minor edge tears. Also included is Carte de Visite of George A. Custer (Katz-70), with front mount, “John Brown - Wheeling, West Va.” This copy print was originally taken by Goldin, May 1865. The reverse has ink notation, “Presented to Robert McKinley June 7th 1865 by Brevet Major General George A Custer, Commanding 3rd Cavalry - as a fare well momento.” The CDV is worn and toned, with some scattered spotting and some creases at edges which don’t touch Custer’s image. The ink presentation is written over an earlier pencil notation barely visible. The manuscript presentation to McKinley on both the Farewell and the reverse of the CDV are in the same hand, likely McKinley’s. Also included is Robert McKinley’s Civil War Discharge Certificate, private “Company G, 2nd Regiment of West Va. Cavalry” dated June 30, 1865, at Wheeling, W. Va. and Signed by his Commanding Officer, Captain Jasper A. Smith, 7-3/4 x9-3/4, 1pg., VG. The Certificate notes that McKinley was born in Scotland, that he joined in 1862 for three years and that he was a farmer by occupation. Toned and soiled, still legible. The 2nd West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry remained in battle line until the evening of April 9, and then went into camp. they then started south to join Sherman. However, on April 28, they became aware that Johnston had surrendered. On the next day, the division began its return north. They proceeded to the Grand Review of the Armies on May 23, 1865, as a Union celebration of the end of the Civil War. Union troops paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. The parade was led by Custer's 3rd Division. The division was led by Company F of the 2nd West Virginia Cavalry as part of Capehart's Brigade. In early June 1865, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd West Virginia Cavalries were ordered to proceed to Wheeling, West Virgini where they were officially mustered on out on June 30, 1865.
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