2022-07 Raynors HCA Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/15/2022
Samuel Wylie Crawford (1829 -1892) was a United States Army surgeon and a Union general in the American Civil War. He served as a surgeon at Fort Sumter, South Carolina during the confederate bombardment in 1861. Manuscript Document Signed by Committee members of the Mercantile Library Association. One page, 7 3/4” x 9 7/8” “Brooklyn,” New York. May 8, 1861. To “Dr. Crawford U.S.A.” The document reads: “Dear Sir, The undersigned in behalf of the Mercantile library of Brooklyn would respectfully invite you to deliver before the Association and the Citizens of Brooklyn an Account of the Siege of Fort Sumpter [sic]- Aside from public interest, the historic importance of this memorable event, and the absence as yet of any complete authoritative relation of all that occurred, have induced them to make this request of you, who bore so honorable a part in the action & they tryst you will find it in you power to give a favorable reply. Leaving to you own convenience the selection of the time they remain With respect Your obdt. Servts James Thorne … John Jay Hannah.” During the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the engagement that ignited the America’s four year Civil War, assistant surgeon Samuel Wylie Crawford, a major in the 13th US Infantry, commanded a Union battery against the Confederate onslaught. This invitation for Crawford to offer his firsthand account of the battle before the Mercantile Library Association, one of the foremost cultural institutions in the country at this time, comes less than one month after the historic conflict, illustrating the eagerness with which Union supporters greeted any news of the conflict between the Blue and Grey. Continuing in the service of the Union throughout the war, Crawford was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers in April of 1862 and commanded a Division in both the Shenandoah Valley campaign and at Cedar Mountain. Subsequently, Crawford, though wounded while serving during the Antietam Campaign, led troops at Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Five Forks.
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