2023-03 HCA Auctions
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/7/2023
James Simons (1813--79) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. The speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives when the war broke out, he was appointed by President Jefferson Davis as the first general officer of the Confederacy. As brigadier general of South Carolina Militia Fourth Infantry Brigade, he led the first attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861. Autograph Letter Signed, "James Simmons" , Charleston July 20, 1861, to Governor Jno. L Manning, Manassas Junction, Virginia. Manning, at the time Simons wrote him, was on the staff of General P. G. T. Beauregard, who commanded the Confederate army that he would lead to victory over the Federal forces at the first Battle of Manassas on 21 July 1861. In part, "In the midst of the scenes by which you are surrounded, I would not trouble you except to aid me in rescuing my name & character from the obloquy & disgrace, unto which the calumny of dastardly enemies, would cast them. ... I had my attention called by a friend to a paper called the Day Book (Norfolk) 15 July inst. Wherein was published an article professing to have been written in Charleston 11 July, in which the writer says, that the troops of Charleston were about to elect a Brigadier Genl., to succeed the present commander who has given notice of his resignation, that he would not be regretted as he had not distinguished himself for courage at the Bombardment of Fort Sumter, by a great deal, besides that in other respects he was very unpopular in Charleston. I wrote a letter to the Editor of the paper demanding the name of the author + sent jimmy with it to Norfolk . In the midst of your surroundings, I must ask your aid - I did not expect at anytime of life + with my public service so long, that I would ever have to ask to have my character indorsed to save my name from disgrace ..." Simons attributed the criticism to have arisen "from the unhappy selection by Major Whitney of the hospital for our temporary shelter, to write orders &c until we could get some other place suitable for an accommodation." Major W. H. Whitney was the engineer attached to General Beauregard's staff at the time. Simons continued, "Genl. Beauregard knows all the circumstances. I told him Whitney had led me into the error of errors…, but that I of course was responsible as the commander. He was very kind in his expression & very positive in assuring me that there was nothing in the matter but what was proper." He continues, "Can you ask Gen'l Beauregard to bestow his friendship on me ... I have resigned my commission as Brigadier General because I could not get any satisfactory answer from Governor Pickens that he would now permit me to go into the field with the troops and I prefer assuming a more humble station with the hope of service, than to hold a high office & to be left in a place of safety as the women and children, when the enemy are assailing our .. friends ..." Somewhat bizarrely, after resigning his commission Simons served for a time as a private in an artillery unit. Then, under authorization by Jefferson Davis, he made an abortive attempt to organize a Charleston legion, but ultimately spent most of the war focusing on his law practice. John Lawrence Manning (1816-1889) was the 65th Governor of South Carolina, from 1852 to 1854. He and his wife, Susan, had Millford Plantation built in 1839 near Pinewood, South Carolina. It is now a National Historic Landmark. According to the 1860 United States Slave Census Schedule John Manning owned 670 enslaved African-Americans, making him the 6th largest American slave owner at the time.
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