Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000
The Collection of Victor Niederhoffer part II
Auction: September 19, 2019 11:00:00 AM EDT
Hdqrs. Valley Dist., May 8, 1862. 2pp., on one 12mo. sheet (7 3/16 x 5 3/4 inches; 18.1 x 14.9cm.); with some damp-wrinkling, moderate creasing along folds; with the original addressed transmittal envelope; ink contents and signature browned and faded, but generally legible, signature cramped and faded. Housed in custom gilt-lettered chemise of red morocco and marbled boards, also holding steel engraved portrait of Stonewall Jackson.
The letter is addressed to Maj. Genl. R(ichard) S(toddert), Ewell Comdg. 3rd. Division. Stonewall Jackson urges one of his division commanders to proceed with caution in choosing when & where to engage the enemy, "General, if the enemy are in the vicinity of New Market, I hope you will remain there. All that I desire you to do is keep near enough to [Nathaniel] Banks to let him know that if he goes down the valley you will follow him, and that you are all the time in striking distance of him..."
Jackson 's strategic purpose in Northern Virginia's Shenandoah Valley was to keep Union forces from reinforcing McClellan's forces on the Peninsular.