BENJAMIN, JUDAH P. Autograph document signed on Confederate States of America War Department stationery. Richmond: 12 Januar...

Description:

BENJAMIN, JUDAH P.
Autograph document signed on Confederate States of America War Department stationery. Richmond: 12 January, 1862. 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches (25 x 19 cm); single leaf on printed ruled CSA letterhead, 2 pp., written to Brigadier General H. A. Wise (then in Norfolk) in Benjamin's neat hand, in response to a letter (not present) of January 2. Usual folds. Framed with portrait.

Before Secession, the recipient of this letter, Henry A. Wise, was Governor of Virginia. He passionately advocated for, and was largely instrumental in, the execution of John Brown. After Virginia seceded, Wise became a Brigadier-General in the CSA and in early 1862 was in command of the Roanoke District, which included Roanoke Island. It was from this vantage that he wrote to Judah P. Benjamin requesting a steam pile driver and munitions. Benjamin replies (after discussion of the pile driver request) that he can supply "a moderate supply of fixed ammunition for field pieces, but our supply of cannon powder is very limited" and that "At the first indication however of an attack on Roanoke Island a supply will be sent to you. With the number of batteries now requiring supply we have a very small reserve that we can only part with to the point that may be actually attacked." As matters transpired, the Battle of Roanoke Island on February 7-8 proved Wise's request prophetic; the island quickly fell and was under Union control for the rest of the Civil War, and both Wise and Benjamin endured much criticism within the Confederacy as a consequence.
Benjamin, a lawyer who became a wealthy planter and slaveholder, became active in politics, serving in the Louisiana legislature before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1852, where he served as an apologist for slavery. After Secession, he resigned his Senate seat and was appointed first Attorney General to the Confederacy by Jefferson Davis, and subsequently Secretary of War and then Secretary of State. In the last role, he attempted to gain official recognition of the Confederacy by France and the United Kingdom. After the fall of Richmond, he escaped to Great Britain, where he successfully resumed his legal practice.

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Estimate $1,500-2,500

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