DAVID
E. TWIGGS. Autograph Letter Signed to Major W. V. Wheaton,
East Pascagoula, MS, 28 August 1851. 1 page, 9½" x 7½".
A Confederate
major general, David Twiggs was, at the age of 70, the oldest officer
in the U.S. Army to quit and join the Confederate military. A veteran
of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, Twiggs was in charge of the
Department of Texas in 1861, and in February of that year, he surrendered
all the troops and stores under his command to rebel forces in the state.
Named a C.S.A. major general that May, Twiggs headed the Military District
of Louisiana until his retirement in October 1861. He died in July 1862.
In this
pre-war letter to a U.S. army surgeon in Philadelphia, Twiggs asks,
"Will you do me the favor to procure the receipt of the Apothecary
for making 'Cologne.' I find it so fine, I wish to know how to have
it made. No news here," he adds, "except what the
newspaper will give you of Cuba." He has signed, "D.E.
Twiggs."
The letter
is in very good condition. It is accompanied by a newspaper clipping,
an obituary of Twiggs taken from the New York Herald of July
21, 1862.
Twiggs's
autograph is scarce. $650.00
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