Lot 1550
Beall, William. Lot of two items, the first is a seated uniform portrait cdv of Beall by Anthony. Toning to card; minor soil verso; remnants of tax stamp verso; strong image. Very good condition.
Autograph Letter Signed ("Wm N.R. Beall"). One page, 7 x 10", Johnson's Island Military Prison, Ohio, July 17, 1864. On lined paper, embossed "B". To Miss Semantha Atkeson of Buffalo, Virginia. Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope. Some foxing, mailing creases, Still, overall condition is very good to fine.
General Beall's letter, written just over a year after he surrendered Port Hudson, is full of gracious thanks for his correspondent and information about prison life: "…At the fall of Port Hudson, more than one year since, I had the good fortune to save my trunk and clothes and now have a good supply of clothing…There are now over two thousand officers confined here and after a long, long and tedious confinement there seems no prospect of an early exchange and who can tell how much longer we will have to remain here. We are permitted to write and receive one page…"
Beall was one of 9,000 prisoners who passed through the Johnson's island gates between April 1862 and September 1865. Shortly after this letter was sent, Beall was released on parole and served the rest of the War as a supply agent for Confederate prisoners of war, maintaining an office in New York and passing through federal barricades.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,500.
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