Beschreibung:

LEE, ROBERT E., General, C.S.A. . Manuscript document BOLDLY SIGNED ("R. E. Lee, Genl."), comprising his General Order No. 9, the body of the text in the hand of an unidentified Aide, "Hd. Qrs. A[rmy of] N[orthern] V[irginia]. [near Appomattox, Virginia], 10 April 1865, 3 pages, 8vo . LEE'S ELOQUENT FAREWELL TO HIS VANQUISHED ARMY, THE DAY AFTER HIS SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX "After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. "I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard-fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to this result from no distrust of them. But feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that would compensate for the loss that must have attended the continuance of the contest, I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen. "By the terms of the agreement, Officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you his blessing and protection. "With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration for myself, I bid you an affectionate farewell." Lee signed the final surrender documents on Sunday, April 9, in the parlor of the MacLean house, just north of Appomattox Courthouse. That night, Lee told his aide-de-camp, Lt. Col. Charles Marshall what he wished to express in his farewell message to his men. Marshall produced a draft the next morning, which Lee then revised, of what became his General Order No.9, one of the best-known documents of the entire Civil War. "No other words, spoken or written, had a more heartening effect on the veterans of the proud but weary Army of Northern Virginia" (Fields). Manuscript copies of the General Order No.9 were prepared by Lee's aides and signed by the Lee himself for presentation to the ranking corps commanders and chiefs of departments of the staff in the Army of Northern Virginia. Some individual officers, it is believed, also made their own copies and brought them to Lee to be signed. For a detailed account of the genesis of the Order and a partial census (as of 1949) see Joseph E. Fields, "Robert E. Lee's Farewell Order," in Manuscripts: The First Twenty Years, ed. Priscilla S. Taylor, 1984, pp.260-265. Surviving copies of Lee's General Order No. 9 were reverently handled to such an extent by recipients and their families in the years after the surrender that copies in good condition, like the present example, are rare.