AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, 12 MAY 1841, TO JOHN BELL, SECRETARY OF WAR, RECOMMENDING A FRIEND'S SON FOR AN APPOINTMENT TO WEST POINT OR AS A MIDSHIPMAN.
Charleston, S.C. 1841. [2] pp, entirely in ink manuscript. Boldly signed, "H.S. Legare, on the sixth line of page [2]. Early tape at the blank left edge. Very Good.
Legare was a great South Carolina lawyer, State Attorney General, and legislator. Though a State Rights man, he opposed Calhoun-style Nullification. His correspondent, John Bell, was President Harrison's Secretary of War, and thus responsible for military appointments. Like Harrison, Bell was a Whig-- but formerly a Democrat-- who was rewarded with the Cabinet appointment for his support of the Harrison-Tyler ticket in 1840. Harrison died on April 4, 1841; Bell remained as President Tyler's Secretary of War, but would resign in September after Tyler broke with the Whigs on the crucial issues of tariffs and the National Bank.
Legare's Letter is as follows: "The object of these lines is to present to you & to recommend to your kindest consideration Dr. Wilkinson of this city, who wishes to obtain for a son a place at West Point, or a midshipman's warrant. Dr. Wilkinson's manners & conversation will sufficiently attest that he belongs to the most respectable class of our community, but I must mention to you what he will not, as a claim upon your particular attention. He was one of the vice presidents of the very first Harrison & Tyler meeting called in So. Carolina, or indeed in any part of the extreme South, & has been one of the few who have stood by us in the worst of times..." Item #37955
Price: $600.00