AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, 30 JUNE 1880, TO JOHN H. JEWETT OF WORCESTER MASS. "DEAR SIR AND COMRADE. . . I HAVE OFTEN THOUGHT OF YOU AND OF THE PLEASANT DAYS I HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF ENJOYING IN YOUR COMPANIONSHIP WHILE AT THE MOUNT PLEASANT GENL HOSPITAL. . . YOU WILL PERHAPS RECOLLECT THAT YOU MET ME LAST IN APRIL 1864 WHILE I WAS RETURNING FROM AN EXAMINATION BEFORE CASEY'S BOARD TO REJOIN MY REGIMENT THE 39TH N.Y.VOLS. NEAR FREDERICKSBURG VA. I MET THE REGIMENT AND AFTER PARTICIPATING IN ALL THE SUBSEQUENT BATTLES AND ENGAGEMENTS WITHOUT BEING HARMED I WAS FINALLY WOUNDED AND CAPTURED DURING A CHARGE ON THE BREASTWORKS IN FRONT OF PETERSBURG VA NEAR THE WELDON R.R. SENT TO RICHMOND, BELLE ISLAND, AND IMMURED FOR LONG NINE MONTHS IN ANDERSONVILLE, I FINALLY REACHED THE UNION LINES AT JACKSONVILLE FLA. ON OR ABOUT THE 2D MAY 1865. AS A MOVING SKELETON I WAS TRANSPORTED WITH MANY FELLOW SUFFERERS TO THE U.S. GENL HOSPITAL AT HILTON HEAD S.C. FROM WHERE IN THE MONTH OF AUGUST 65 I WAS ORDERED TO APPEAR AS A WITNESS ON THE WIRZ TRIAL THAT IN CONSEQUENCE OF MY TESTIMONY, SUBSTANTIATED BY MY SKETCHES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS, THE COPPERHEAD PRESS MALIGNED, VILLIFIED AND SLANDERED ME IS PERHAPS KNOWN TO YOU AND YOU MAY HAVE BEEN AS MUCH APPALLED AS MYSELF TO BE INFORMED WHAT A TERRIBLE VILLAIN I MUST HAVE BEEN THAT I COULD CONTRIBUTE MY SHARE TOWARDS CONVICTING SUCH A NOBLE MARTYR AS WIRZ WHO HAD ONLY TORTURED AND MURDERED MISERABLE 13000 YANKEES.
Chicago: 1880. Folio sheet, folded to [4] pages, each page 7-3/4" x 9-3/4." Written in elegant manuscript on rubberstamp letterhead of "Andersonville Survivors' Association, Room 7, 120 Randolph St. CHICAGO, ILLS." Signed in ink at the bottom of page [4], "Felix La Baume."
Baume founded the Andersonville Survivors' Association in 1866, based in New York City, with an elaborate letterhead listing its officers, and the motto, "Let Us Forgive But Not Forget." After Baume moved to Chicago in 1871, he abandoned the letterhead in favor of this less elaborate red rubberstamp. He discloses that he "married a wealthy American lady" and dropped the "de" from his name "as an unrepublican, superfluous appendage."
"Few things in the history of Andersonville prison are as controversial as the Trial of Henry Wirz. Like most trials, efforts were made by both the prosecution and the defense to discredit key witnesses. Among these in the Wirz trial was Felix de la Baume. According to tradition, de la Baume was the star witness and his testimony was instrumental in convicting Wirz of the second of the two charges - murder. However, de la Baume remains shrouded in some mystery. According to tradition he claimed to be related to Marquis de Lafayette and enthralled the courtroom with his flamboyant testimony and was even given a commendation for his testimony and a job with the Department of the Interior. . .
"In an interview with the Evening Star shortly before his execution, Wirz remarked that 'The man who gave his name as Delabon, a grandson of Gen. Lafayette, will be found out to be a German Jew named Schaffer, a deserter from a New York Regiment'." ["Myth: The Mystery of Felix de la Baume", website of the National Park Service.] Confederate revisionists made much of these uncertainties in an effort to discredit his testimony at the Wirz trial.
John Howard Jewett [1843-1925], a native of Hadley, Massachusetts, was a merchant, author and Civil War veteran. He served in the Civil War with the Tenth Massachusetts Infantry, resigning in August 1864 with the rank of lieutenant. After the war, he eventually settled in Worcester. He was editor and manager of The Holyoke Transcript for several years, publisher of The Worcester Gazette from 1873 to 1896, editor of The Profession, and managing editor of The Craftsman. Beginning around the late 1880s, he added private literary pursuits to his resume, publishing children's books and poetry. By 1905, he had settled in New York and devoted himself entirely to these private works, publishing over thirty children's books in all, including the well-known "Bunny Stories" Item #42306
Price: $2,000.00