USMA West Point Class of 1854 Signatures. WITH: Original Ink-Drawn Map and Watercolor View

by [CIVIL WAR; WEST POINT]; [STUART, JEB; LEE, GEORGE WASHINGTON CUSTIS; MYER, ALBERT J.; LEE, STEPHEN D.; WEBB, ALEXANDER STEWART]

$60,000 · Offered by Biblio

First edition · Signed

n.pl: n.p., n.d.. First edition. Very Good. A CLASS DIVIDED: A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF SIGNATURES OF WEST POINT ALUMNI SOON TO BE DIVIDED BY THE CIVIL WAR. WITH: FINELY DRAWN INK MAP OF WEST POINT BY ALEXANDER STEWART WEBB AND ELEGANT WATERCOLOR VIEW. FROM THE COLLECTION OF JEB STUART. The Signatures: The present collection includes two large displays of signatures, on sheets featuring numerous small boxes printed onto them filled in by each individual with their name and a location, perhaps their current residences. The effect these documents give is the impression of an informal assortment of hand-written calling cards amassed after a social function of West Point alumni. Predominately, the sheets are signed by most of the Class of 1854, a fateful group who were soon be divided by the impending Civil War. Beyond this outstanding group, other graduating classes are represented as well as certain individuals who were not graduates of the USMA but no less salient figures of wartime America-including Albert J. Myer, inventor of wigwag signalling, and James Wiley Magoffin, lessor for the land upon which Fort Bliss would be built. The terminus ad quem for the collection of signatures is most likely 1854, the earliest death of any signee, in this case John L. Grattan, who died after encountering Sioux troops in the Dakota Territory. Yet, a number of signees are from later graduating classes-so either, if the signatures were assembled all on one date, these individuals were still curr

• Publisher: n.p.
• Edition: First Edition
• Binding: unknown

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