June 2018 Auction Ends Thursday, June 28th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/28/2018
Exceptional Clara Barton autograph letter signed during the Civil War, in which the famous battlefield nurse thanks General Benjamin Butler for allowing her brother Stephen Barton to ''come to her'' after crossing into the General's lines, despite Stephen's status as Confederate spy. At the start of the Civil War, Stephen Barton had been living in North Carolina where he owned a lumber mill, and at some point during the war had been imprisoned by the Union Army as a spy, although Clara cautiously believes his is innocent, as she describes in this very poignant letter.
Accompanied by full transcription, letter is datelined 2:00 am on 16 October 1864 at ''Flying Hospital'' near Point of Rocks, Virginia, where Barton was appointed head of nursing by General Butler. It was at this hospital that she cared for her dying brother Stephen, until he passed away in March 1865. Letter reads in full,
''Major Gen'l B.F. Butler / My kind and honored General - A few hours ago, I left your tent, to seek sleep and rest in my own; but the 'wee small hours' have crept on, and no slumber after all these nights of waking comes to my weary eyes. And yet, I am so happy. - 'He can come to you,' still rings on my ear as sweetly and kindly as it first fell from your lips. It was so much more than I had even hoped for, that my breath grew thick and the blessing that welled up in my heart, struggled and clogged in my throat, and scarce left me utterance.
It was so much to know, that twenty-four little hours would restore to my embrace, my old worn, exiled brother - the brother I had loved with a baby love, who had borne me playfully about the fields on his strong youthful shoulders, and carried me tenderly in his arms through the tall drifts, to school. The strange winds of eight long years have tossed his silvery locks (now white and thin) since I have looked upon him; and four years of angry war, and misguided vile have swept his lonely home. Every night, his name has been woven in my prayers - every day in my thoughts. I have so prayed that he might come into your lines, and now, after all, to know that he is here, and that you will see and judge him for yourself, and permit him to come to me, is more than a sensitive nature like mine shall calmly endure.
I have no further boon [blessing] to crave. If, upon investigation you find that my brother's course of action has been such that you cannot overlook it, and receive him to your confidence as a loyal man, I shall submit to your decision without a murmur- it shall not move in me any spirit of discontent. I will not therefor be less sacrificing, loyal, or faithful, but shall work on till the end, cheerfully, loyally, hopefully. But, if on the other hand, it prove that he can be trusted, if you can receive him back as a Citizen of the United States, standing once more under the Old Flag he loved so well, God only knows the richness and fullness of joy it will bring to my heart. And unless my brother's soul is dead, and his whole nature changed, one friendly touch of your hand, one encouraging word from you, and he will water the ground at your feet with his tears of loyal, grateful joy.
Pardon this trespass, General for your kindness has made me scarce myself - But, so gratefully / Yours / Clara Barton''.
Letter on card-style stationery measures 5'' x 8''. Separation starting along folds and minor soiling on verso, where docketing appears, which reads in part, ''Barton, Clara Thanks the Genl for releasing her brother''. Overall very good plus condition, with elegant, legible handwriting.
Clara Barton Autograph Letter Signed to General Benjamin Butler, Regarding Her Brother, Imprisoned as a Confederate Spy -- ''...unless my brother's soul is dead, and his whole nature changed...''
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