AUTOGRAPHS
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HORACE GREELEY AUTOGRAPHED FLY LEAF

Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American editor of a leading newspaper, a founder of the Republican party, reformer and politician. His New York Tribune was America's most influential newspaper from the 1840s to the 1870s and "established Greeley's reputation as the greatest editor of his day." Greeley used it to promote the Whig and Republican parties, as well as antislavery and a host of reforms. Crusading against the corruption of Ulysses S. Grant's Republican administration, he was the presidential candidate in 1872 of the new Liberal Republican Party. Despite having the additional support of the Democratic Party, he lost in a landslide. When the new Republican Party was founded in 1854, Greeley made the Tribune its unofficial national organ, and fought slavery extension and the slave power on every page. On the eve of the Civil War circulation nationwide approached 300,000. His editorials and news reports explaining the policies and candidates of the Whig Party were reprinted and discussed throughout the country. Many small newspapers relied heavily on the reporting and editorials of the Tribune. He served as Congressman for three months, 1848--1849, but failed in numerous other attempts to win elective office. In 1860 he supported the conservative ex-Whig Edward Bates of Missouri for president, an action that weakened Greeley's old ally Seward. Greeley made the Tribune the leading newspaper opposing the Slave Power, that is, what he considered the conspiracy by slave owners to seize control of the federal government and block the progress of liberty. In the secession crisis of 1861 he took a hard line against the Confederacy. Theoretically, he agreed, the South could declare independence; but in reality he said there was "a violent, unscrupulous, desperate minority, who have conspired to clutch power" –secession was an illegitimate conspiracy that had to be crushed by federal power. He took a Radical Republican position during the war, in opposition to Lincoln’s moderation. In the summer of 1862, he wrote a famous editorial entitled "The Prayer of Twenty Millions" demanding a more aggressive attack on the Confederacy and faster emancipation of the slaves. A month later he hailed Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Although after 1860 he increasingly lost control of the Tribune’s operations, and wrote fewer editorials, in 1864 he expressed defeatism regarding Lincoln’s chances of reelection, an attitude that was echoed across the country when his editorials were reprinted. Oddly he also pursued a peace policy in 1863-64 that involved discussions with Copperheads and opened the possibility of a compromise with the Confederacy. Lincoln was aghast, but outsmarted Greeley by appointing him to a peace commission he knew the Confederates would repudiate. In Reconstruction he took an erratic course, mostly favoring the Radicals and opposing president Andrew Johnson in 1865-66. His personal guarantee of bail for Jefferson Davis in 1867 stunned many of his long-time readers, half of whom canceled their subscriptions. This crushing defeat was not Greeley's only misfortune in 1872. Greeley was among several high-profile investors who were defrauded by Philip Arnold in a famous diamond and gemstone hoax. Meanwhile, as Greeley had been pursuing his political career, Whitelaw Reid, owner of the New York Herald, had gained control of the Tribune.

Original Horace Greeley autograph, signed on a fly leaf. Hand written: Yours, Horace Greeley. Regular Price - $ 695.00 / Sale Price - $ 450.00

DEWITT CLINTON AUTOGRAPH

DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769 Napanoch, New York – February 11, 1828 Albany, New York) was an early American politician who served as United States Senator and Governor of New York. In this last capacity he was largely responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal. He was the second son born to James Clinton and his wife Mary DeWitt, daughter of an old Dutch family, and was educated at what is now Columbia University. He became the secretary to his uncle, George Clinton, who was then governor of New York. Soon after he became a member of the Democratic-Republican Party. He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1798 and of the New York State Senate from the Southern District from 1798 to 1802, and from 1806 to 1811. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1801. He was a member of the Council of Appointments in 1801-1802 and 1806-1807. He won the by-election to the United States Senate after the resignation of John Armstrong, Jr. and served from February 9, 1802, to November 4, 1803. He resigned, unhappy with living conditions in newly built Washington, DC, to become the Mayor of New York. He served as Mayor in 1803-1807, 1808-1810 and 1811-1815. While serving as Mayor, he organized the Historical Society of New York in 1804 and was its president. He also organized the Academy of Fine Arts in 1808. He was Regent of the University of New York from 1808 to 1825. Clinton was married twice, first on February 13, 1796, to Maria Franklin, daughter of the prominent New York Quaker merchant, Walter Franklin, by whom he had ten children, four sons and three daughters surviving at the time of her death in 1818. On May 8, 1819, he married Catharine Jones, daughter of a New York physician, Thomas Jones, who survived him. In 1811, defeating the Federalist Nicholas Fish and the Tammany Hall candidate Marinus Willett, he won a special election for Lieutenant Governor of New York - to fill the vacancy left by the death of Lt. Gov. Broome - and served under Daniel D. Tompkins until the end of the term in June 1813. In 1812 Clinton ran for President of the United States as candidate of the Federalists and anti-war Democratic-Republicans, but was defeated by President Madison, Clinton received 89 electoral votes, Madison 128. After the resignation of Governor Tompkins who had been elected Vice President, he won a special gubernatorial election against Peter Buell Porter - Clinton received 43,310 votes, Porter only 1,479. On July 1, 1817, Clinton became the governor of New York. He was re-elected in 1820, defeating the sitting Vice President Tompkins - DeWitt Clinton 47,447 votes, Tompkins 45,900 - and served until December 31, 1822. During his second term, the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821 shortened the gubernatorial term to two years, and moved the beginning of the term from July 1 to January 1, actually cutting off the last 6 months of the 3-year-term he had been elected to. Also the gubernatorial election was moved from April to November, but Clinton was not renominated by his party to run for reelection in November 1822. In 1824 he was re-elected governor, and served another two terms until his sudden death in office. He was originally buried at the Clinton Cemetery in Little Britain, New York, later he was re-interred at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Clinton was able to accomplish many things as a leader in civic and state affairs, such as improving the New York public school system, encouraging steam navigation, and modifying the laws governing criminals and debtors. The 1831 DeWitt Clinton (locomotive) was named in his honor. While governor he was largely responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal. He imagined a Canal from Buffalo, New York on the Eastern Shore of Lake Erie to Albany, New York on the upper Hudson River, a distance of almost 400 miles. So, in 1817 he persuaded the state lawmakers to provide 7 million dollars for the construction of a canal 363 miles long, 40 feet wide, and four feet deep. In 1825, when the Erie Canal was finished, Governor Clinton opened it, sailing in the packet boat Seneca Chief along the Canal into Buffalo. After sailing from the mouth of Lake Erie to New York City he emptied two casks of water from Lake Erie into New York Harbor, celebrating the first connection of waters from East to West. Although railroads did compete with the canal, the advent of railroads did not cause the canal to become defunct. As late as 1852, the canal carried thirteen times more freight tonnage than all the railroads in New York state combined; it continued to compete well with the railroads through 1882, when tolls were abolished. The canal made an immense contribution to the wealth and importance of both New York City and New York State, making boomtowns out of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Rome, Utica and Schenectady. Nevertheless, its impact went much further, as it increased trade throughout the nation by opening eastern markets to Midwest farm products and encouraged western immigration. Clinton, Massachusetts was named after DeWitt Clinton.

Original Dewitt Clinton autograph, signed on cut paper. Regular Price - $ 249.00 / Sale Price - $ 175.00.

JOHN SHERMAN AUTOGRAPHED FLY LEAF

John Sherman nicknamed "The Ohio Icicle" (May 10, 1823 – October 22, 1900) was a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Ohio during the Civil War and into the late nineteenth century. He served as both Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State and was the principal author of the Sherman Antitrust Act. His older brothers were Charles Taylor Sherman, a US Judge in Ohio, and Major General William Tecumseh Sherman of Civil War fame. His younger brother was banker Hoyt Sherman. After his marriage, Sherman took up an interest in politics. He was a delegate to the 1848 Whig National Convention which nominated General Zachary Taylor for the presidency and again to the 1852 Whig National Convention which nominated General Winfield Scott. In 1853, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In 1854, he was elected a Republican to the United States House of Representatives for Ohio's thirteenth district where he served as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means from 1859 to 1861. After Senator Salmon P. Chase resigned to become the Secretary of the Treasury, Sherman was elected to fill his seat. There, he served as chairman of the Committee on Agriculture from 1863 to 1867 and chairman of the Committee on Finance from 1863 to 1865 and again from 1867 to 1877. In 1877, newly elected President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Sherman Secretary of the Treasury. He served in the position through the entire Hayes administration, 1877 to 1881. In 1880, he sought the Republican nomination for the presidency hoping to become a compromise candidate between Ulysses S. Grant and James G. Blaine, but lost it to his campaign manager James A. Garfield. When his term as Treasury Secretary expired, Sherman was elected back to the Senate to fill the seat which was originally elected to James A. Garfield, but Garfield had also won the election to the presidency that year. Sherman served as chairman of the Committee on the Library from 1881 to 1887, chairman of the Republican Conference from 1884 to 1885 and again from 1891 to 1897 and chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations from 1885 to 1893 and again from 1895 to 1897. He was also elected to be President pro tempore of the Senate which he served as from 1885 to 1887. Due to the death of Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks, Sherman was next in line for the presidency after the Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Griffin Carlisle from December of 1885 to January of 1886. He had run for the presidency two more times in 1884 and 1888, but, again, lost the bids to James G. Blaine and Benjamin Harrison. In 1890, Sherman wrote and introduced the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first United States Federal Government action to limit monopolies. It is oldest of all antitrust laws in the United States. It was signed by President Benjamin Harrison that year. In 1897, newly elected President William McKinley appointed Sherman Secretary of State. He proved to be ineffective in the position and in 1898, McKinley replaced Sherman with Assistant Secretary of State William R. Day.

Original John Sherman autograph, signed on a fly leaf. Hand Written: John Sherman Ohio. Regular Price - $ 250.00 / Sale Price - $ 150.00.

HENRY CLAY AUTOGRAPH

Henry Clay, Sr. (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852) was a nineteenth-century American statesman and orator who represented Kentucky in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He was a dominant figure in both the First Party System to 1824, and the Second Party System after that. Known as "The Great Compromiser" and "The Great Pacificator" for his ability to bring others to agreement, he was the founder and leader of the Whig Party and a leading advocate of programs for modernizing the economy, especially tariffs to protect industry, a national bank, and internal improvements to promote canals, ports and railroads. As a War Hawk in Congress demanding the War of 1812, Clay made an immediate impact in his first congressional term, including becoming Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. In his early involvement in Illinois politics, Abraham Lincoln was a great admirer of Clay. Although his multiple attempts at the presidency were unsuccessful, to a large extent he defined the issues of the Second Party System. He was a major supporter of the American System, and had success in brokering compromises on the slavery issue, especially in 1820 and 1850. He was part of the "Great Triumvirate" or "Immortal Trio," along with his colleagues Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun. In 1957, a Senate committee chaired by John F. Kennedy named Clay as one of the five greatest senators in American history. Clay continued to serve both the Union he loved and his home state of Kentucky until June 29, 1852, when he passed away in Washington, D.C., at the age of 75. Clay was the first person to lie in state in the United States Capitol. He was buried in Lexington Cemetery and the eulogy was provided by Theodore Frelinghuysen, who ran as Clay's Vice-Presidential candidate in the election of 1844. Clay's headstone reads simply: "I know no North - no South - no East - no West."

Original Henry Clay autograph, Hand signed on cut paper. Regular Price - $ 1450.00 / Sale Price - $ 650.00.

EDWIN M. STANTON AUTOGRAPH

Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814 – December 24, 1869), was an American lawyer, politician, United States Attorney General in 1860-61 and Secretary of War through most of the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. Less notable is the debate of whether Stanton served a short term as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. In 1856, Stanton moved to Washington, D.C., where he had a large practice before the Supreme Court. In 1859, Stanton was the defense attorney in the sensational trial of Daniel E. Sickles, a politician and later a Union general, who was tried on a charge of murdering his wife's lover, Philip Barton Key, II (son of Francis Scott Key), but was acquitted after Stanton invoked the first use of the insanity defense in U.S. history. In 1860 he was appointed Attorney General by President James Buchanan. He strongly opposed secession, and is credited by historians for changing Buchanan's position away from tolerating secession to denouncing it as unconstitutional and illegal. Stanton was politically opposed to Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1860. After Lincoln was elected president, Stanton agreed to work as a legal adviser to the inefficient Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, whom he replaced on January 15, 1862. He accepted the position only to "help save the country." He was very effective in administering the huge War Department, but devoted considerable amounts of his energy to the persecution of Union officers whom he suspected of having traitorous sympathies for the South. On August 8, 1862 Stanton issued an order to "arrest and imprison any person or persons who may be engaged, by act, speech or writing, in discouraging volunteer enlistments, or in any way giving aid and comfort to the enemy, or in any other disloyal practice against the United States." Stanton continued to hold the position of secretary of war under President Andrew Johnson until 1868. His relations with the president were not good, and Johnson attempted to remove Stanton from the Cabinet and replace him with General Lorenzo Thomas. Stanton, however, barricaded himself in his office, and the radicals in Congress, claiming that Johnson's actions violated the Tenure of Office Act, initiated impeachment proceedings against him. Johnson however escaped conviction by a single vote. After this, Stanton resigned and returned to the practice of law. The next year he was appointed by President Grant to the Supreme Court, but he died four days after he was confirmed by the Senate, and taking the oath of office on his deathbed, set the record for shortest tenure on the Court. He died in Washington, DC, and is buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery. This point is disputed by the Supreme Court web site itself in its official Justices PDFwhich does not list Stanton as a Justice of the Supreme Court, but notes that: "The acceptance of the appointment and commission by the appointee, as evidenced by the taking of the prescribed oaths, is here implied; otherwise the individual is not carried on this list of the Members of the Court. Examples: ..... Edwin M. Stanton who died before he could take the necessary steps toward becoming a Member of the Court."

Original Edwin M. Stanton autograph, hand signed cut heavy paper. This appears to have been cut from a War Department Document. On the paper: War Department Official Business Edwin Stanton Secretary of War. Regular Price - $ 399.00 / Sale Price - $ 195.00.

JAMES BLAINE AUTOGRAPHED FLY LEAF

James Gillespie Blaine (January 31, 1830 – January 27, 1893) was a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine and a two-time United States Secretary of State. He was a dominant Republican leader of the post Civil War period, obtaining the 1884 Republican nomination, but lost to Democrat Grover Cleveland. Blaine was Secretary of State in the cabinets of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. After Garfield was assassinated President Arthur kept him on until December, 1881. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for President in 1884, the only nonincumbent Republican nominee to lose a presidential race between 1860 and 1912. (See U.S. presidential election, 1884.) Republican reformers called "Mugwumps" supported Cleveland because of Blaine's reputation for corruption. After heated canvassing, during which he made a series of brilliant speeches, he was beaten by a narrow margin in New York. Many, including Blaine himself, attributed his defeat to the effect of a phrase, "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion", used by a Protestant clergyman, the Rev. Samuel D. Burchard , on October 29, 1884, in Blaine's presence, to characterize what, in his opinion, the Democrats stood for. "Rum" meant the liquor interest; "Romanism" meant Catholics; "Rebellion" meant Confederates in 1861. The phrase was not Blaine's, but his opponents made use of it to characterize his hostility toward Catholics, some of whom probably did switch their vote. Blaine's mother was a Roman Catholic of Irish descent and his sister was a nun, and speculation was that he might gain votes from a heavily Democratic group. However, Catholics were already suspicious of Blaine over his support of the Blaine Amendments, and this confirmed many suspicions. Refusing to be a presidential candidate again in 1888, he became Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Benjamin Harrison from 1889 to 1892. His service at State was distinguished by several notable steps. In order to promote the friendly understanding and co-operation of the nations on the American continents he projected a Pan-American Congress, which, after being arranged for and led by Blaine as its first president, was frustrated by his retirement. (Its most important conclusions were the need for reciprocity in trade, a continental railway and compulsory arbitration in international complications.) Shaping the tariff legislation for this policy, Blaine negotiated a large number of reciprocity treaties which augmented the commerce of his country. He upheld American rights in Samoa, pursued a vigorous diplomacy with Italy over the lynching of 11 Italians accused of being Mafiosi who murdered the police chief in New Orleans in 1891, held a firm attitude during the strained relations between the United States and Chile over a deadly barroom brawl involving sailors from the USS Baltimore; and carried on with Britain a controversy over the seal fisheries of Bering Sea—a difference afterwards settled by arbitration. Blaine sought to secure a modification of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, and in an extended correspondence with the British government strongly asserted the policy of an exclusive American control of any isthmian canal which might be built to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Blaine resigned on June 4, 1892, on the eve of the meeting of the Republican National Convention. His name, when once again submitted for consideration by the delegates, drew little support. During the leisure of his later years he wrote Twenty Years of Congress (1884-1886), a brilliant historical work in two volumes. Blaine played a role in founding Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and he served as a longtime trustee (1863-1893) of the college . Blaine received an honorary degree from Bates in 1869. Blaine died in Washington at the age of 62 and was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery. Reinterment took place in the Blaine Memorial Park, Augusta, Maine, in June 1920.

Original James Blaine autograph, signed on a fly leaf. Regular Price - $ 189.00 / Sale Price - $ 145.00.

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN AUTOGRAPH

William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, statesman, and politician. He was a three-time Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States. One of the most popular speakers in American history, he was noted for his deep, commanding voice. Bryan was a devout Presbyterian, a strong proponent of popular democracy, an outspoken critic of banks and railroads, a leader of the silverite movement in the 1890s, a dominant figure in the Democratic Party, a peace advocate, a prohibitionist, an opponent of Darwinism, and one of the most prominent leaders of Populism in late 19th- and early 20th century America. He was called "The Great Commoner" because of his total faith in the goodness and rightness of the common people. He was defeated by William McKinley in the intensely fought 1896 election and 1900 election, but retained control of the Democratic Party. Bryan was one of the most energetic campaigners in American history, inventing the national stumping tour for presidential candidates. In his three failed presidential bids, he promoted Free Silver in 1896, anti-imperialism in 1900, and trust-busting in 1908, calling on all Democrats to renounce states rights in cases where corporations are protected, fight the trusts and big banks, and embrace populist ideas. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Secretary of State in 1913, but Bryan resigned in protest against what he viewed as Wilson's provocative language in dealing with the Lusitania crisis in 1915. In the 1920s, he was a strong supporter of Prohibition, but is probably best known today for his crusade against Darwinism, which culminated in the Scopes Trial in 1925. He died five days after the case was decided. After supporting Woodrow Wilson for the presidency in 1912, he was rewarded with the top job as Secretary of State. Wilson made all the major foreign policy decisions himself, only nominally consulting Bryan. Dedicated to peace (though not a pacifist), Bryan negotiated 28 treaties that promised arbitration of disputes before war broke out between that country and the United States; onto which Germany never signed. He supported American military intervention in the civil war in Mexico in 1914. Bryan resigned in June 1915 over Wilson's strong notes demanding "strict accountability for any infringement of [American] rights, intentional or incidental." He campaigned energetically for Wilson's reelection in 1916. When war finally was declared in April 1917, Bryan wrote Wilson, "Believing it to be the duty of the citizen to bear his part of the burden of war and his share of the peril, I hereby tender my services to the Government. Please enroll me as a private whenever I am needed and assign me to any work that I can do." Wilson, however, did not allow Bryan to rejoin the military and did not offer him any wartime role, so he threw his energies into successful campaigns for Constitutional amendments on prohibition and women's suffrage.

Original William Jennings Bryan autograph, signed on cut card stock. Regular Price - $ 350.00 / Sale Price - $ 250.00.

RUTH BRYAN OWEN AUTOGRAPH

OWEN, Ruth Bryan, (later Mrs. Borge Rohde, daughter of William Jennings Bryan), a Representative from Florida; born in Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., October 2, 1885; educated in public schools, Lincoln, Nebr.; attended Monticello Seminary, Godfrey, Ill., and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln; member of the executive committee of the American Women’s War Relief Fund in London, England; war nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment in the Egypt-Palestine campaign, 1915-1918; lecturer, Lyceum and Chautauqua lecture circuit, Miami, Fla., 1918-1928; board of regents of the University of Miami, Miami, Fla., 1925-1928; author; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-first and to the succeeding Congress (March 4, 1929-March 3, 1933); unsuccessful candidate for renomination to the Seventy-third Congress in 1932; delegate to the Interparliamentary Union at London, 1930; appointed Minister to Denmark (April 13, 1933-August 30, 1936); special assistant, Department of State, United Nations Conference, San Francisco, Calif., 1945; alternate delegate, United Nations General Assembly, 1949; member of the Advisory Board of the Federal Reformatory for Women, 1938-1954; member of the board of trustees of the Starr Commonwealth for Boys, 1941-1954; died on July 26, 1954, in Copenhagen, Denmark; interment in Ordrup Cemetery, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Original Ruth Bryan Owen autograph, hand signed on card stock. Written: Very Cordially Yours Ruth Bryan Owen. Regular Price - $ 249.00 / Sale Price - $ 175.00.

WILLIAM T. SAMPSON AUTOGRAPHED CUT DOCUMENT

William Thomas Sampson (9 February 1840 – 6 May 1902) was a United States Navy admiral known for his victory in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War. He was born in Palmyra, New York, and entered the United States Naval Academy on 24 September 1857. After graduating first in his class four years later, he served as an instructor at the Academy. In 1864, he became the executive officer of the monitor Patapsco of the South Atlantic Blockading Station and engaged in sweeping torpedoes off Charleston, South Carolina. He survived the loss of that ironclad on 15 January 1865, when she struck a torpedo, exploded, and sank with a loss of 75 lives. Following duty in the steam frigate Colorado on the European Station, another tour as instructor at the Naval Academy, and in the Bureau of Navigation of the Navy Department, he served in the screw sloop Congress. He then commanded Alert, practice ship Mayflower, and Swatara while on duty at the Naval Academy. During the next years, he was Assistant to the Superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, then Officer-in-Charge of the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island. On 9 September 1886, he became Superintendent of the Naval Academy. He was promoted to Captain on 9 April 1889, reported to the Mare Island Navy Yard to fit out San Francisco, and assumed command when that protected cruiser was commissioned on 15 November 1889. He was detached in June 1892 to serve as Inspector of Ordnance in the Washington Navy Yard and was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance on 28 January 1893. He assumed command of the battleship Iowa on 15 June 1897. On 17 February 1898, he was made President of the Board of Inquiry to investigate the destruction of the Maine. On 26 March 1898, he assumed command of the North Atlantic Station, with the temporary rank of Rear Admiral. The United States declared war against Spain on 21 April 1898; and, eight days later, Admiral Cervera's fleet sailed from the Cape Verde Islands for an uncertain destination. Admiral Sampson, in flagship New York, put to sea from Key West in search of the Spanish Fleet and established a close and efficient blockade on that fleet in the harbor of Santiago on 1 June 1898. On the morning of 3 July 1898, Cervera's fleet came out of the harbor. Sampson was ashore and could do nothing. Admiral Winfield Scott Schley was in command of the "Flying Squadron" and met the Spanish fleet, completely destroying every Spanish vessel in a running sea battle lasting five hours. The next day, Rear Admiral Sampson sent his famous message: "The Fleet under my command offers the nation as a Fourth of July present, the whole of Cervera's Fleet". This disingenuous message left out any mention of Schley's leadership in the battle. As Schley's role became known through the press, Sampson attempted to destroy his subordinate via his own press accounts. Schley appealed for a court of inquiry, which he got in 1901. This disgraceful affair, despite some criticism of Schley, exonerated the commander of the Flying Squadron and elevated him to the status of a national hero. For his part, Sampson was publicly discredited. At the court of inquiry, moreover, Schley was supported and exonerated by the testimony of his own men. In the Navy, the procedure was so divisive that the rank-and-file identified themselves as either a "Schley man" or a "Sampson man". Schley clearly had the best of this contest. Accordingly, it was no surprise that Sampson retired in 1902, and died shortly thereafter. After the Battle of Santiago Bay, Sampson was appointed Cuban Commissioner on 20 August 1898 but resumed command of the North Atlantic Fleet in December. He became Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard in October 1899 and transferred to the Retired List on 9 February 1902. Rear Admiral Sampson died in Washington, D.C. a few months later and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Four destroyers of the Navy have been named USS Sampson in his honor. The United States Naval Academy's Sampson Hall, which houses the English and History departments, is named in his honor. The United States Navy also authorized a service medal, known as the Sampson Medal, to recognize those who had served under his command during the Spanish-American War.

Original William T. Sampson autograph, signed on a Cut Document. The document has on it: Approved: Commandants Office U.S. Navy Yard, Boston. Feb 15 1901 Rear Admiral U.S.N Commandant. Regular Price - $ 249.00 / Sale Price - $ 175.00.

MAXIMO GOMEZ AUTOGRAPH

Máximo Gómez y Báez (18 November 1836 in the Dominican Republic - 17 June 1905 in Havana, Cuba) was a Major General in the Ten Years' War (1868-1878) and Cuba's military commander in that country's War of Independence (1895-1898). Gómez was born in the town of Baní, in the province of Peravia, in the Dominican Republic. When he was a teenager, he joined in the battles against the Haitian invasions of Faustine Soulouque in the 1850's. He was trained as an officer of the Spanish Army at the Zaragoza Military Academy and originally arrived in Cuba as a cavalry officer - a Colonel - in the Spanish Army and fought along side the Spanish forces in the Dominican Annexation War (1861-1865). After the Spanish forces were defeated and fled the Dominican Republic in 1865 by order of Queen Isabel II, many supporters of the Annexionist cause left with them, and Maximo Gomez moved to his family to Cuba in disgrace. He retired from the Spanish Army and took up the rebel cause in 1868, helping transform the Cuban Army's military tactics and strategy from the conventional approach favored by Thomas Jordan and others. He gave the Cuban Mambises their most feared tactic: The "Machete Charge". On October 26, 1868 at Pinos de Baire, Gomez led a Machete Charge on foot, ambushing a Spanish column and obliterating it. The Spanish Army was terrified of these charges because the majority were infantry troops, mainly conscripts, who were fearful of being cut down by the machetes. Because the Cuban Army always lacked sufficient munitions, the usual combat technique was to shoot once and then charge the Spanish Infantry Squares. In 1871 Gómez led a campaign to clear Guantánamo from forces loyal to Spain. The rich coffee growers, mostly of French descent, opposed Cuban independence because their ancestors had fled Haiti after the Haitians ousted the French. Gómez carried out a bloody but successful campaign, and most of his officers went on to become high ranking officers, including Antonio and José Maceo, Adolfo Flor Crombet, Policarpo Pineda "Rustán", and many others. Following the death in combat of Major General Ignacio Agramonte y Loynáz in May 1873, Gómez assumed the command of the military district of the province of Camaguey and its famed Cavalry Corps. Upon first inspecting the corps he concluded they were the best trained and disciplined in the Cuban Army. Gómez rose to the rank of Generalísimo of the Cuban Army - a rank akin to that of Captain General or in modern terms that of General of the Army - due to his superior military leadership. He adapted and formalized the improvised military tactics that had first been used by Spanish Guerrilas against Napoleon Bonaparte's Armies into a cohesive and comprehensive system at both the tactical and strategic level. The concept of insurrection and insurgency, and the asymmetric nature thereof can be traced intellectually to him. He was shot in the neck in 1875, while crossing the fortified line or Trocha from Júcaro in the south to Morón in the North; while leading the failed attempt to invade Western Cuba. After that he always wore a kerchief around his neck. His second and last wound came in 1896 while fighting in the rural areas outside Havana while completing a successful invasion of Western Cuba. He was wounded only twice during 15 years of guerilla warfare against an enemy far superior in manpower and logistics. In contrast, his most trusted officer and second-in-command, Lt. General Antonio Maceo y Grajales, was shot 27 times in the same span of time, with number 26 being the mortal wound. Gómez' son and Maceo's aide-de-camp, Francisco Gómez y Toro - nicknamed "Panchito" - was killed trying to recover Maceo's dead body, in combat December 7, 1896. At the end of the Cuban Independence War in 1898 he retired to a villa outside of Havana. He refused the presidential nomination that was offered to him in 1901, and which he was expected to win unopposed, mainly because he always disliked politics and after 40 years of living in Cuba he still felt that being Dominican-born he should not be the civil leader of Cuba. He died in his villa in 1905 and was interred in the Colon Cemetery, Havana. Maximo Gomez Park, a park in Miami, Florida, United States, – better known as Domino Park – was named in his honor. Gómez's portrait graces Cuban currency on the 10 pesos bill.

Original Maximo Gomez Autograph, hand signed on business card size card stock. Card reads: M. Gomez Habana 9 Mayo 1899. Regular Price - $ 495.00 / Sale Price - $ 300.00

PAUL DU CHAILLU AUTOGRAPH

Paul du Chaillu (July 31, 1835 – April 29, 1903), traveller and anthropologist, was born in either Paris or New Orleans (accounts conflict). (According to his friend Edward Clodd, who refers to this confusion and includes in it also New York, du Chaillu's true birthplace was the island of Bourbon (Réunion)). In his youth he accompanied his father, a French trader in the employment of a Parisian firm, to the west coast of Africa. Here, at a station on the Gabun, the boy received some education from missionaries, and acquired an interest in and knowledge of the country, its natural history, and its natives, which guided him to his subsequent career. In 1852 he exhibited this knowledge in the New York press. He was sent in 1855 by the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia on an African expedition. Until 1859 he regularly explored the regions of West Africa in the neighborhood of the equator, gaining considerable knowledge of the delta of the Ogowe River and the estuary of the Gabun. During his travels he saw numbers of the great anthropoid apes called the gorilla (possibly the great ape described by Carthaginian navigators), then known to scientists only by a few skeletons, allowing him to market himself as the first white to have seen a gorilla. A subsequent expedition, from 1863 to 1865, enabled him to confirm the accounts given by the ancients of a pygmy people inhabiting the African forests. Du Chaillu sold his hunted gorillas to the Natural History Museum in London and his "cannibal skulls" to other European collections. (A fine cased group shot by du Chaillu may be seen in Ipswich Museum in Suffolk, England.) Narratives of both expeditions were published, in 1861 and 1867 respectively, under the titles Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa, with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the People, and of the Chace of the Gorilla, Crocodile, and other Animals; and A Journey to Ashango-land, and further penetration into Equatorial Africa. While in Ashango Land in 1865 he was elected King of the Apingi tribe. At the time, he was in great demand on the public lecture circuits of New York, London and Paris. His first work excited much controversy on the score of its veracity, but subsequent investigation proved the correctness of du Chaillu's statements as to the facts of natural history; though possibly some of the adventures he described as happening to himself were reproductions of the hunting stories of natives (see Proc. Zool. Soc. vol. i., 1905, p. 66). The map accompanying Ashango-land was of unique value, but the explorer's photographs and collections were lost when he was forced to flee from the hostility of the natives. After some years residence in America, during which he wrote several books for the young founded upon his African adventures, du Chaillu turned his attention to northern Europe. After a visit to northern Norway in 1871, over the following five years he made a study of customs and antiquities in Sweden, Norway, Lapland and Northern Finland. He published in 1881 The Land of the Midnight Sun (dedicated to his friend Robert Winthrop of New York), as a series of Summer and Winter Journeys, in two volumes. His 1889 work The Viking Age (also in two volumes) was a very broad study of the prehistoric antiquities of the Scandivian peninsula from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages (including literary remains), and demonstrating what is now generally recognised, the important Norse and Swedish cultural dimension to the Germanic settlements of Britain during the fifth to seventh centuries. This view was then unfamiliar and was ridiculed by Canon Isaac Taylor. This book (in two volumes) is now a very collectible item, as long as it is in good condition: there are two versions of the book known, one bound in a dark binding, the other in cloth-bound hardback with gold tooling. In 1900 he also published The Land of the Long Night. Paul was a friend of Edward Clodd and was present at one of his Whitsun gatherings at Strafford House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk in company with John Rhys, Grant Allen, York Powell and Joseph Thomson. He died following a stroke of paralysis at St. Petersburg, while on his way home from Russia.

Hand written on Hotel Marlborough letterhead: New York August 6th 1900. Dear Mr. Young, I have received your kind letter I will be delighted to inscribe my name on my books. Please send them C/O Charles Scribiners' XXX Publishers. Fifth Avenue New York. I sail for Europe in about ten days. Yours Sincerely, Paul Du Chaillu

Original Paul Du Chaillu Autographed Letter. (close up view of autograph) Regular Price - $ 2000.00 / Sale Price - $ 800.00

CONNECTICUT MILITIA DOCUMENT - ALLEN G. BRADY

History & Adventure History of the Third (Three Months) Connecticut Volunteers The volunteer companies which made up the Third three months regiment from Connecticut began their organization almost simultaneously with those which made up the First and Second. The original call of President Lincoln, however, only demanded one regiment from Connecticut, but the eagerness of Connecticut men to enlist induced Governor Buckingham to personally intercede with the President for the acceptance of at least three regiments, and this request being granted, the Third Regiment was very soon filled to the maximum. It went into camp at the Fair Grounds on Albany Avenue, in Hartford, on May 9th, and on May 14th was mustered into the United States service, with John Arnold of New Haven, Colonel, Allen G. Brady of Torrington, Lieut.-Colonel, and Alexander Warner of Woodstock, Major. The regiment left Hartford by rail for New Haven, May 23d, receiving its colors from the hands of Governor Buckingham, in front of the State House, in Hartford, when in line for departure, and sailed from New Haven for Washington on the steamer "Cahawba," via Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac. Arriving at Washington, it immediately went into camp at Glenwood, near the First and Second regiments, and was at once brigaded with them under Brigadier-General Dan. Tyler, who had been promoted from the Colonelcy of the First Regiment to the command of the brigade. Colonel John Arnold soon resigned, and Lieut.-Colonel Chatfield of the First Regiment was commissioned by Governor Buckingham as Colonel of the Third Regiment, and, being promptly mustered as such, assumed command. Colonel Chatfield had the advantage of long experience as a militia officer, was an excellent drill-master and disciplinarian, and knew not how to tolerate insubordination in any form. Lieut.-Colonel Brady considered that the commissioning of Colonel Chatfield over himself in the Third Regiment was a violation by the Governor of the current regulations and usages of the State militia, and refused to recognize Colonel Chatfield as his superior. For this insubordination, Lieut.-Colonel Brady was deprived of his sword during the remainder of the three months' term of service, but was honorably mustered out at its close. Lieut.-Colonel Brady's impetuous indiscretion in this instance was most amply atoned for by his subsequent honorable and extremely efficient service in the Seven-teenth Connecticut Volunteers, and in the Veteran Reserve Corps. On June 24th, the Third Regiment followed the First and Second across Long Bridge to the "sacred soil" of Virginia, and encamped beside them at Falls Church, which was then the extreme and much exposed outpost of the Union lines. The Third here became a part of the First Brigade, First Division, of McDowell's "Army of the Potomac," and was destined as such to march at the head of the column in the soon-coming and clamorously-demanded “On to Richmond." The energy and military ability of Colonel Chatfield brought the Third to a remarkable degree of efficiency, as was soon demonstrated in the field. The Third moved with its brigade at the head of the column under McDowell when it advanced via Centreville to Bull Run, and, in the trying scenes on that disastrous field, behaved with the firmness and the courage of a regiment of veterans. Prior to this advance, General Dan. Tyler had been promoted to the command of the First Division of McDowell's army. Colonel Keyes, a West Point graduate and regular army officer, afterwards a major-general of volunteers, took command of the brigade. In his official report of the Bull Run battle, Colonel Keyes says: "At about two o'clock P. M., General Tyler ordered me to take a battery on a height in front. The battery was strongly posted and supported by infantry and riflemen, sheltered by a building, a fence, and a hedge. My order to charge was obeyed with the utmost promptness. Colonel Jameson of the Second Maine, and Colonel Chatfield of the Third Connecticut Volunteers, pressed forward their regiments up the base of the slope about one hundred yards, when I ordered them to lie down, at a point offering a small protection, and load. I then ordered them to advance again, which they did, in the face of a movable battery of eight pieces and a large body of infantry, toward the top of the hill. As we moved forward, we came under the fire of other large bodies of the enemy, posted behind breastworks, and on reaching the top of the hill the firing became so hot that an exposure to it of five minutes would have annihilated my whole line.” Farther on in his report, Colonel Keyes says: "The gallantry with which the Second Regiment of Maine, and the Third Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers, charged up the hill upon the enemy's artillery and infantry was never, in my judgment, surpassed." In obedience to orders, the Third, with the rest of the brigade, was soon after this action in retreat upon Centreville, but in good order. It bivouacked that night on the very ground it left on the morning of the battle, but about 10 P. M., after the demoralized portion of McDowell's army was far on its way toward Washington, orders were given to continue the march to Falls Church. From that point, and during the two following days, the Third, with the other Connecticut regiments, was busily engaged, without the semblance of panic, in saving camp and garrison equipage and stores abandoned by the other troops. The Third was mustered out of service at Hartford, August 12, 1861

Close up of Allen G. Brady signature on Connecticut Militia Document. Document states the following: The upper left corner has the connecticutensis Sigillum Reipublice symbol. It starts with: Allen G. Brady, Esquire, Colonel of the Fourth Regiment, Second Bridage, of the Militia of the State of Connecticut. To Albert F. Broken Greeting: Whereas, upon the 29th day of May 1858 you was duty chosen to the office of Sergeant in ***** Company, Fourth Regiment, Second Brigade. Connecticut Militia; Reposing special trust and confidence in you fidelity, courage, care and good conduct, I do by virtue of the Laws of the state, constitute and appoint you to be Third Sergeant of the said Company and as such, to be recognized adn obeyed. You are therefore Carefully and Diligently to discharge that office and trust according to the Rules and Discipline of War, ordained and established by the Laws of this State. And you are to observe all such orders and directions as from time to time you shall receive either from me or from any of you superior Officers, pursuant to the trust hereby reposed in you. Given under my Hand, at Wolcottville, this *** day of September A.D. 1858 Allen G. Brady (there is another signature on the left under the statement Given under my hand - that I can not make out) Any where you see ***** I was unable to deterime what is written. Price - $200.00

1863 DISCHARGE PAPERS

The Document Reads as follows: To all whom it may concer: Know, ge, That George W, **** a Private of Captain Richard L. Wilson's Company, 215th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, who was enrolled on the Eleventh day of April one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five to serve one year or during the war, is herby discharged from the service of the United States this Thirty First day of July, 1865, at Fort Delaware by reason of (can not make out what is written) **** **** **** **** *** * *** (No objection to his being re=enlisted is known to exsist.*) Paid George W. **** was born in Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, is nineteen years of age, five feet four inches high, light complexion, Blue eyes, Brown hair and by occupation, when enrolled, a Clerk. Giben at Fort Delaware this Thirty-First day of July 1865. Document is signed by R.L. Wilson Captain of the 215th Regiment & Gen. Williams Mustering Offier. This document is worn in condition from many years of being folded. Top quarter of document is no longer attached. Fragile!

Close up view of the 1863 Discharge Paper showing the bottom left signature of R. L. Wilson.

Close up view of the 1863 Discharge Paper showing the bottom right signature of Gen. Williams - Mustering Officer. Price - $ 149.00

JOHN TRUMBULL DOCUMENT

John Trumbull (June 6, 1756 – November 10, 1843) was an American artist during the period of the American Revolutionary War famous for his historical paintings including his Declaration of Independence, which appears on the reverse of the $2 dollar bill. John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence is a 12- by 18-foot oil-on-canvas in the United States Capitol Rotunda which depicts the presentation of the draft of the United States Declaration of Independence to Congress. It was based off a much smaller version of the same scene, presently held in the Yale University art collection. Vintage Document written by John Trumbell. Document is written on cut paper. It appears to be a bill or accounting for a portrait painting & framing. The bottom of the Document has the initial autograph JT. In the spring of 1775 he joined the Connecticut First Regiment - where his talent for Drawing enabled hime to produce accurate maps of enemy positions from direct observation In 1780 Trumbell was imprisoned by the British for speaking out in favor of the Revolution and against the British, making John Trumbell an Amazing Artist, Spy & a Traitor to the British Crown. Regular Price - $ 750.00 / Sale Price - $ 495.00

SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD AUTOGRAPHED DOCUMENT

Samuel Lewis Southard (June 9, 1787 – June 26, 1842) was a prominent U.S. statesman of the early 19th century, serving as a U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Navy, and the 10th Governor of New Jersey. The son of Henry Southard and brother of Isaac Southard, he was born in Basking Ridge, New Jersey and graduated from Princeton University in 1804. After teaching school in New Jersey, he worked for several years as a tutor in Virginia and studied law there. Upon being admitted to the bar, he returned to New Jersey, where he was appointed law reporter by the New Jersey Legislature in 1814. Elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1815, Southard was appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court shortly thereafter, and in 1820 served as a presidential elector. He was chosen to fill the seat in the United States Senate vacated by the resignation of James J. Wilson, and served in office from January 26, 1821, to March 3, 1823. During this time, he was a member of the committee that produced the Missouri Compromise. President James Monroe selected Senator Southard to be Secretary of the Navy in September 1823, and he remained in office under President John Quincy Adams. During these years, he also served briefly as ad interim Secretary of the Treasury (1825) and Secretary of War (1828). Southard proved to be one of the most effective of the Navy's early Secretaries. He endeavored to enlarge the Navy and improve its administration, purchased land for the first Naval Hospitals, began construction of the first Navy dry docks, undertook surveys of U.S. coastal waters and promoted exploration in the Pacific Ocean. Responding to actions by influential officers, including David Porter, he reinforced the American tradition of civilian control over the military establishment. Also on Southard's watch, the Navy grew by some 50% in personnel and expenditures and expanded its reach into waters that had not previously seen an American man-of-war. In 1829, after leaving his Navy post, Samuel Southard became New Jersey Attorney General. After briefly serving as Governor of New Jersey in 1832-33, he re-entered the U.S. Senate. During the next decade, he was a leader of the Whig Party and a figure of national political importance. As President Pro Tempore, he became Acting Vice President from April 4, 1841 to May 31, 1842 after the death of William Henry Harrison and his Vice President John Tyler becoming President. Failing health forced his resignation from the Senate in 1842. Samuel Southard died in Fredericksburg, Virginia on June 26 of that year. He was interred in the Congressional Cemetery. The destroyer USS Southard, 1919–1946, was named in his honor.

Hand written document: For value received ninety days after date, I promised to pay to Isaac Southard or order, two thousand five hundred dollars at the Office of Discount Deposit, Bank of the United States, at Washington. Witness my hand, this 4th day of July, A.D. eighteen hundred twenty nine. Sam L. Southard Regular Price - $ 299.99 / Sale Price - $ 159.00

1930 BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA CERTIFICATE
	1930 Souvenir Certificate Scout Show. This is to Certify, that Scout Billey Welch of Troop 53 has successfully completed the Star Rank given by the Columbus Council, Boy Scouts of America. Awarded at Columbus, Ohio, this 28th day of March, 1930.

Signed by Myers Y. Cooper Governor, State of Ohio: Myers Young Cooper (November 25, 1873 - December 6, 1958) was a Republican politician from Ohio. Cooper was the 51st Governor of Ohio. Born in St. Louisville, Ohio, Cooper was a well-known home-builder in the Cincinnati area. He won election to the governorship in 1928, serving from 1929-1931. His former home is now the grounds for Clark Montessori High School and James J. Thomas Mayor, City of Columbus, Ohio.

Close up view for the Signatures: President Columbus Ohio Council, Boy Scouts of America and the Chairman, Court of Honor.

Close up view for the Signatures: Scout Commissioner and Scout Executive. Price - $ 50.00

HARRY WALD CAESARS PALACE LETTER

Former Caesars Palace president Harry WaldWald (wôld), George 1906-1997. American biologist. He shared a 1967 Nobel Prize for research on the role of vitamin A in vision. ..... Click the link for more information., who helped guide the Strip resort to become one of the most successful in the gaming industry, died Tuesday at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. He was 71. Wald, who served in the Army during World War II, will be buried with full military honors in services today at Arlington National Cemetery. Born in Germany, Wald escaped Nazi persecution and fled to the United States at the age of 14. He came to Las Vegas in the early 1960s after meeting Caesars developer Jay Sarno in San Francisco. He began as project manager and eventually took over as president of the resort. ``Harry had one really big love affair in his life and that was Caesars Palace,'' said Burton Cohen, who worked with Wald at the resort for a number of years. ``It was his very being morning, noon and night. I guess he was the epitome of the consummate hotel-casino man.'' Wald brought a string of sports events to the resort, with Caesars Palace hosting major tennis tournaments, automobile races and championship boxing matches. He continued his military service and in 1973 was named brigadier general of the Nevada Army National Guard. ``He was an excellent soldier and did an outstanding job for the Guard,'' O'Callaghan said. ``But not only was he a good soldier and a great American, he really loved the Silver State. Even after he left the gaming industry, he continued to think and bring ideas to the table that would help promote Las Vegas.'' Harry Wald Vice President of Caesars Palace Letter. Typed on Caesers Palace Letterhead. Septempber 5, 1973 Mr. Jan W. Rogers 1128 Lombard Philiadelphia, Pennsylvania 19147 Dear Jan: I was very much surprised to receive the beautiful tie from you. It was wonderful of you to do this for me, and even though it was not necessary, I will enjoy wearing your gift. If at any time I can be of assistance to you anywhere, I would be more than happy to do so. Again, with many thanks for the very beautiful time, I am, Yours very truly, Harry Wald Vice President & Corporate Secretary

Close up view of Harry Wald signature. Price - $ 50.00