Rare Lincoln Letter From Early Civil War Era Sells for $85,000
A recently discovered letter written by President Abraham Lincoln during the early part of the Civil War sold last week in Pennsylvania for $85,000, according to prominent autograph dealer Nathan…
A recently discovered letter written by President Abraham Lincoln during the early part of the Civil War sold last week in Pennsylvania for $85,000, according to prominent autograph dealer Nathan Raab.
The previously unpublished letter had been in the same private collection for at least a century before it was acquired earlier this year, said Nathan Raab, the principal of the Raab Collection, which buys and sells historical autographs, documents and signed letters. Dated Aug. 19, 1861 and addressed to American civil engineer and Union Army Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr., the letter documents Lincoln’s wartime strategizing, shows the use of the science of the day to protect Washington, and sheds light on political tensions.
“Discovering unpublished, unknown letters of Abraham Lincoln is increasingly rare,” Raab said in a statement about the document on the Pennsylvania collection’s website. The letter, which measures 5 by 8 inches, was sold to a private collector in the southeastern U.S.
“You propose raising for the service of the U.S., a Civil Engineer Corps,’’ Lincoln writes in the letter addressed from the White House, which he called the “Executive Mansion.” “I am not capable to judge of the value of such a corps; but I would be glad to accept one if approved by Gen. Scott, Gen. McClellan & Gen. Totten. Please see them and get their views upon it.”
