U. S. Grant

Civil War-dated ALS signed “U. S. Grant, Maj. Gen.," one page, 7.75 x 6, December 30, 1862. Addressed from “Head Quarters, Dept. of the Ten.,” in Holly Springs, Mississippi, a handwritten letter to “Wilson, Agt.,” the railroad agent responsible for managing car assignments at the Holly Springs depot. In full: "All the sick at the Depot will have cars furnished for them immediately to the exclusion of everything else. All orders interfering with this are Countermanded." In very good to fine condition, with multiple intersecting folds, and a couple of small repairs.

Grant was using Holly Springs as his forward supply base and headquarters during his first overland campaign against Vicksburg when Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn led 3,500 cavalry in a surprise raid on December 20, 1862, destroying an estimated $1.5 million in Union supplies and forcing Grant to abandon his advance. Written ten days later as he withdrew toward Memphis, this order prioritizes the immediate rail evacuation of the sick above all other traffic, reflecting both the humanitarian urgency and the logistical upheaval left by Van Dorn’s raid. Its forceful language highlights the disruption to normal operations and Grant’s need to impose direct control in the campaign’s aftermath. Grant's first Vicksburg campaign had collapsed; he would not capture the city until July 4, 1863, after a siege of forty-seven days.