War Date Document Signed
Orders Sent to Brigadier General Alfred N. Duffie while a paroled prisoner of war!
Robert Williams: (1825-1901). Williams graduated from West Point in 1851, and was assigned to the dragoon branch of the U.S. Army where he served on the frontier. He later taught cavalry tactics at the U.S. Military Academy. Shortly after the Civil War broke out, he was promoted to Captain and Assistant Adjutant General, and he first served in the Department of Annapolis, and later in the Department of the Shenandoah. On October 7, 1861, he was commissioned Colonel of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry, which he led in the battles of Secessionville, and James Island, S.C. After serving briefly with the Army of the Potomac, his duties were in the Adjutant General's Office for the remainder of the war. Continuing his service in the Regular U.S. Army, he retired in 1893 with rank of Brigadier General.
War Date Document Signed: 8 x 10 1/4, imprinted form, filled out in ink. War Department, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, February 25, 1865. Special Orders, No. 93. Brigadier General A.N. Duffie, U.S. Volunteers, now a paroled prisoner of War, has permission to proceed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and there await his exchange. By order of the Secretary of War, (Signed) E.D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General. "Official" R. Williams, Assist. Adjt. General. Addressed in red ink at lower left to, Genl. Duffie. This was the copy of the order that was sent to General Duffie.
The document also bears the signatures of five different U.S. Army Paymasters. They include: Daniel M. Adams, William C.H. Sherman, Coates Kinney, Eli Van Valkenburgh and John A. Pitzer.
The signature of E.D. Townsend is clerical.
Light age toning and wear. Fold separations have been repaired with old tape. Rare.
General Alfred N. Duffie: (1835-80) Born in Paris, he was the son of a French count. He graduated from the military college of St. Cyr in 1854 and won four decorations in the Crimea. Wounded in the battle of Solferino against the Austrians, he took leave of absence to come to the U.S. in 1859, where he met and married the daughter of a prominent Staten Island family. When the Civil War broke out he resigned his commission in the French army and offered his services to the U.S. On Aug. 2, 1861, he was commissioned captain of the 2nd N.Y. Cavalry and was promoted to major in October. In July 1862, he was appointed colonel of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry which he led in the 2nd Bull Run campaign. In March 1863 his distinguished services at the battle of Kelly's Ford got the attention of General Joe Hooker who requested his promotion to brigadier general which was granted. He commanded a division of the Cavalry Corps under General Alfred Pleasanton during the Chancellorsville campaign and the early phases of the Gettysburg campaign. After this he was ordered to the Department of West Virginia and his subsequent service was in that department under Generals' Benjamin F. Kelley, Franz Sigel, David Hunter and George Crook. In October 1864, he was captured by Confederate partisans near Bunker Hill, Va., and was not paroled until the end of February 1865. |