U.S. CIVIL WAR GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. Autograph notation relating to resignations of Confederate officers, as General Orders No. 9, Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, Richmond, March 9, 1865. Upper margin of ten-page printed list of officers, bears script note in bown ink, "These resigned on account of utter hopelessness of our sacred cause/R.E. Lee", with flourished underscore. Accompanied by another autograph note, author unknown, on stationery embossed with Confederate Capitol blindstamp, reading, "The Within List of Resignations, found at Richmond when our troops took possession, shows that many of our subordinate rebel officers had lost confidence in their cause some months before the surrender." Pages of General Orders No. 9 tipped into rear cover of Vol. I of three-column first edition "The Civil War in America (Pictorial History of The Civil War), by Benson J. Lossing (Vol. I - Philadelphia, 1866; Vol. II - Hartaford, 1868; Vol. III - Hartford, 1868), along with tipped-in $1,000 Confederate War Bond, 1863, and original publisher's advertising brochure for book. Book has embossed brown covers with gold tooling. Estimate $2,500-3,500
PROVENANCE: Present owner found in Boston bookstore, circa 1965
