Lot 1024

ELIAS S. DENNIS

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ELIAS S. DENNIS

Estimate: $200 - $300

Starting Bid: $100

(0 Bids)

by Alexander Historical Auctions LLC
July 31, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Live Auction
106 East Main Street, Suite 103
Elkton, MD, US 21921

ELIAS S. DENNIS
(1812 - 1894) Union brigadier general, fought in the Battle of Port Gibson and in May 1863, at the Battle of Raymond. He was later placed in command of the District of Northeast Louisiana when guerrillas were causing problems on the leased plantations there. Troops from his command participated in the Battle of Milliken's Bend in June, one of the first battles to involve United States Colored Troops. Rare, fine content war-date A.L., 3pp. 4to., Vicksburg, Nov. 7, 1863, to his sister, in large part: ‘...You can hardly imagine how delighted I am to know you were living and well in April last. How many thousand times have I thought of you and your family since this terrible war commenced. I have been engaged in fourteen bloody battles, never in one without thinking of you and other relatives in the East. Dear Sister, your children shall never have cause to blush with shame when the name of their Uncle is mentioned, I intend to come out of this war with all the honors my Country can bestow on a soldier, or die in the fields, My son Elias when the war commenced was out in the Rocky Mountains and did not return for a year, Upon his return he joined me in April last as the Army crossed the Mississippi and has been with me as one of my staff acting aid-de-camp at the battles Ray[mond] Jackson Champion Hill and the fall of Vicksburg. He probably saved my life at Champion Hill by extricating me from my fallen horse. He is a gallant boy and every inch a soldier. The frontier life he has led, renders him fearless and daring at the early age of sixteen he spent one year among the Indians. He was two years at Salt Lake Laramee and among the Mountains, I sent him home, to Illinois after the surrender of Vicksburg…. I have forgotten the names of all your gals they must each one write to me, I will write to [his nephew] Robt, how old is he. What is he doing; I[f] he should go into the Army he must come [here], Not in to the Army of the Potomac, they have no reputation with us for fighting, more for retreating… [all sic]' He concludes ‘I shall dream about you all', and his black ink signature on a 2.5 x 0.5 in. slip of paper clipped from another source has been affixed to the final page at bottom left. Shows original mailing folds, faintly toned at the edges, with minor soiling and a mounting strip to the left edge, otherwise in very good overall condition.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $20
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000