Lot 1655

CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN

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CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN

Estimate: $200 - $300

Current Bid: $100

(1 Bid)

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

CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN
(1816-1876) American stage actress best known for her Shakespearean performances, a close friend of U.S. Secretary of State William Seward who counted Abraham Lincoln as a fan. Also known for her many romantic relationships with other women. Fine Civil War content A.L.S., 4pp. 12mo., London, July 25, 1862, to an unnamed friend, in part: ‘…The intelligence of your return to America does not surprise me. I only wish… I could go & be of some service. At such times as these I hate the incompetence of womanhood. As a man I could give my brains – my speech – my life, if necessary – as a woman I can only wait… how sad to be obliged to wait when there seems so much… rottenness in the land. Can [Gen. George] McClellan be what you think of him? Can there be a man so vile? Then better to be a woman & a waiter, eh?… And in this dreadful necessity of every mans looking out for himself – which makes one of the great troubles of a Republic. My last letter from N. Y. says, ‘we are destroyed as a nation, & that within a short space McClellan's army will be withdrawn from the peninsula!' How sad, how pitiful! – of course – the Emancipation question could not be touched – until the men of the north who support… Southern sympathies, were made to feel that their sons might have to be drafted – to make food for powder. Let a few of them have to go, & we shall find that at last the right sort of men are used in the opposition to their equals in the South. There, the absolute necessity of their position, has forced this class of men into the ranks at the outset & therefore do they seem more desperate, and until this same class of northern men are put to fight instead of the foreign element, we shall see no real work done! I doubt the fighting power or disposition of the black! Still it is better to have them killed off so, than not know what to do with them & suffer them to become a reproach & a shame like liberated Haytians [Haitians]!…' More good personal content besides. She signs boldly in black ink at the conclusion. Shows original mailing folds, with an approx. 1 in. tear at top left, otherwise in very good to fine 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