Robert E. Lee (1) (1807–1870)

Lee's General Order Number Nine, Farewell to the Army of Northern Virginia (1865), reproduced by Donnelley Deeptone Offset, with 5 pages of notes about the fighting after Petersburg, the meeting with Grant, and the terms of surrender.

The stains on the original 1865 signed holographic document are reproduced on this 1945 copy. Includes the Printer's original Folio presentation, and their original 1955 postal shipping box with 18 cent franking label from Chicago. Collector's copy. The original holographic Order passed through military channels, starting with Brig. Gen. W. H. Stevens, to whom it is directed, and was reproduced as an official copy bearing Lee's signature:

Text---"After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources.

I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to this result from no distrust of them; but feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss that must have attended the continuance of the contest, I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen.

By the terms of the agreement, officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from a consciousness of duty faithfully performed; and I earnestly pray that a Merciful God will extend to you His blessings and protection.

With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your Country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration for myself, I bid you all an affectionate farewell."… (meer)

Facsimile copy of Lee's Lost Orders, from the original in the George B. McClellan collection at the Library of Congress.

The handwritten copy was made by Lee's Adjutant, R.H. Chilton, and sent to General D.H. Hill, but Hill had already received a copy from General Stonewall Jackson. A staff member, assuming the document was not needed, used it to wrap three cigars. As the confederate army left camp near Frederick, Maryland, on September 10, 1862, the cigars and the orders were left behind.

McClellan's army camped in the same site on Saturday, September 13th. Two privates from Company E of the twenty-seventh Indiana regiment found an envelope with three cigars. Upon reading the paper, in which the cigars were wrapped, the pair took the document to their commander, who confiscated the document - and the cigars.

Lee's Lost Orders were passed up the chain of command. McClellan, true to form, waited until the following day to act on this intelligence, losing the opportunity to destroy Lee's army. The Union achieved a modest victory at Antietam, but McClellan allowed Lee to retreat to Virginia. The victory gave Lincoln sufficient political cover to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862.… (meer)