American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Autograph document signed ("S. Cooper"). Richmond, VA, and Charleston, SC, August 1862. 2 pages, 8vo, 6 1/4 x 7 3/4 in., minor toning at old creases.

A single leaf with cooper's General Order No. 43 dated 13 August 1862 in Charleston, and General Order No. 55 dated 2 August 1862 in Richmond. Order No. 55 details updated orders regarding martial law, including a consideration about enslaved people: "Paragraph II, General Orders, No. 42, current series, is hereby revoked, and the following is substituted in lieu thereof: Where martial law has been proclaimed the civil tribunals are authorized to grant injunctions, to make orders, and to take such steps as may be necessary to prevent irreparable mischief; to secure the possession of infants in the persons entitled thereto; to decide suits for divorce to make orders for alimony, and to secure the personal safety of the parties to such suits; to recover rents and the possession of real estate and slaves, and to restore the possession of property tortuously charged."

A veteran of the Mexican-American War with the United States Army, he also served as the Adjutant General before his resignation in March 1861. General Cooper was technically the highest-ranking general in the Confederacy, reporting directly to President Jefferson Davis. He brought his organizational expertise to the Confederacy, as evidenced by these orders.