American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Pay order to Mr. James Hamish for supplies for the Continental Army. Hartford, CT, 23 November 1781. Signed Eleazer Wales (1732-1794), Commissioner of Accounts, Hartford, CT. Approx. 7.25 x 7.5 in. -- Pay order to pay Noadiah Fuller for supplies for the Continental Army. 28 December 1781. Signed by Fin Wadsworth and William Moseley.  6 x 7.75 in. -- Pay order to Jeremiah Armstrong for two barrels vinegar, Signed Joseph Carogier[?] Franklinton, 2 August 1814. -- Pay order to Jeremiah Armstrong for 60 gallons of whisky, Signed Joseph Carogier[?] Franklinton, 14 August 1814. -- Together, 4 manuscript pay orders.

[With:] Defence of Col. Timothy Pickering, Against Bancroft's History. Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1859. 12pp., 4 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (no covers, separation at binding). 

[Also with:] Outdoor image of several men in uniform and two women sitting on a porch with their canine companion. Fort Sill, D.T.: n.p., n.d. 7 3/4 x 6 3/8 in. albumen photograph on cardstock mount (toning, some abrasions, spotting, and soiling to image, with heavy wear to edges and corners of image and mount). -- Cabinet card featuring three uniformed young men with cigars. Lynchburg, OH: Hammond, n.d. 3 7/8 x 5 3/8 in. albumen photograph on cardstock mount (heavy toning, soiling, and spotting, with some abrasions and loss to upper left corner). -- CDV vignetted bust portrait of a Union soldier in uniform. Columbus, OH: J.J. Witt & Co., [ca 1860s]. 2 1/8 x 3 1/2 in. albumen photograph on cardstock mount (heavy toning, heavy soiling, separation to upper left corner). --
Cabinet card standing portrait of John Wilkinson in uniform. St. Paul, MN: C.A. Zimmerman, n.d. 3 7/8 x 5 3/4 in. albumen photograph on cardstock mount (toning, few abrasions, wear to mount). Subject identified by pencil inscription on verso. -- Bust portrait of Indian Wars cavalry officer, John Wilkinson, in uniform. Laramie, WY: Heyn, n.d. 3 7/8 x 5 1/2 in. (significant spotting to image, wear to mount). Subject identified by pencil inscription on verso. -- And 19 other photographs and 3 modern copy photographs and 4 printed illustrations. -- Together, 31 items.

[Also with:] To the Surgeon. N.p.: n.p., [ca 1860s]. Printed cartoon on paper, approx. 4 1/2 x 7 1/4 in. (discoloration, creasing, and loss to lower right). Cartoon depicts a large skeleton dressed as a federal surgeon with saw in one hand and bag of sharp medical devices in the other, standing next to a stout, hairy man cowering behind the skeleton. Text below reads, "To the Surgeon / Ho! ho! old saw bones, here you come, / Yes, when the rebels whack us, / You are always ready with your traps, / To mangle, saw, and hack us."

[Also with:] Printed portrait of General Washington. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 5 x 7 in., framed to 7 1/2 x 9 5/8 in. Printed in lower margin: “Engraved in mezzotint Printed in color. Frederic Reynolds.”

[Also with:] Post-Civil War surgical knife/scalpel. Overall 14 in. long with 9.5 in. blade. Blade is narrow, used to prepare a limb for amputation. Handle is chrome-plated metal and seems to be continuous with the blade. This form, unlike the earlier wood or ivory-handled scalpels, could be sterilized since the heat would not damage the handle. Ca. 1870-1880s.

[Also with:] Unidentified soldier's letter. City Point, Va., 24 July 18[6]4. On U.S. Christian Commission letterhead. Soldier writes that he left Bermuda Hundred on the 17th at one o’clock in the morning, and that his regiment was broken into companies and scattered around to guard the stores, horses, boats, etc. He expects to be home in a few weeks.

[Also with:] A group of six real photo postcards featuring images of executions, most likely associated with the Border Wars. When Pancho Villa’s troops attacked Columbus,  New Mexico in 1916, President Wilson sent out a Punitive Expedition under Gen. John Pershing into Chihuahua to capture or kill Villa. It is likely these postcards were acquired in this Border War period. First: (in negative) ”Executed at Culiocan(?) / Sinaloa / Mexico” and on verso” shot to death by Garranze troops.” Second shows a man hanging from a phone pole, with manuscript note: “Hanging to telegraph pole by the feet just across the street from here,” with “Sonora, Mexico” in the negative. Third: (in negative) “execution Sonora Mexico / Hung with telegraph wire.” Manuscript note on verso indicates that the wire severed one of the men’s heads. Fourth shows a pile of bodies, with title a bit hard to read other than Balbuena, Mexico; manuscript note on verso burned bodys [sic] of Mex bandits after Battle.” Fifth with printed/typeset title: “Execution Nogales, Mexico. Photo taken 1 second after shots were fired.” Sixth with nothing in the negative;  manuscript note on verso: “Dead girl [15 years old] killed in the streets of Nogales Sonora Mex dragged to present spot and left there not raped as was told before.” A 6 x 8 in. print of a man on a coroner’s table with type from ACME: “Middleboro, Ky. Clyde Buchanan, 40, sought by police after killing a policeman and wounding two others, lies on an operating table in Evans Hospital where doctors made a vain attempt to save his life. After he had been wounded six times resisting arrest. With his son, Clyde, Jr., Buchanan had hidden in the Cumberland Mountains for over 24 hours, already suffering from a bullet wound in his arm, but the youth was captured when he tried to buy bandages and led police to his father.” Dated 12/20/40. 

Many items are related to John Wilkinson (Cullum 2440), who received the typical 2nd Lt. appointment upon graduation in 1872. He was originally assigned to the 8th Cavalry, but transferred to the 7th Cavalry 26 June 1876, the day after the Battle of the Little Bighorn wiped out much of the 7th Cavalry. He was promoted to 1st Lieut. in December. He was an adjutant from 1881 to 1886, captain in Jan. 1892, brevet captain to date from Feb. 1890 “for gallant service in action against Indians at Canyon Creek, Montana.” He died in March 1892 while on sick leave (cause not specified).