Pope, John (1822-1892) Correspondence to Manning F. Force re: Fitz-John Porter, etc. [decimalized]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06762 Author/Creator: Pope, John (1822-1892) Place Written: Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Type: Header Record Date: 1870-1883 Pagination: 94 items Order a Copy
A collection of one hundred five items related to General John Pope, first commander of the Army of Virginia. General Pope was assigned the command of the fledgling Army by President Lincoln and his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. The main scope of the official correspondences refers to the Second Battle of Bull Run, in which Pope accused General Fitz John Porter of failure to enter into battle. According to Ezra Warner's Generals In Blue, "[having] committed the cardinal military sin of blaming others for his own errors of judgement. Entirely misapprehending the situation . . . Pope succeeded in having Fitz John Porter cashiered for disobedience of orders impossible of execution and displaying the grossest ignorance of the situation at the time they were issued."
The first eight items have been placed in a series entitled "Official Correspondences," as all items included pertain to Pope's Official writings as per the Porter case. Of the remaining ninety seven items, they are of a personal nature - ninety four are correspondences between Pope and his brother-in-law, Judge Manning F. Force of Cleveland. Two letters are from Pope's wife to Force, and one is from a D.E. Swaim (an intelligence agent) to Pope.
Chronologically organized, the letters are in generally good to excellent condition, with some spotting and slight separations along creases. Also, one of the previous owners of this collection began to transcribe the letters in pencil above Pope's own handwritten words.
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