POSTBELLUM LS CHARLES FAULKNER TO JEFFERSON DAVIS 1875 STONEWALL JACKSON

Description

[VIRGINIA, CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA].
POSTBELLUM LETTER REGARDING
STONEWALL JACKSON & GETTYSBURG.
“On the 1st of January, 1862, Gen. Jackson was in
command at Winchester by the arrival of
Gen. Loring of about 10,000 men. The Federal force
then at Romney, 42 miles distant, was said to be
12,000. When we left Winchester, I understood
the object of the expedition to be to drive from the
State or capture these 12,000 Federal troops ..."
Faulkner, Charles James to "Hon. Jefferson Davis."
Manuscript Letter Signed.
Martinsburg, West Virginia, November 8, 1875. Four pages on two sheets each measuring 12.5 inches by 8 inches, approximately 957 words recorded in ink on lined paper, signed by Faulkner.
Condition:
Old folds, slight edge wear, lightly soiled, otherwise Very Good.
Please see photos.
A fascinating & lengthy letter which includes several corrections in a different ink & is thus quite probably a draft. Faulkner begins by soliciting Jefferson Davis for information regarding
"two facts in the military history of General Jackson"
but his intent ultimately seems to be to amend the record. The first "fact" regards Jackson's movements in January, 1862, in part:
“
The first to which I allude was his expedition in January 1862. I started with him from Winchester and left him after his return from the Potomac at Unger’s Store in Morgan, having been sent by him from that point to Richmond with both verbal and written communications to the Secretary of War. During the entire period that I subsequently acted as his Adjutant General and Chief of Staff, I have no recollection of his ever having made any particular allusion to that expedition, and although I prepared all his reports, I am certain that I never prepared a report of that expedition, and so far as I am aware, I do not believe that any has ever been written John Esten Cooke, in his Life of General Jackson, page 36, says “peremptory orders given [by] the war office at Richmond arrested his further advance before he had executed the designs which he had in view.” I am inclined to think that this must be an error. I never heard an intimation of any such orders while I was at Head Quarters.
The second "fact," & far the more intriguing, is provided in full:
"The second point to which I desire to invite your attention is that whilst I was at Gen. Jackson’s headquarters at Moss Neck near the Rappahannock, in January and February, 1863, the impression was produced upon my mind in my nightly conferences with the General, that it had been arranged that he was to take command of the army at that time in contemplation for the invasion of Pennsylvania. I remember distinctly the fact that the expectation of such an invasion was a frequent subject of conversation between us; the number of troops that might be necessary for the successful accomplishment of such an invasion; the routes by which the army was to march into that state, and even the preparation that might be proper to proceed the march into that hostile territory. Now it is true the General Jackson never in terms stated to me that any such expedition had been decided upon, or that he was to command it; it was simply an impression that I drew myself from the conversations to which I have above referred and which were continued for several nights between us. If such was the purpose of the Confederate Government, and such the arrangement of General Lee, it was frustrated by the death of General Jackson in May 1863. I have never made any public mention of these impressions upon my mind, and I have been unwilling to do so fearing that I might be in error;  but my impressions upon that point have been very strong and certainly if any purpose of that kind was intended, it must’ve been known to you, and I should like to have my mind relieved by a correction or an affirmance (sic) of that impression; for I should treat your authority upon that subject as conclusive."
Charles James Faulkner (1806 - 1884) was appointed Minister to France in 1860 by President James Buchanan. He was recalled in 1861 on suspicions of having “Southern sympathies” and subsequently imprisoned on charges of negotiating while in France sales of arms for the Confederacy. Faulkner, ever the diplomat, negotiated his own release in exchange for the release of Congressman Alfred Ely, who had attended the First Battle of Bull Run, was captured by the Confederates, and ensconced for six months in Richmond’s notorious Libby Prison. Thereafter, Faulkner enlisted in the Confederate Army and was assistant adjutant general on the staff of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. After the war, Faulkner returned to the practice of law and active involvement in various railroad enterprises. Not quite done with politics, he was again a member of a constitutional convention, this time in 1872 for the relatively new state of West Virginia. Additionally, he was again elected to the House of Representatives in 1874 and served his district from 1875 to 1877.
"
Please see our other listings over the next couple of weeks where we will be featuring an interesting array of Confederate documents & letters.
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