Paroled Prisoner of the Army of Northern Virginia
5/7/18 – There is a change of pace this week as we finished up another successful Americana sale. Hopefully everyone who wanted to buy something was successful and for our sake I hope you paid too much! As we move along in the calendar year it appears that summer may actually get here. There is a terrific jewelry sale on Friday May 11th, but, as a typical guy, I couldn’t find anything to write about in that sale so I picked the following day. Saturday May 12th, is our Firearm & Militaria Auction. I found many things in that sale that I like, but the one thing that stuck out to me was lot #92. This lot came to us from the Civil War and is dated April 10th, 1865. For you history buffs April 10th, 1865 was the day after General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant and he made his final speech to his troops. Confederate soldiers upon surrendering were issued these paroles allowing them to return home without fear of arrest as long as they did not take up arms against the United States. General Lee asked for and received from General Grant permission to produce 30,000 partially printed parole forms. Hand crank field presses were set up inside Clover Hill Tavern. These documents were produced at a feverish pace and held four on each sheet of paper. This one was filled out for Frank P. Whitehead, Sergeant of Company A, First Regiment of the Virginia Cavalry. It is signed by Edward A. Flint, Captain, Provost Guard. The condition is excellent with light creases. With an estimate of $800-1200 I hope that it exceeds the upper end and finds a new home.
by: Jamie Shearer
