Raynor HCA 2013-01
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/10/2013
WILLIAM H. PALMER (1835-1926) famed Confederate officer who as a staff officer under A. P. Hill witnessed many of the war's true turning points including taking part in the battle First Bull Run, witnessing the wounding of Jackson, the North's breakthrough at Petersburg and Custer 's entering the lines at Appomattox. _ Palmer was born in Richmond in 1835. As a young boy, he frequently saw Edgar A. Poe as he walked the streets of Richmond. In 1861, he enlisted as a private in the "Old First" Virginia just four days after the Virginia seceded from the Union. He quickly gained rank to lieutenant and in that capacity served at the battle of Blackburn's Ford and First Manassas. One month later he was promoted adjutant of the regiment and in October 1861 was appointed assistant adjutant general under Ambrose Powell Hill. During the battle of Williamsburg the colonel of the First Virginia was shot and Palmer, now a major, was given command of the regiment. In a rear-guard action at Williamsburg he was severely wounded in the arm and taken out of action. While recuperating from his wounds, Lee requested that Palmer reorganize the First and after doing so he led the regiment in the battle Cedar Mountain and Second Bull Run. The Antietam campaign found him back as a staff officer and now a colonel with Hill and the famed Light Division in Jackson's Corps. Palmer was with Stonewall Jackson during the battle of Chancellorsville and was with him when he inadvertently rode into his own lines at Chancellorsville and was mortally wounded. As Jackson fell, Palmer's horse was shot from under him. Moments after securing a new mount this horse too was shot and killed. Palmer was severely injured during this horse's fall. In 1864 he was again back in action and serving with Hill's staff again. He took part in all actions during Grant's Overland campaign and during the siege of Petersburg. On April 2, 1865 he was present when the Union army finally broke through the Confederate lines near Fort Gregg. Then he and Col. Walter H. Taylor, Lee's most trusted aide, copied Lee's orders for the Army of Northern Virginia to evacuate the Richmond/Petersburg lines. Following the retreat, he took part in the Appomattox campaign and guided Union General George Armstrong Custer back to the Union lines after entering Longstreet's lines with a flag of truce requesting the surrender of the Army of North Virginia. After the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, he was paroled and went home to live out his life as a respected businessman and city elder. A great war-date manuscript Gettysburg campaign document, 1p. folio, entitled: "Requisition for Stationary for use of the Subsistence Department of Genl. A. P. Hill's Division for the Quarter ending 30th June 1863." The main body of the document contains a list of all the necessary supplies used to sustain the bureaucratic needs of Hill's Division while in the field, including: "Six Reams Foolscap Paper…Eight Large Blank Books…One Thousand Envelopes Large Size…Six. Doz. Lead Pencils…One doz. Red Tape [Really?]…". Boldly signed at the bottom: "Approved By Order Maj. Genl. A. P. Hill. Wm. H. Palmer, a. a. a. Genl.". Please see Robert Krick's book: "The Smoothbore Volley that Doomed the Confederacy." for much more important information on Palmer. Near fine.
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