This is a slip of paper which meas. approx. 4.50 inches wide x 7.50 inches long that was obviously pulled from a book. The inscriptions on the paper read “D. HUNTER, MAJ. GEN.” and below this are “MILITARY COM. ROOM, WASHINGTON CITY, JUNE 6, 1865. VERY HUMBLY, YOUR FRIEND, LEW WALLACE, MAJ. GEN. COMD. MD. DEP’T. + 8^TH ARMY CORPS.”  The period ink inscriptions are strong and very readable. Hunter’s is in a stronger and bolder hand as befits his character.

David Hunter was born in Washington, D.C. on July 21, 1802. He was the grandson of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Hunter graduated from West Point in 1822 and was assigned to Fort Dearborn from 1828-1831. He resigned his commission to become a speculator in 1836. After trying his hand with real estate in Chicago for six years he rejoined the Army as a Paymaster with the rank of Major in 1842.

Hunter traveled with President Lincoln to Washington for his inauguration and managed to get himself made the fourth ranking volunteer General. During the war Hunter had varying success. He is best known for issuing an order freeing the slaves in his Department of the South in March 1862 which he was forced by President Lincoln to rescind and the burning of VMI in 1864. He saw action at First Bull Run where he was wounded, Secessionville and Piedmont. After President Lincoln’s assassination Hunter was assigned to preside over the commission that tried the Lincoln conspirators. Hunter retired from the Army in 1866 with the rank of Colonel with brevets of Brigadier and Major General. He lived in Washington until his death on February 2, 1886 and was buried in Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, New Jersey.

Lewis “Lew” Wallace was born in Brookville, Indiana on April 10, 1827. During the war with Mexico he served as a 1^st Lieutenant in the 1^st Indiana. After the war he read law and was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1849 and in 1859 he was elected to the state senate.

When Fort Sumter was fired on Wallace was appointed Adjutant General of the state. He was appointed Colonel of the 11^th Indiana Infantry. He was promoted to Brigadier General on September 3, 1861. He was present at the capture of Fort Donelson and promoted to Major General on March 21, 1862. Wallace commanded a Division at Shiloh but while moving to the field he became lost and arrived too late to be of any use on the first day of the battle.

Wallace did perform better in the summer of 1864 when he fought an important delaying action against Jubal Early during the latter’s raid on Washington. Wallace delayed Early long enough for reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac to arrive.

After the war he served as a member of the military commission that tried the Lincoln conspirators and was president of the court-martial that tried and condemned the commandant of Andersonville Prison, Henry Wirz. In later years he served as Governor of New Mexico and United States minister to Turkey. Wallace was also a lecturer and speaker. He was also a writer and became famous for writing “Ben Hur: A Tale of The Christ” which has been produced on film at least three times in the last 88 years.  Lew Wallace died in his Crawfordville, Indiana home on February 15, 1905 and is buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery.

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