Lot
2464 
Confederacy, Libby Prison, Richmond Va., letter datelined "Libby Prison, Richmond Va., Decb. 27 1863" with some interesting content "…It is really a shame that the State of New York which is the largest represented in this prison, its aid societies, ladies societies etc. etc. had not sent a penny worth of things to the prisoners except Genl. Wadsworth who sent $2,000 to be distributed among the enlisted men at Belle Isle. While the ladies of Baltimore have send hundredths of boxes with every kind of delicacies, towels, soap, combs, hand glasses, cigars, etc. - The ladies societies of Philadelphia. sent to the Pennsylvania troops thousands & thousands dollars worth of eatables & delicacies. The societies of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts all in short have sent to their state volunteers in prison here some tokens of their sympathy and affection but the great fashionable ladies of New York City and State. You will perhaps say that they did not know we would receive them - Why? Because they have no time left from their amusements & flirtations even to know that there is such a thing as a war … This prison life will become history and the state of New York ladies societies will have a very poor place in it … among the many officers of my country in New York there was the son of Gen. Racchia who was brought up in the Jesuit school with me - His name is Carlo Albert Racchia…" and signed Luigi, Very Fine. Estimate $400 - 600.
Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832-1904), an Italian-American soldier, diplomat and amateur archaeologist. He was released from Libby Prison early in 1864 when the Union Agent for Prisoner Exchange offered a personal friend of Jefferson Davis as barter. He served in the Wilderness and Petersburg campaigns (1864-65) as a commander of a cavalry brigade but was not promoted to brigadier general. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the American Civil War. He was United States consul at Larnaca in Cyprus (1865-1877) and first Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1879-1904).
Realized: $850