General Orders Containing General Order No. 139 the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
18622923Washington D.C.: War Department 1862. Calf marbled boards. Very Good. FIRST OBTAINABLE PRINTING OF THE PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION setting a date for the freedom of more than three million enslaved in the United States and reframing the Civil War as a fight against slavery. Issued by the War Department to regimental commanders in the field during the Civil War in the week after the completion of President Lincoln’s official manuscript version. Contained is a set of three volumes of General Orders covering the full year 1862 July-Dec 1863 and the full year 1864. History of the Emancipation Proclamation:<br /> <br /> “The proclamation has been called by responsible persons one of the three great<br /> documents of world history ranking with Magna Carta and the Declaration of<br /> Independence†– Eberstadt<br /> <br /> “From the first days of the Civil War slaves had acted to secure their own liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to slavery’s final destruction the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom†– National Archives<br /> <br /> Following the Seven Days Battle and General McClellan’s retreat from the Peninsula at the end of June 1862 President Lincoln realized that there would be no early end to the war and found himself “as inconsolable as it was possible for a human to be and yet live.†Anxious for news from the army and needing to escape the constant interruptions at the White House he frequently visited the telegraph office in the War Department building to await dispatches. It was during one such visit early in July that he asked the chief of the telegraph staff Major Thomas Thompson Eckert for some paper to “write something special†and began the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation completing it in a few weeks. Lincoln had long hoped to resolve the slavery issue through a congressional act of emancipation compensating slave owners for their loss of “property†but that approach was roundly rejected by representatives from the border states leaving the President who had decided upon the necessity of emancipation with a presidential proclamation as the only option. The extraordinary document he conceived would announce the liberation on January 1 1863 of all slaves in those states still in rebellion against the Union and promised compensation to slave owners in those states that returned to the fold before that time if they adopted “immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery.†This proclamation would be followed by a final proclamation issued on the 1st of January identifying those states still in rebellion and confirming the liberation of all slaves therein.<br /> <br /> On Tuesday July 22 Lincoln presented his draft to the Cabinet telling them that he had resolved firmly upon the course of action it specified and asking them not for advice but suggestions. The only observation he had not anticipated came from Secretary of State Seward who proposed that it might be best to wait for a military victory before issuing the Proclamation as it could otherwise seem like “the last measure of an exhausted government.†Immediately recognizing the wisdom of the suggestion Lincoln held back. On September 17 after an anxious wait of nearly two months he received the victory he needed at the bloody Battle of Antietam. Completing his final draft Lincoln presented it to his cabinet for refinement on September 22. Following the meeting Seward took the amended draft with him to the State Department where a formal manuscript copy was made then signed by Lincoln and Seward. The formal official “Emancipation Proclamation†was of course issued on January 1 1863 the day it became the law of the land.<br /> <br /> Printing History:<br /> <br /> This printing in the War Department’s official “General Orders†is the fourth printing overall but realistically the first obtainable printing. It is preceded by:<br /> <br /> -The first printing Eberstadt #1 a small three-page circular intended for distribution within the government and to the local press likely printed on September 22. At the time that Charles Eberstadt published his study of the Proclamation 1950 he was able to locate only one copy which he himself owned and as nearly as we have been able to determine no other copies have come to light since then.<br /> <br /> -The second printing Eberstadt #2 may be a phantom printing. Charles Eberstadt was not able to locate a copy but he inferred its existence from the standard State Department practice of printing a folio edition consisting solely of the text of the proclamation followed by another printing consisting of the text of a letter of transmittal from the Secretary of State as well as the text of the proclamation. While there may be a copy of Eberstadt #2 in the National Archives as he speculated it is not recorded in their online catalogue nor have we been able to find a copy in any other online catalogue including OCLC the Library of Congress and the Abraham Lincoln Library.<br /> <br /> -Eberstadt’s third printing is of legendary rarity. It consists of Secretary of State Seward’s one-page letter of transmittal addressed “To the Diplomatic and Consular Officers of the United States in foreign countries†and the text of the proclamation. Eberstadt located a total of only five copies in institutions at the Library of Congress the National Archives Yale the Clements Library and Brown. OCLC does not record any additional copies nor is it recorded in Monaghan. There has been one copy at auction $400000 in 2021 and that was described as the only copy in private hands. <br /> <br /> -The present copy General Orders No. 139 is Eberstadt’s fourth printing of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation dated in print on September 24. Eberstadt surmises that this field order printing could have been accomplished as late as September 29 or 30. Although it may have been printed in as many as 15000 copies it is very rare in commerce likely due to the ephemeral nature of the printing and distribution.<br /> <br /> Additional General Orders and Provenance:
<br /> <br /> The three volumes once belonged to John G. Haskell A.Q.M. Chief Quartermaster and contain the General Orders for the year 1862 July-December only for the year 1863 and for the full year 1864. John Gideon Haskell 1832-1907 was a resident of Kansas and joined the Union Army when the war broke out. He enlisted with the 14th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment and later served as Assistant Quartermaster General of Kansas as quartermaster of the Third Kansas and the Tenth Kansas Volunteers as Captain and Assistant Quartermaster on the staff of General James G. Blunt and as Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Frontier. After the war Haskell was named official state architect and worked on the state house the capitol the State University and more.<br /> <br /> In addition to the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation the three volumes also contain the Acts of Congress on many other subjects including pay discharge recruitment handling of troops etc.<br /> <br /> Washington D.C.: War Department Adjutant General’s Office 1862-64. Three volumes. Small octavo contemporary three-quarter brown morocco two volumes with cloth boards one with marbled boards. Some rubbing and wear to bindings pencil notations on endpapers with collation and highlighting certain orders and some internal pages. Dampstaining to general title of 1862 volume; internal text and Emancipation Proclamation generally fine. RARE AND IMPORTANT.<br /> <br /> References:<br /> <br /> Charles Eberstadt. “Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.†New York: 1950. War Department unknown
