Civil War Dispatch Sent by Major General George B McClellan

Major General George B. McClellan

(1826-1885) Photo from Library of Congress

This interesting telegraph dispatch sent by Major General George B. McClellan, commanding the Union forces during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. This order was issued as the campaign had almost ended, in a humiliating Union defeat, as the aggressive Robert E. Lee emerged, and beat back the numerically superior but tactically timid McClellan. The order directs Major General Erasmus Keyes, who had earlier in the day been ordered to hold at Yorktown, to "send all you have of Rushes (sic) Cavalry by land to Ft. Monroe" at the base of the Peninsula. The cavalry in question was the 6th Regiment of Cavalry (70th PA Volunteers), the so-called "Rush's Lancers." Docketed on the reverse as a telegraph dispatch, with a content summary. A terrific, and very scarce, Civil War item. Wartime field orders of any sort are very hard to come by, as most were not retained. From Heritage Collectors Society

Pittsburgh Daily Post Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Friday, October 30, 1885

Daughters of the American Revolution Letter 1892 Mrs Ellen Randolph Harrison Life Membership signed by Mary Leighton Shields

Letter written by Mary Harrison Leighton Shields (1844-1913) Daughters of the American Revolution informing Ellen Randolph Harrison (1823-1896) March 5 1892 Honorable Life Member of the Society (Daughters of the American Revolution) Letter is in the Pennsylvania collection of Heritage Collectors' Society

Mary Harrison Leighton Shields(1844-1913) daughter of Rev. John Leighton and Sarah Bainbridge Richardson. Married George Howell Shields, Sr (1842-1924) son of George W Shields (1806-1880) and Martha Howell (1816-1890) Image From 
Missouri Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution

Daughters of the American Revolution recognize Hannibal's Mary Harrison Leighton Shields with special plaque see https://www.hannibal.net/news/20180528/commemorating-family-heritage-of-honor