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“All acts of hostility, on the part of both armies, are to cease from this date…” Summary: Bound volume of orders of the Military division of West Mississippi, headquartered at New Orleans and commanded by General E.R.S. Canby, in the final year of the Civil War. Among the more interesting orders in this volume is number 61, dated May 26, 1865, on the surrender of General E. Kirby Smith, who commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department during the second half of the Civil War. Smith surrendered nearly two months after Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Ulysses Grant at Appomattox. General Orders from the Military Division of West Mississippi are scarce. General Orders 1-68, and Circulars 1-6, all separately issued, bound together in this handsome volume. A few of the orders are signed by adjutants with a couple of manuscript notations. “By the terms of a convention entered into this day, on the part of General E.K. Smith, commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department, and Major-General E.R.S. Canby, commanding the Military Division of West Mississippi, the forces, military and naval, of the Trans-Mississippi Department, and the public property under their control, have been surrendered to the authorities of the United States.” [Civil War]. Book, Military Division of West Mississippi. 8 vo., contemporary half morocco over marbled paper boards (morocco gilt label on the front cover, misspelled Rorhbough), front cover detached. Inventory # 21795 $2,250 Excerpts:
[Jan. 3, 1865, regarding unlawful trade with the enemy:] “In all such cases, military commanders are directed, and naval commanders are requested, to cause the boats to be seized…” [Feb. 1, 1865:] “…the plantations to be leased … will be limited to the banks of the Mississippi River [and] such of its tributaries … as are under our control…Freedmen, employed on leased plantations will not be taken from their employment, except by voluntary enlistment…” [Feb. 19, 1865:] “In each division of the 13th and 16th army corps, and in the division of colored troops, there will be organized a pioneer company…” [May 25, 1865:] “Military Commanders in this Division are authorized to loan to the destitute inhabitants … such portions of the captured means of transportation as may be needed for purposes of cultivation…” Calendar Rohrbough (d. 1909) of Basco, Illinois, enlisted as second lieutenant and was promoted to captain in the 118th Illinois Infantry Regt. Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (1817-1873) fought in the Mexican War and in the “Utah War” against the Mormons in 1857-1858. He resigned his command in 1861 to join Secretary of War Edwin Stanton’s staff and was involved in maintaining order during the New York City Draft Riots of 1863. He returned to command the Military Division of West Mississippi and was brevetted major general in March 1865. Canby was shot to death in 1873 by the Modoc War leader Kintpuash in northern California as he tried to negotiate a peace treaty. Provenance: Captain Calendar Rohrbough, 118th Illinois mtd. infy. vols.
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