{"product_id":"1828-robert-e-lee-jefferson-davis-and-joseph-e-johnston-as-west-point-cadets-rare-1828-congressional-report","title":"1828 Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Joseph E. Johnston as West Point Cadets — Rare 1828 Congressional Report","description":"\u003cp class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003eAn exceptionally revealing official record of the United States Military Academy, issued in 1828 while \u003cstrong\u003eRobert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Joseph E. Johnston\u003c\/strong\u003e were cadets at West Point—more than three decades before they emerged as three of the most consequential figures of the American Civil War.\u003cspan class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchor\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitled \u003cem\u003eCadets at West Point: Letter from the Secretary of War, Transmitting a List of the Cadets Now at West Point; Their Names, the State and County from Whence Sent, \u0026amp;c. \u0026amp;c.\u003c\/em\u003e, the report was published in Washington by Gales \u0026amp; Seaton for the \u003cstrong\u003e20th Congress, First Session\u003c\/strong\u003e, as House Document No. 167. It was submitted on February 29, 1828, and ordered laid upon the table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe document contains extensive lists and folding statistical tables recording the cadets’ names, states of appointment, dates of admission, ages, residences and the names and addresses of their parents or guardians.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmong the Virginia cadets appears \u003cstrong\u003eRobert E. Lee\u003c\/strong\u003e, then approximately twenty-one years old. Lee had entered West Point in 1825 and would graduate second in the Class of 1829 without receiving a single demerit. The extended table also identifies his guardian or parent as “C. C. Lee” and records his Washington and Virginia connections.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAppearing alongside Lee is \u003cstrong\u003eJoseph E. Johnston\u003c\/strong\u003e, printed in one list as “Jos. E. Johnson,” an early official misspelling of the future general’s surname. Lee and Johnston were classmates, both graduating in 1829 before pursuing distinguished United States Army careers and ultimately commanding major Confederate forces during the Civil War.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Mississippi section records \u003cstrong\u003e“J. Davis,”\u003c\/strong\u003e identified through the accompanying entry for his guardian, Mrs. Jane Davis, and his residence at Woodville, Mississippi. The cadet was \u003cstrong\u003eJefferson Davis\u003c\/strong\u003e, who graduated from West Point in 1828, served in the United States Army and as United States Secretary of War, and became president of the Confederate States of America in 1861.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe report includes many additional officers who later served in the Mexican and Civil wars, among them James Barnes, Theophilus Holmes, William H. Emory, Philip Kearny, Seth Eastman, Albert G. Blanchard and William Hoffman.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis remarkable document captures Lee, Davis and Johnston not as the opposing leaders history remembers, but as young cadets being educated together by the United States Army. Few documents illustrate more vividly the shared military institution from which much of the Civil War’s senior leadership emerged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNine printed pages with extensive folding tables. Removed from a bound Congressional volume, with binding residue and losses along the inner edge, scattered foxing and toning, edge wear, old folds, occasional small tears and some weakness at fold intersections. The important entries remain clear and legible, and the complex folding tables are substantially intact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA rare and highly displayable intersection of \u003cstrong\u003eWest Point, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Joseph E. Johnston and Civil War history\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Signature Documents LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52770428944666,"sku":null,"price":1967.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2221\/0931\/files\/IMG_2720.jpg?v=1788136593","url":"https:\/\/www.thearchiveauthority.com\/en-ca\/products\/1828-robert-e-lee-jefferson-davis-and-joseph-e-johnston-as-west-point-cadets-rare-1828-congressional-report","provider":"Signature Documents LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}