William T. Sherman Autograph Letter Signed.

SHERMAN, William T.

$1,600.00

Item Number: 145302

St. Louis, Missouri:, May 21, 1885.

Autograph letter signed by William T. Sherman to the widowed Mary Audenried, whom he is rumored to have had a decade-long affair with. In this personal letter, William T. Sherman advises Mary Audenried, the widow of his former aide-de-camp Joseph C. Audenried, on how to manage her underage daughter’s restless behavior. He shares that his wife and daughter may be leaving town and mentions the name of a local hotel, possibly hinting at a rendezvous. One page, bifolium, large duodecimo, the letter reads in part, “It is of hard course that one so loving as you should be lonely but you have all round you kindred spirits to share your loneliness, and may, I suppose, at any moment regain your peace in your mother’s house in Philadelphia.” In near fine condition with mail folds and very light toning.

It is believed that in the summer of 1880, President Rutherford B. Hayes asked Sherman to pay Mrs. Audenried a visit after the death of her husband to give her the President's condolences. After this meeting, the two grew quite close, and whether or not the rumors of an affair are true, Sherman became intimately involved in the lives of both Mrs. Audenried and her daughter Florence, taking them under his wing. In the year prior to this letter, Florence had been placed at a convent at Manhattanville by her mother.