General John A. Dix Original Framed CDV With War Dated Letter / Sold

General John A. Dix original framed CDV with War Dated Letter.  Frame measures 13 3/4" x 10 7/8" with "Brady NY" mark.  Letter reads as follows: 

"Head Quarters,

Baltimore 1. Feb. 1862.

Pass J.S. Keyes Eng. U.S. 

Marshall of Mass. Co Fort Mc

Henry & Fort Federal Hill.

John A. Dix

Maj. Genl."

John Adams Dix (July 24, 1798 – April 21, 1879) was Secretary of the Treasury, Governor of New York and Union major general during the Civil War. He was notable for arresting the pro-Southern Maryland legislature, preventing that divided border state from seceding, and for arranging a system for prisoner exchange via the Dix-Hill cartel, concluded in partnership with Confederate Major General Daniel Harvey Hill.

Dix was appointed United States Secretary of the Treasury by President James Buchanan in January 1861. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he sent a telegram to the Treasury agents in New Orleans ordering that: "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." Although the telegram was intercepted by Confederates, and was never delivered to the Treasury agents, the text found its way to the press, and Dix became one of the first heroes of the North during the Civil War. The saying is found on many Civil War tokens minted during the war, although the wording is slightly modified.

Inventory Number: CDV 195 / Sold