Autographed Letter Signed on "Headquarters Army of the United States" letterhead

Washington, D.C., 1871. unbound. Three-page handwritten letter with outstanding content, 8 x 5 inches, Washington, D.C., June 22, 1871. Written to former Confederate Brigadier General Marcus J. Wright, commander of the District of Atlanta, in full: "Your note of June 1, awaited me here on my return from Texas. It is sharp that you even noticed in the newspaper of the day the fact that less than a year ago Capt. Buel of the Ordinance Department, the same who was on my staff at Atlanta, and who was taken prisoner the day before we entered that place, was murdered at the U.S. Arsenal Fort Leavenworth, by a discharged soldier. Buel had punished this man for some offense and was retiring from a party inside Leavenworth to his own house, just outside after entering his own yard, with his wife on his arm, was shot dead by a man concealed in a brush within a few feet. The man for a time escaped, but was hunted and at last caught, he was so badly wounded in capture that he started confessing the deed, and assigning as a reason the fact that he had been punished by Capt. Buel. Buel's widow [Josephine] is now living with her father Surgeon Charles McDougall, U.S. Army at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Mo." Note: David Hillhouse Buel, a staff officer assigned to General Sherman, was captured in Atlanta and held prisoner from September 7 to 28, 1864 by Confederate General Marcus J. Wright. As this letter indicates, both General Sherman and General Wright remembered him affectionately. In a further twist to the story, Josephine Buel, after the assassination of her husband, went to Jefferson Barracks and stayed with her brother Captain Thomas M. McDougall of the 7th Cavalry. While there, she was introduced to her brother-in-law Oliver Buel whom she married. Her brother would be best remembered for commanding a pack train escort on June 25, 1876 at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Mounting strip on the back of the black back page; faint staining on the first page; natural folds. Very good(-) condition.<br/><br/> Distinguished Civil War General, who upon the election of U.S. Grant to the Presidency, was promoted to the rank of "General of the Army."<br/><br/>