Campbell, John Archibald

Autograph letter signed ("J A Campbell"), 20 pages (9 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.; 248 x 196 mm), Fort Pulaski, Georgia, 20 July 1865, to Benjamin Robbins Curtis; dampstaining, some browning, marginal fraying, mounting remnants and paper losses at page folds affecting a few characters of a few words of text. Blue half-morocco slipcase, gilt-stamped title on spine.

Arrested and detained. Campbell pens a lengthy letter to Benjamin Robbins Curtis expressing gratitude for his efforts in obtaining his release from arrest and confinement. He provides a highly detailed account of his actions from May 1861 and the circumstances leading to his arrest on 22 May 1865. Though not "a patron or friend of the succession movement," Campbell believed in it as the right of the states and worked fervently to prevent the war. He became Assistant Secretary of War for the Confederacy at the end of October 1862 and Campbell writes: "I never labored more." He elaborates: "I do not pretend to have done more than to accept conditions that were inexorable & to endeavor to stop the effusion of blood and to husband the remnants of the resources that had not been consumed by the war. This I did with more urgency, & more consistent & definite purpose than any other I believe." 

Campbell proceeds to describe his meeting with Mr. Lincoln in Richmond on 4 April 1865: "I told him that the war was virtually ended . . . That I regarded this war as one between communities the one contending for independence, the other for continued union . . . That were independence to be won still a close union was anticipated to be formed. I stated to him my position. That I had remained because I knew that the war was virtually over & to perform my duty to the country." He continues with commentary on his efforts as one of the Southern Commissioners at the futile Hampton Roads Peace Conference. Campbell finishes his letter with details of his arrest and confinement noting the officers are "courteous & considerate" and he suffers "no indignity." He closes, "I should be glad to know why I was arrested & detained."

No doubt, Benjamin Curtis played a crucial role in Campbell's final release after four months of imprisonment. Curtis was the first Supreme Court Justice to resign from the court over a matter of principle: he was one of the two dissenters in the Dred Scott case and argued against the majority's denial of the slave Scott's bid for emancipation. He resigned from the court in 1857 because of the bitter feelings engendered by the case. He returned to his Boston law practice and became a leading lawyer in the nation.