Signed copy of General Order No. 9 Addressed to Captain A.B. Morrison by Robert E. Lee framed and matted manuscript, April 10, 1896

Replacement Value: $100,000

This is very likely the first printing of Lee’s farewell to his troops, one of the most famous documents written during the Civil War and perhaps the most famous military order in American history. Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Farewell Address to the Army of Northern Virginia, also known as General Order No. 9, sold for nearly $100,000 at auction Tuesday in New York. Drafted by an aide on the night of April 9-10, 1865, a few hours after Lee had surrendered, General Order No. 9 is among the best-known documents of the War Between the States. No other words, spoken or written, had a more heartening effect on the veterans of the proud but weary Army of Northern Virginia, according to author Joseph E. Fields.