[Civil War] Enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Report of Brig. Gen. J.D. Webster, on the Construction of a Ship and Steamboat Canal from the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. Made to the Secretary of War, and Submitted by the President to Congress

Chicago, Illinois: Tribune Company, 1862. [Civil War] Enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Report of Brig. Gen. J.D. Webster, on the Construction of a Ship and Steamboat Canal from the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. Made to the Secretary of War, and Submitted by the President to Congress, Printed by the Tribune Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1862. 5 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches, 8pp.

Eight-page government document printed on very thin paper stock. Moderate toning. Fragile leaves show edge wear and a couple small chips and tears. Leaves beginning to split at spine. Good Condition.

Report to the Secretary of War pushing for the enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal which would allow "passage for gunboats and armed vessels from the Mississippi to the Lakes, by improving the navigation of the Illinois River and enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal."

Joseph Dana Webster was a busy man during the American Civil War. He was a veteran of the Mexican-American war and had left the Army in 1854. According to civilwartalk.com, "On 1 June 1861, he was appointed major in the U.S. Army Paymasters. In September, he became chief of staff to Ulysses S. Grant. On 1 February 1862, Webster was appointed colonel of the 1st Illinois Light Artillery Regiment but remained Grant’s chief of staff through the battles of Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh.

Webster was instrumental in massing the artillery in support of Grant’s last line of defense near Pittsburg Landing on the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. On 29 November, he was promoted to brigadier general of U.S. volunteers. He was assigned superintendent of railroads in the Department of the Tennessee. He next served as the Chief of Transportation for the Army of the Tennessee during the siege of Vicksburg and later for the entire Military Division of Mississippi."

At some point in 1862 he was granted leave from the War Department to provide this "able and conclusive document" where he argues in conclusion that enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal is critical to the union cause. "Its military and commercial bearings will develop into vaster proportions, till he will see that nowhere is there work to compare with it in importance, except, perhaps the projected canals across the isthmuses of Darien and Suez."

Letter addressed to the Secretary of War, Washington, D.C., Signed on p. 8: J.D. Webster, Col. 1st Reg. Ill. State Artillery. Dated at Jackson, Tenn., November 28, 1862. Text printed in two columns.

Physical copies held at the American Antiquarian Society and University of Chicago as of September 2025. Item #2149

Price: $75.00