41. Józef Bem (1794–1850), general of the Hungarian army...

... and commander of the Transylvanian forces. Autograph signed, official letter.
The document instructs the government commissioner, Miklós Hodossy, to pay the sum due to József Veliska, the postmaster of Déva. As the government commissioner of Bihar County, Hodossy played an important role in equipping and provisioning the Transylvanian army during the autumn and winter of 1848. Most of his surviving papers are preserved in the National Archives of Hungary, although several dozen documents were removed by the imperial and royal authorities shortly after the War of Independence for court-martial or other official purposes. Bem wrote the present letter during his Banat campaign of spring 1849, from the village of Freidorf in Temes County (today part of Timișoara), where he maintained his headquarters on several occasions in May 1849. According to the handwriting, the letter was probably drafted by First Lieutenant and military judge Endre Zárnoki (according to information kindly provided by Dr Róbert Hermann).
Although Bem served as commander-in-chief in Transylvania from December 1848 until the end of the War of Independence, comparable documents appear on the market surprisingly rarely.
1 written page, with printed letterhead “Headquarters of the Upper Transylvanian Army”.
Dated: Freydorf (today part of Temesvár), 27 May 1849.
 
Starting price: 1 500 000 Ft