George S. Patton Jr.
San Gabriel, CA, January 8, 1894
8 Year Old George S. Patton Jr. to His Father
ALS

[GEORGE S. PATTON JR., Letter Signed, to George S. Patton II, January 8, 1894, [San Gabriel, California]. 4 pp., 4.5" x 7". Written in the hand of his beloved sister Nita, light toning; very good.

?I miss you very much dear Papa, and I hope you will come home soon.?

George S. Patton Jr. wrote this charming letter to his father when he was only eight years old. Although the younger Patton had difficulty learning to read and write, he overcame these challenges to become an avid reader. He was tutored at home until the age of eleven, when he was enrolled in a private Classical School for Boys in Pasadena, where he remained for six years.

His family had moved from Los Angeles to Lake Vineyard, a large landholding in San Gabriel, California, where they grew oranges, operated a winery, and raised other crops. At the time George Patton wrote this letter, his father was away on a business trip. According to contemporary newspapers, the elder Patton was in Visalia for a court case against him by George Slight. The case was later dismissed by the plaintiff?s attorneys, perhaps suggesting a private settlement.

Complete Transcript
Monday
8th Jan. 1894
Dear Papa
We have found the cow, and calf, and the calf is in the corral and the cow is hanging around. You will find some pictures in this letter which Nita made. She lost her best ones but these will do. Every thing is getting along first-rate, and every one is very well. I set a trap last night on the grass under the orange trees, and this morning I caught the biggest gopher in it I ever saw. I did it all by myself. The old dog from the tunnel was up this morning, and we had a great time getting him away before the dogs saw him. Cousin Ike has just come over to take charge of us. I am afraid Lanncelot has the grip, and I think he needs a change. I miss you very much dear Papa, and I hope you will come home soon. Please answer this letter to me. Mama & Nita & every one send love, so do I to my darling Papa.
Your loving son
Geo. S. Patton Jr.
(over)
George S Patton Jr

George S. Patton Jr. (1885-1945) was born in California and educated at the Virginia Military Institute (like his father and grandfather) and the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1909. An avid horseback rider, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the cavalry. In 1910, he married Beatrice Banning Ayer (1886-1953), the daughter of a wealthy Boston businessman. He competed in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, in the modern pentathlon, where he finished fifth behind four Swedes. He then traveled to France, where he learned fencing techniques. Returning to the United States, he redesigned cavalry saber combat doctrine and designed a new sword. In 1915 and 1916, Patton participated in the Pancho Villa Expedition in Mexico as Commander John J. Pershing?s aide. In the spring of 1917, he accompanied Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I, to Europe. Patton took an interest in tanks and was soon training crews to operate them. By 1918, he was in command of a tank brigade. After World War I, he served in various army posts and began to develop the methods of mechanized warfare. At the beginning of World War II, Patton worked to develop and train armored divisions in the army. In the summer of 1942, he commanded the Western Task Force in the Allied invasion of French North Africa. He commanded the Seventh U.S. Army in the successful invasion of Sicily in July 1943. After the Normandy invasion of June 1944, Patton?s Third Army sailed to France and formed on the extreme right of Allied land forces. Through speed and aggressive offensive action, the Third Army continuously pressed retreating German forces until it ran out of fuel near Metz in northeastern France at the end of August. When the German army counterattacked in the battle of the Bulge in mid-December 1944, Patton?s ability to reposition six full divisions to relieve besieged Allied forces in Bastogne was one of the most remarkable achievements of the war. As the Germans retreated, Patton?s Third Army advanced, killing, wounding, or capturing 240,000 German soldiers in seven weeks before crossing the Rhine on March 22. After the end of the war in Europe, Patton hoped for a command in the Pacific but after a visit to the United States returned to Europe for occupation duty in Bavaria. In December 1945, the car in which he was riding collided with an American army truck at low speed, but Patton hit his head on a glass partition, breaking his neck and paralyzing him. He died twelve days later at a hospital in Germany. He was buried among some of his men of the Third Army in an American cemetery in Luxembourg.

George William Patton / George S. Patton II (1856-1927) was born George William Patton in Charleston, (West) Virginia, to George S. Patton and Susan Thornton Glassell. His father was a Confederate colonel during the war and was killed in battle in 1864. Two years later, his mother moved with her four children to California to live near her brother, who was an attorney there. In 1868, Patton changed his name to George S. Patton to honor his father. Patton grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1877. After studying law in his uncle?s office, he was admitted to the bar in 1880 and practiced in Los Angeles. In 1884, he married Ruth Wilson, the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in California. They had two children, George S. Patton Jr. and Anne Wilson ?Nita? Patton (1887-1971). He served briefly as a district attorney in Los Angeles County and as the first mayor of San Marino (1913-1922, 1922-1924).

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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4.5" x 7"