CHARLES HENRY GIFFORD, AMERICAN (1839-1904, SEASIDE VIEW WITH SAILBOATS, 1896, WATERCOLOR ON PAPER, 12 1/2"H X 16 1/4"W (W/FRAME)Charles Henry Gifford, American, (1839-1904 seaside view with sailboats, 1896, watercolor on paper signed and dated lower left. Tear in top left corner. From the archives of AskArt: Biography from Roger King Fine Art. Charles Henry Gifford was born in the seaport town of Fairhaven near New Bedford during the heyday of the whaling industry. The son of a ship's carpenter, he was first apprenticed to that trade, then learned shoemaking, but abandoned both to fight in the Civil War. He was prisoner of war in a Confederate prison where he developed chronic health problems that plagued him for the rest of his life. After the War he returned to Fairhaven and devoted himself to painting. He was essentially self- taught but was exposed to the rich artistic milieu of New Bedford. Alfred van Beest, William Bradford, Albert Bierstadt, R. Swain Gifford, and Albert Pinkham Ryder were among the artists who lived, worked, or exhibited in the city. Many years later Gifford wrote: "What set me to painting was...seeing an exhibition of Bierstadt's paintings...I was so enthused that I came home, got some cloth and paint and went right to work". Gifford was a typical Luminist painter, concerned with both subtle and dramatic effects of light, stillness, precise realism, and softly glowing surfaces. He is perhaps best known for the small canvases measuring about nine by fourteen inches that he called "my little gems". He painted along the New England Coast, including Nantucket, Cuttyhunk, and the Elizabeth Islands, and inland to the White Mountains, Niagara Falls and Lake George. Toward the end of his career he worked more frequently in watercolor, where his renditions of both naturalistic detail and subtle atmospheric effects often reached their apex. Provenance: from Taylor University's Dr. Neil and Mrs. Renee Compton Collection. Proceeds benefit Taylor University endowed scholarship funds. watercolor on paper Dimensions: 12 1/2"H x 16 1/4"W (w/frame)
COMPLETE SET OF CLARK'S NC REGIMENTAL HISTORIES Clark, Walter, ed., "North Carolina Regiments, 1865 - '65," (Raleigh: The State of North Carolina, 1901), approximately 4,000 pages, five volumes, quarto (9.5 x 6 in.), pictorial gray linen boards emblazoned with a North Carolina state flag crossed with a Confederate battle flag. The first two volumes are signed "W. J. Kincaid Co. D. 11th N. C. Bethel Regiment." William Kincaid served as his company's captain through some of the hottest fights of the Civil War. He married after the war and lived until 1923.
GA 9TH CSA AMBROTYPE R. CASSADY & CIVIL WAR ARCHIVEConfederate Archive of 4th Sergeant Russell M. Cassady, Georgia Company G, 9th Regiment (Walker Co., GA - Lafayette Volunteers, mortally wounded 1865). Includes an early war Confederate sixth plate ambrotype of Cassady in uniform with two pistols and a knife - referenced in a May 1861 letter in this lot archive (Note: an identical "Lafayette volunteer" coat and tie can be viewed on page 58 of Georgia's Confederate Sons, Volume 1, Dr. David N. Wiggens - research courtesy Malcolm Rogers), 11 total letters (4 from 1860, 7 Civil War period) letters from Russell Cassady to his cousin, Nancy E. Sawyers (Nancy E. Sawyers McBee married name) of Knox Co., TN, 10 covers (most war period), 1 letter from Nancy E. Sawyers, and a fourth plate ambrotype and daguerreotype of a female, possibly Nancy E. Sawyers. 4th Sergeant Russell M. Cassady (Cassaday) enlisted June 12, 1861 in Company G of the Georgia 9th Regiment Volunteer Infantry. This regiment fought at Gettysburg, Siege of Knoxville, Wilderness Campaign, and surrended with General Lee's army at Appomattox Court house, VA. Other engagements included Chickamauga, Manassas II, and Cold Harbor. The 9th Georgia spent most of the War with General Longstreet in the army of Northern Georgia. Cassady was mortally wounded and died in a Lynchburg, VA Confederate hospital in 1865. His War letters to his cousin, Nancy Sawyers, give battlefield accounts. Nancy Sawyers later married Confederate First Lieutenant Ganum Cox McBee of the Tennessee Infantry on October, 10, 1865. Excerpts from some of the letters Cassady writes to Nancy Sawyers - May 20, 1861, Lafayette, Walker Co. GA, "I send you my minature with my uniform and weapons of war. We are hoping for a call every day...Cousin till Death R. M. Cassaday, P.S. You will se my Graele (sp?) of office and you will also see that I am well sunburned. I haven't shaved for three weeks and don't intend to until the wars are won." July 20, 1862 letter camp near Richmond - "we have run all the yankeys away from Richmond killing thousands and traping the same prisoners. We lost a great many good an Brave men too but we must not think of whiping all the time an not loosing no men though as long as we do as well as we have done we will be verry well satisfied and will whip the fight an gaine our independance and then we will live like white folks once more...of all the distruction of man and horse and property you ever saw or herde tell of it is here in (Va). I have bin on the Battlefield from on to 25 miles. I did not think that I could walk over dead bodys an among the wounded and not do something for them but I find my heart harde an ready fore almost everything. Dead men are as common here as hogs at killing time in your c*ntry and the most of men killed on our side are young men but thank God they was killed in a good cause...for 3 hours or more the balls falling thick around me. Deare Cousin, I would like to see you all once more but I may not have the opportunity of doing so though I hurd a friend days since that our Brigate was going to Knoxville or Chattanooga." August, 11th, 1862 Camp near Richmond, VA - "We are under marching orders and will leave here in the morning or too night Stone Wall Jacson sent 27 commischened officer 1 General 300 privates that is our trip I think to renforse Jackson." March 8th, 1863 White Sulpher Springs, VA with envelope and CSA stamps - Cassady speaks of recovering from his wounds and writes, "I see that they are fighting at Fort McAllister near Savannah GA. If they are going to make Georgia the Battleground I want to go there to help my own state to whip the infurnal yanks out of it...Andrew is getting along with his Lincoln Government...the Southern Boys when they get wounded they dont desert for the first wound and do not think they will for the deceased at Leesburg hope not but will return to there Regt and fill there place in the Ranks an fight on". January 4th, 1863 - Burtons Hospital, Lynchburg, VA - "I am here wounded and cant get away I thought I would have started home this weeke but the smallpox broke out in the hospital." January 15, 1863 - Burtons Hospital, Lynchburg VA - "there is a great deal of Robing and murdering going on....Hospital servants was almost killed last night by one of them he was struck with a hatchet. The Patience are dying verry fast here with different diseases...I didant tell you about the fight at Tennessee our Co. went in with 40 men and out with 6 (?). That is the way we fight and that is the way the cut us up but we whiped them..Note - Georgia pension records for Amanda Cassady state Russell Cassady was born in Knox County, TN in 1844 and a witness to the application states he saw Cassady wounded at Petersburg in September of 1864 and he was transported to a hospital. Amanda also writes that Russell Cassady died in Walker Co., GA in 1874, conflicting will all military records stating he died from wounds in Lynchburg, 1865.Condition: Letters legible and overall very good condition, some covers have the postage removed. Ambrotype of Russell Cassady in excellent condition, ambrotype and daguerreotype of female overall very good condition.
Talley Family Civil War Archive Including Diaries of Joseph R. Talley IL 27th Inf. & Charles Talley DE 7th Inf. 6 letters (4 war-date); 13 documents; 3 diaries (2 war-date); 11 banknotes; 2 photographs. 1853-1934. Joseph R. Talley was one of three men of the same name to enlist in Co. F of then 27th Illinois Infantry from the small town of Piasa. This small collection documenting his Civil War service includes only one letter from Joseph describing events near Nashville in Nov. 1862 including brushes with guerrillas and routing the enemy however the two miniature pocket diaries he left behind provide good insight into his activities in 1863 and 1864 the last two years of his service. Talley's diary for 1863 begins in the midst of combat: 3rd day of the fight of Stones River. We found ourselves behind our breastworks. The enemy charged upon us and were repulsed with heavy loss of life and 110 prisoners. No loss on our side. [Jan 2] Heavy engagement in our center. Our troops driven back one mile after being reinforced. The enemy was driven back with great loss of life. We captured the Washington Star battery as darkness ended the fight... Although Talley did not write daily he wrote more during those periods when his regiment was active particularly during the months of March and the late summer when the regiment took part in the Tullahoma Campaign and operations in East Tennessee. In September the Battle of Chickamauga was the most fearsome thing this veteran had yet seen: We marched 7 miles went into the fight at 9 oclock recaptured the 8th Ind. Battery. Our loss 96 killed and wounded. Lay in line of battle all night and it was very cold sleeping. [Sept. 20] The battle began at 9 oclock AM and by 10 it became general the Rebels line being engaged. Our Army was repelled at every point and was compelled to fall back on Chattanooga. More on the Confederate pressure on Chattanooga in October though the diary peters out in November. In 1864 Talley??Ts regiment joined in the Atlanta Campaign and the diary is filled with action from May through August when he mustered out with almost daily entries up to the fall of Atlanta. Here too the entries are brief but they are a chronicle of a regiment that saw action at Rocky Face Ridge Resaca Dallas New Hope Church Kenesaw Pine Hill Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta. The collection also includes a letter from Talley's nephew in Wilmington Del. reporting on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (We had the news of our Glorious victory then came the awful news of the murder of our Noble and Beloved President witch was one of the awfulest crimes ever known in history. I never in my life saw sutch morning as there was for Abraham Lincoln every house in Wilmington as well as in Philadelphia had some signs of morning for him whose name shall pass into history as the Savor of the country...) and it is rounded out with Talley??Ts framed discharge from the service and a miscellaneous assemblage of items such as an ornately printed Masonic membership certificate a deed pension form and an award from the Illinois Board of Agriculture for inventing a horse gate. The photographs include an uncased ambrotype of a child seated in a chair and a handsome cabinet card of a group of women. Of special note are several banknotes representing two periods of collecting: a crisp late-war $10 Confederate Treasury note State of Georgia from Milledgeville March 20 1865; and includes some unusual pieces from the Second World War: a German-occupied Czech 50 Kronen note (1940); a Free French 2 franc note (1944); 10 franc French note Sept. 28 1939; 5 frank Belgian note (1943); and one Rentenmark note (1937); 5 francs Banque de l??TIndo-Chine note from Noumea; plus three common Japanese occupation notes and a Japanese 10 centavos note. An additional post-Civil War item included with the Talley Family lot is a 1934 diary from Wilbur B. Talley a leading architect of the early 20th century and one of the founders of the Florida Institute of Architects. Descended Directly in the Talley Family Condition: Condition mixed with expected wear; diaries written in a very small hand on very small pages somewhat tattered but easily legible.
CIVIL WAR ARCHIVE, INCL. GEN. BATE ON DEATH OF POLK, CA...Confederate Civil War archive of twenty-two (22) items, pertaining to the Fulton brothers of Fayetteville, Tennessee, specifically Colonel John S. Fulton, 44th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, Johnson's Division; Colonel Alfred S. Fulton, 8th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry; Robert Fulton, 41st Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, Company C; and James Fulton, Pay Director in the United States Navy. The documents include autographed signed letters (ALS) from General William Brimage Bate (1826-1905), CSA Congressman James McCallum (1806-1889), and others. Subjects include the death of Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk (1806-1864), the Battle of Fort Henry, the Battle of Fort Donelson, the capture of Nashville, the Overland Campaign, the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, the Atlanta campaign, and more. 1st item: ALS. Double-sided one-page handwritten letter from General William Brimage Bate, front lines of the Atlanta Campaign, to Colonel John S. Fulton, undated, written circa June 14, 1864 in regards to the death of Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk. The brief letter states that "Lt Gen'l Polk was killed yesterday on my front line--", en verso, while the main body of the letter urges Fulton to "...have it filed in...[the] War's Office at once--& get some friend to take it to the President--I have an interview with him..." he also writes that "...Gen'l Johnson is the man...". He explains that the letter has been delayed due to his frequent movements along the front lines of the Atlanta Campaign. 2nd item: ALS. Three page bifolium handwritten letter from General Bate, from his headquarters to Colonel John S. Fulton, dated April 28, 1864. He begins his letter by stating that he has not heard from Fulton for some time, writing "...I do not know now whether you are in Va. or near Bristol East Tenn. We did hear that your Brigade was with Longstreet...". Bate also mentions that if Fulton was to receive a promotion that he would like to be kept informed and that he "...regrets very much that [Fulton] is not in [Bate's] command...". Bate also reflects upon the state of the Confederate army and the importance of taking back Tennessee from the Union army, writing, "...it is the 'promised land' now in sack cloth and ashes 'mourning for the loss of her children'...". He also mentions his interest in the career of Captain M.W. Cluskey of Preston Smith Brigade, who fought in the Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862; that his division has now absorbed the Kentucky Brigade and Finley's (Florida) Brigade; and that a soldier by the name of McWinchester, who was the author to the reply of Ed Erwin's Amnesty letter, is still in prison. 3rd item: ALS. Double-sided bifolium handwritten letter from John R. Bright, Fayetteville, TN, writing to his cousin Colonel Alfred S. Fulton, dated February 21, 1862. The letter describes the Battle of Fort Henry, fought February 6, 1862; the Battle of Fort Donelson, fought from February 11-16, 1862; and the capture of Nashville on February 25, 1862. Bright writes, "...the excitement here has been so great since the fight at Fort Donelson...you cannot realize the intense agony which pervades our community--Donelson has fallen--Nashville is doubtless in the hands of the enemy--Gen[eral John Buchanan] Floyd who was at Nashville after the surrender of has burnt the Rail Road & Wire bridges acro[s]s the Cumberland...". He mentions the Union gunboats, stating, "...the gunboats were at a considerable distance and done no damage..." while later stating, "...the Gun Boats came up to within 200 yds of the Fort and shelled the Fort with 50 rounds of cannister...". Bright also gives estimations of the number of casualties and the number of soldiers involved in the fighting, writing, "...the loss on our side was comparatively small--the best estimate of the enemy's loss in killed is from 4000 to 6000 whilst our loss in killed and wounded does not exceed 600--it seems the enemy was receiving reinforcements, and on Saturday night their reinforcements swelled their army up to about 80,000 whilst our army at no time exceeded 16,000...". Returning to his description of the Battle and ultimate surrender of Fort Donelson, Bright writes "...Saturday night the enemy's whole force moved up and surrounded the Fort--about 1 o'clock Sunday morning the fact became known that the Fort must surrender, and our Generals...[Gideon Johnson] Pillow & Floyd left on a Steamboat...[Simon Bolivar] Buckner was left in command and surrendered with about 8,000 men...". After describing the events of the surrender in additional detail, Bright then relays General Albert Sidney Johnston's part in the events, writing "...Johnson[sic] was at Nashville all the time of the fight but it seems that Pillow telegraphed him that they did not need re-enforcements--Johnson's[sic] army had left Bowlingreen[sic]...and was in the neighborhood of Nashville Saturday when the news reached Nashville on Sunday that Fort Donelson had fallen...Johnson[sic] marched his army through Nashville on Sunday evening falling back to Murfreesboro...". Bright then also describes the fear that overcame the citizens of Nashville, stating that the pandemonium was "...equal if not greater than the retreat from Manassas...". Bright ponders if the Generals or the citizens of Nashville are more to blame for the city's fall, stating that while Johnston did not have to troops to defend the city and that there were many Union sympathizers in Nashville, he finds that "...there are too many [men]...so panic-stricken that they have not the nerve to stand up or never were true Southern men...". He concludes his letter by stating that McDonald's Regiment was not in the fight, that Albert's brother Colonel John Fulton returned from a few day's visit home, and that "these are gloomy times for us...the army may fall back to Lookout Mountain, if so Tenne[s]see is overrun...". 4th item: ALS. Double-sided bifolium handwritten letter from one of the Fulton brothers, Drewrys Bluff, VA, writing to his brother, dated May 29, 1864. He writes of the Overland Campaign, a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, stating, "...Lee and Grant are now confronting each other. They may be fighting at anytime Lee has already killed wounded and captured between 50 & 7500 men--The Yankees...about 35 or 45,000...". He also mentions Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler's army, writing, "...Butler...has made a signal failure--He came up the Penisula & sought to take Richmond on the south side--but they have been repulsed. He now has his army between the James and Appomattox rivers--". Unsigned. 5th item: Confederate States Secretary of War James Seddon signed military commission document conferring on John S. Fulton, the position of Colonel in the 44th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, dated May 5, 1862. Includes envelope addressed to Fulton with one blue 10 cent Jefferson Davis stamp. 6th item: ALS. Three page bifolium handwritten letter, from Colonel John S. Fulton, Bean Station, Tennessee, to Colonel Alfred S. Fulton, Bibb City, AL, dated December 17, 1986. He mentions the movements of his division near Knoxville, TN, writing "...We attempted to take Fort Loudon at the edge of Knoxville in the morning of the 29th--but failed--it is one of the strongest forts I ever saw--I think Gen Longstreet acted on this rashly in attacking the fort--We lost some 150 men killed & saw some several hundred wounded-it was a very fatal little fight...". 7th item: ALS. Double-sided one page handwritten letter from James R. Bright, Quartermaster's Office, Granbury's Brigade, to his cousin Mrs. E. L. Rogers, dated May 31, 1864. He begins by referencing a letter that he received, quoting, "...'Some think that [Lt. Colonel John L. McEwen, Jr.] will die, Col Fulton will soon be able to be with the command'...". He also mentions the state of the Army and Nathan Bedford Forrest's movements, writing, "...I am pleased to see that in every encounter our men have nobly sustained our cause and inflicted heavy injury upon the enemy--we are very anxious to hear from Forrest who is believed to be in the enemy's [territory]--if he succeeds in destrying the enemy's stores &c. it will make our success certain...". 8th item: ALS. One page bifolium handwritten letter from E.D. Baker, Captain and A.Q.M., Pulaski, TN, to an unidentified recipient, possibly one of the Fulton Brothers, dated January 17, 1864. The letter mentions that two rooms are now available for occupation and includes an ink inscription by Union General Richard W. Johnson with his signature, dated January 7, 1865, with later pencil inscriptions, en verso. 9th item: ALS. Two and one half-page bifolium handwritten letter from Congressman James McCallum, Richmond, VA, to Colonel John S. Fulton, dated June 6, 1864. The letter acknowledges Fulton's previous letter in which Fulton recommended a Colonel Keeble, possibly Colonel Richard H. Keeble, 23rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment, for an undisclosed appointment. McCallum mentions that Colonel Abram Fulkerson, 63rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment, is also up for consideration. 10th-11th items: Two (2) ALS. Double-sided bifolium and double-sided one-page handwritten letters, including one (1) from Colonel John S. Fulton, Headquarters of Johnson's Brigade near Petersberg, VA, to Captain R. E. Foote, dated June 28, 1864, and one (1) from the Head Quarters of the 44th and 25th Tennessee Infantry Regiments, possibly to a Captain Wein(?), dated June 21, 1864. The letters serve as reports regarding the movements of Johnson's Brigade from June 15, and 17-18, 1864, during the Richmond-Petersburg campaign, a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865. 12th item: ALS. One page handwritten letter from Colonel John S. Fulton, Drewry's Bluff, VA, to the Editors of the "Atlanta Register", dated May 20, 1864, prior to the closure of the newspaper office in response to General Sherman's impending Atlanta Campaign. Fulton writes in regards to an article written by a reporter named Giles in the "Atlanta Register", in which the performance of Johnson's Brigade during that Battle of Chickamauga was mentioned. 13th item: ALS. Double-sided bifolium letter from Robert Fulton, 41st Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, Company C, Enterprise, MS, writing to his brother Colonel John S. Fulton, dated August 27, 1863. He begins his letter by expressing regret about the deaths of two family members, mentions that they have moved the position of their camps, and also indicates that they have been having nice weather. He also references several officers, including Captain Tierney, Colonel Ferguson, Adjutant Anthony, and others. 14th-15th items: Two (2) ALS. Double-sided bifolium handwritten letters, including one (1) from Mrs. E. L. Rogers, a sister of the Fultons, written near Jacksonville, AL, and one (1) written by an unidentified source, written from a Camp near Chattanooga, TN, both written to one of the Fulton brothers to inform them of the injury and subsequent death of their brother Robert Fulton, dated October 9-12, 1863. Both letters include handwritten or typed transcriptions. 16th item: ALS. Two and one half bifolium handwritten letter from James R. Bright, Quartermaster's Office, Smith's Brigade, Near Atlanta, GA, to his cousin Mrs. E. L. Rogers, dated July 20, 1864. Writing during the Atlanta Campaign, he begins the letter by expressing his condolences for the death of Colonel John S. Fulton, who died on July 4, 1864 during the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. He also mentions other soldiers who have been wounded, including Edwin Drake and John Drake, and Tobe Edmondson and Tom Miller, whom he states have been captured by the Yankees who he thinks "...will probably execute them...". 17th-20th items: Four (4) ALS. Double-sided bifolium and double-sided one-page handwritten letters written between Colonel Alfred S. Fulton, Bibb County, AL, to R. G. Cross, Adjutant, 44th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, dated July 18, September 3 and 23, and November 17, 1864. The letters were written in response to the recent death of Colonel John S. Fulton, including discussions pertaining to the disposal of his remains and financial matters. 21st item: ALS. One handwritten page from John Frizzell, Transportation Office, Atlanta, GA to Captain Jim C. Francis, Augusta, GA, dated February 22, 1864. The letter introduces Colonel John S. Fulton to Francis. Includes one envelope. 22nd item: Piece of Confederate-made letter paper with ink inscription dated 1862 and pencil inscription of two lines of verse titled "The Conquered Banner".Property of the Lincoln County Museum, Fayetteville, TN; Bequest of Mary Bright Wilson (1909-2004), formerly of Fayetteville, and descended in her family.Condition: All items in overall good, legible condition with toning/acid burn, tears, staining, foxing spots, areas of loss, including to sections of letters, to be expected from age and manner of use.
William Hobbs 70th Indiana Infantry Civil War Archive 35 items (29 soldier??Ts letters) 1862-1865. A soldier in the 70th Indiana William Hobbs wrote home regularly to his family to keep them up apprised of his experiences in the Civil War. Despite being an invading army in enemy territory Hobbs??Ts experiences during the first year and a half of his service were comparatively easy as the 70th saw only light action in the rear guard performing a vital but unglamorous service guarding railroads mostly in Tennessee. In a solid correspondence mostly addressed to his younger brother Perry William provides engaging descriptions of his Civil War experiences the boredom of camp life and excitement of battle the ebb and flow of morale and the frustrations of politics and southern people. Throughout William keeps a hand in the business at home providing friendly advice to his younger brother on everything from the price of hogs to farming and family relations. For the first half of his service the 70th Indiana was seldom engaged in large-scale affairs and at Gallatin Tenn. Dec 18 1862 Hobbs described the most common kind of danger the men encountered: The other day 3 of us boys got tired of old bed and we thought we must have a pig and we went out side of the pickets and killed one and the Colonel saw us at it and after we ate the pig up he put us in the guard house for a while. I don??Tt mind it much only the name of it. No more about that... Yet despite his relatively easy time of it Hobbs was no less inclined to tolerate the numerous Confederate sympathizers back home. Still at Gallatin Tenn. on Feb 4 1863 he wrote to his younger brother Perry: I hope they will kill every infernal lowlife Rebel in the State. I hope to God they will kill Brady the first one. Clean out the leaders first. But when it came to sending his brother into the army William was adamant: Perry you said in your letter that you were going to enlist with Tom. If you know what is best for you you had better stay at home and Father.... You cannot stand it in the army. The other day the scouts out of our regiment was out scouting the other night. They went up to a house and went in and found a Rebel colonel and a Captain and a Private at home. They make them give up their arms. They had many revolvers. They have got them locked in prison we will not let them fellows go I will bet on that... Among William??Ts greatest concerns at Gallatin and then Nashville were the stream of rumors about where they would next be sent and the ever-present prospect of taking ill: Perry the smallpox is verry bad at this place he wrote from Nashville on Nov. 14 1863 there is not many in our regiment taken it yet. They has been a great many died with it at this place But I think it will be checked before long. Perry we had a big sham battle to day. I tell you now it was nice to hear the roaring of cannon and musketry and the brass bands playing... They had a glimpse of a real a month later: I did not know but you would think we was in the fight at Murfrees Boro -- the 70th was not in the battle but we would have like to been in it we were in 14 miles of the place where they were fighting we heard loud roaring of the Cannon and guns During the fight we got Dayly news from there every day we read about the men falling on both sides. It was terrible to think about and after the battle was over to read about it. It was worse yet that was the greattest slaughter that has ever been yet. They was a great many boys in that battle that I new... In the following spring Hobbs and the men of the 70th Indiana became part of the massive movement against Atlanta and the collection includes a handful of letters written during that time. On Aug. 28 1864 Hobbs described the scene on the Chattahoochee River with a confidence born of constant success: We got orders to fall back across the river and so I could not write to you. I guess it was all the better. Falling back here was done in order to draw the Rebs out of Atlanta after us so that our right could swing around in the rear of Atlanta but I guess they are not going to come out very far for fear that they will be gobbled up.... Perry there is a good deal of talk about going home to vote. I do not know how to think about it. I do hope it is so for I would like to clean out some of them copperheads. In another letter from November written near Atlanta he again showed confidence in the face of enemy advance: The Rebs are trying to attact us here. Again heavy cannoning were heard this morning in the city. The report is that they are trying to take Atlanta again. We are lying 6 miles from Atlanta... As the regiment continued on the March to the Sea they did sustain casualties. At Hardeeville Ga. Jan 7 1865 William wrote with sad news: Well Perry I am sorry to say this morning that Anderson Fowler is Dead. I saw him the Day Before he Died he talked sensible then he told me that he was going to die and talked of home. I talked to him and every thing I could to encourage him but it would not do any good... The Hobbs collection includes a small number of post-war letters including a boy??Ts letter from Iowa mentioning that his father had killed two quails and four rabbits (includes two drawings of birds on the back); also a letter from a young man named John with a classic complaint: Perry you said Katie was going to kick my ass don??Tt you think she will have to reach for it. You know it is high up if we cant go up there we can stop at Van Sickles and get a drink. I could have fun with the girls here if I had a good fellow to run with. You know I am too darned bashful when I am alone... A classic of rough-hewn writing from a typical western soldier. Some interesting illustrated letterheads and envelopes accompany many letters. Condition: Expected wear and tear with minor soiling and weak folds on some letters.
Private Dexter Butterfield 2nd Massachusetts Volunteers Civil War Archive The lot includes the following: 3 diaries; 9 documents; sergeant's promotion paper; presentation bible given to Butterfield by comrade MWIA Chancellorsville; Butterfield's hardbound testament; carved camp mirror; spoon fork & knife combination set; three ambrotypes of Dexter two in uniform; ambrotype of sister; cartridge box with original paper cartridge in plastic tube; canteen; cap box; NCO belt without belt plate; collection of percussion caps in small pouch; two small dice; soldier's religious figure; tin coffee cup; tobacco; Indian Head penny; gun tool; knapsack hook; three minnie balls; Butterfield's service certificate from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dated 1870; pension papers; receipts; cabinet photo; GAR booklet Brief History of the Abbott Grays by Butterfield; fractional currency; inscribed book Orphan Willie; id'd notebook; 40+ receipts and miscellaneous. 1861-1912.In April 1861 19-year-old farmer Dexter Butterfield joined the Abbot Grays in Lowell Mass. one of the first militia units to respond to Lincoln's call for three months service joining the three-year 2nd Massachusetts Infantry in October 1861. The regiment saw action at Winchester in 1862 Cedar Mountain Chancellorsville and Gettysburg (Little Round Top) among many other engagements large and small.The three diaries in this collection (fully transcribed here) cover the period between Jan. 1862 and October 27 1864. Although they are the small (16mo) pocket diaries favored by some soldiers Butterfield writes in a minute hand and thus includes more content than most. His diary for 1862 includes very brief entries often almost telegraphic but in 1863 he adds more meat to his literary bones. May 1: We lay in line of battle till noon when cannonading commenced when we marched to the front and the rebels shelled us but did no harm about 3 o'clock we marched back to our former position and lay on our arms all night. The revels came most on to us but the 3rd Wisconsin stopped them. Their Colonel was killed. There was a good deal of skirmishing all of the afternoon. May 2 the regiment was flanked and attached in their rifles pits and under heavy fire May 3 We went into battle early in the morning and drove the rebels a while but they made out to drive us with great loss. We had several wounded but how many killed we have not learned. It was a very hard fight on both sides but we had to fall back a mile or so and in the afternoon we made a little coffee the first for twenty-four hours.Butterfield's description of Gettysburg is particularly noteworthy. The 2nd were ordered to undertake a suicidal charge at Culp's Hill sustaining over 40 percent casualties. Their memorial was the first veteran's memorial erected on the battlefield. On July 1 Butterfield reports the death of Gen. Reynolds and marching into position and sleeping on their arms all night. July 2 he writes: We moved up early in the morning and formed a new line of battle with the Corps on our left we stopped until 8 when we moved up to where they were fighting. We lay in line of battle all day there was hard fighting on the let we moved over there but were not engaged so countermarched and took our old place. The Rebs has got our breast works. [July 3] We got no sleep last night and went into the fight early in the morning our loss was very heavy -- six killed and seventeen wounded [of Co. A]. The battle lasted all day long and it was the hardest battle of the war. We went into the entrenchments on the afternoon and stopped all night... [July 4] We were relieved from the entrenchments early in the morning and returned to our old place where we stopped two hours then marched on a flank movement. We marched about six miles and returned to our old place and found no revels in front of us but found plenty of dead rebels.The 2nd Mass. transferred to Tennessee later in 1863 remaining there through the end of their service. Documents the collection include Butterfield's discharge five items relating to his pension and a wonderful uncommon printed "Form for examining a recruit" filled in for Butterfield Oct. 17 1861. Topping off the whole is a heartfelt letter of recommendation from Col. William Cogswell for Butterfield Oct. 11 1864 as he was leaving the service: He has been a faithful reliable intelligent & conscientious non commissioned officer a prompt & particularly cool & courageous soldier in action. If he intends to remain in civil life his services in the army entitle him to very high considerations and he is worthy of & fit for the responsibilities & emoluments of a good position. If he should return to Military life certainly his experience entitles him to a higher position than the one he now holds.A fine collection from an illustrious regiment.? Condition: Expected wear and age toning; good condition on balance.
Executive Officer Henry W. Washburn USS Morning Light Civil War Archive War-date archive of five letters one partial letter and three transmittal covers. Written by ill-starred Acting Master Henry W. Washburn executive officer of USS Morning Light he recounts dullard crewmates timid commanders and chasing smugglers along the Florida coastline. Washburn an experienced seaman served on the 937-ton sailing ship USS Morning Light of 8 guns on blockade duty along the Gulf Coast. Son of Captain Noah Washburn his desires of making his own name and career as a naval officer were dashed when he was assigned to the dumpy Morning Light. As a converted merchant ship with no steam engine it was hardly suited to chasing blockade runners. In Washburn??Ts first letter dated April 25 1862 from Ship Island Mississippi the Union base of operations for the attack on New Orleans the Morning Light had delivered supplies to the fleet but was ordered to stay behind on picket duty for the army camp while Farragut??Ts fleet destroyed the forts guarding the entrance to the Mississippi River. Washburn notes: I suppose there will be some hard fighting there and I would like to do some of it just for the fun so as to see if I have any spunk. He adds that things are quiet and boring: ...there is no prospect of us getting into a fight so there is no need of anyone at home worrying about my getting shot. A bit of excitement does present itself when a ship ??|stood in too near the island after being warned not to do so. I was ordered to fire at him... I sent one shot close under his bow upon which he soon put his helm alee and tried another tack. In a 4pp letter from Pensacola dated May 24 and a second one in the same envelope dated June 1 1862 a homesick Washburn sends fond wishes to his children and wife and expounds on the deficiencies of his fellow officers none of whom are experienced sailors or regular officers. The Morning Light??Ts commander who played favorites among the officers and crew resigned and the acting commander had little sea experience and no command experience. The Union had recently recaptured Pensacola after the Confederate army abandoned it and Washburn notes that the houses are still in disrepair after the huge bombardment of the previous November blew the windows out all over town and set fire to some buildings: I have not been on shore yet but it looks bad the houses are all deserted some with windows broke in and some they seemed bent on destroying as much as possible. In a separate letter to his father dated May 24 1862 Washburn tells how the acting executive officer whom he describes as the stupidest jackass I ever saw in in any office a regular thick head besides being a little in want of pluck chickened out halfway across the bay when a rebel schooner was sighted tied up on shore: ...off he goes in our first cutter with 10 men armed to cut her out. He pulled half way to her... then turned around and come back to the ship. On his way back he pulled slow so as to get to the ship after dark. This officer regularly took a ship??Ts boat and some men then hid out in the bay while pretending to hunt smugglers in order to get out of work. Tired of this Washburn asked the commander for permission to hunt coastal smugglers in one of the boats. Heading out that night in a captured fishing smack with an armed crew of eight men Washburn patrolled Santa Rosa Sound for smugglers. They chased three small boats into the shallow bayous where their sailing ship couldn??Tt reach then decided to disguise themselves as fishermen and surprise the next one. Just at daylight I saw a large lugger coming down before the wind and after dodging him a spell I managed to get inshore of him... My Yankee trick seemed to answer and came down most to me when they smelled a mice and hauled in for the beach. The smuggler kept running after being commanded to stop even after Washburn ordered a shot across their bows with the small cannon but a volley of fire from his crew??Ts Sharps rifles convinced the smuggler to heave to. The lugger loaded not only with livestock but also having a noted Secessionist shipowner as passenger was brought back under guard to the Morning Light. Washburn calculated the value of ship and cargo at $1000 and expected some prize money from it but his commander wishing to appear noble hearted gave up the lugger and gave the prisoners a pass to New Orleans. Washburn decided after this that if he can??Tt get off Morning Light and into a regular Man of War with regular Naval officers I do not think I shall stay in the Navy... On July 27 1862 Washburn wrote his wife relating how Lt Commander Moore his commander had resigned and left the ship but not before bilking the crew out of thousands of dollars! Now just before Moore left he made a deal with an owner of a ship to get the Ship off and ready for sea. He was to receive $6000 for it which was to be divided among the Crew. We thought it was all right until he divided the money. Moore had used the crew as labor to pull off a ship which had run aground but kept all but $1450 of the $6000 for himself before taking off. August 9 found the Morning Light back at Ship Island. Washburn composed a letter to his father relating how his former commander Lt Commander Moore was inexperienced and lax in drilling and disciplining the crew. He tells his father about Moore using the crew as labor to make money for himself and that he the ship??Ts doctor and paymaster had filed a formal complaint with the senior commander in the area. Lt. Spear the brown-nosing executive officer became Morning Light??Ts acting commander. He was a tavern keeper in Maine before the war and Washburn described him thusly: Our Executive Officer a Pimp and rum seller who received his appointment though some Politician a man who knows nothing about a Ship and lacks all that goes toward making a Gentleman... Spear agreeing with Moore in all he said had kept in his good graces while the rest of us despising Moore for his meanness and vanity kept a distance. In an August 20th update on the same page Washburn described the Morning Light??Ts shortcomings: This ship is not fit for any other use than as a guard ship. We draw 15 ?? ft and are a sailing ship two bad qualities for Gulf service. Besides we are a very slow ship in stays she sails quite well when she has a leading breeze and would make a good ship for action because a shot striking her would go through without splinters she being very soft and in spots rotten. Noting that he had little chance of being retained in the post-war Navy if he could not distinguish himself in combat he doubted that he would see any at all: ...our Spear will never go into action if he can keep out and as long as I am in this ship I consider myself safe from all sesesh shots or knives. The partial letter is undated but is easily placed as immediately after the November 27-28 1862 actions at Cedar Lake Texas where Morning Light spent two days sending parties ashore to destroy the salt works. Washburn was wounded in the elbow in a heavy firefight with Rebel defenders. We stopped off Galveston today and communicated with the Senior Capt who thinks we done well... I rather be in a Steamer this craft is too unwieldy for a man of War and is not fit for such work as blockading a Coast where you can not see the land in 7 fathoms water. Signed Henry W. Washburn Acting Master & Executive Officer U.S.S. M Light. Washburn??Ts reservations proved to be well-founded as two months later USS Morning Light and USS Velocity were captured off Sabine Pass while on blockade duty by Confederate ?cotton-clad? steamboats filled with soldiers. Stranded by becalmed seas the engineless ships were unable to escape and surrendered after being fired upon by cannon and small arms. The Morning Light??Ts deep draft prevented the Rebels from getting her across the bar of the pass so she was burned two days later to prevent her recovery. Washburn spent 25 months of horrible disease and filth in Confederate POW camps in Texas before finally being released weeks before the war ended. He finally got his wish to serve in the post-war Navy on a real warship when he was assigned to USS Sabine after returning to the North but his health had been ruined by disease and dysentery while a prisoner of war. Declared unfit for duty he was honorably discharged from service on April 3 1866. His health never recovered from his imprisonment and he died 4 years later on October 11 1870 while fighting for a disability pension. His widow and four children were awarded his pension eleven months later.
Civil War Archive of 3 Members of 25th Mass. Vols. Lot of 7 letters. Brothers Chester Greenwood WIA & George Greenwood DOW and George H. Barnes DOW. Five are soldiers' letters two are other family members (Sarah and William Earle); all letters to Oella Greenwood Barnes Worcester MA. The war-date letters are from George Greenwood Plymouth NC April 24 1863: He writes ...the rebels came down with so much force that a boat was sent for us and we destroyed all the property which we could not bring away and left the place. We went to Elizabeth City and Roanoke Island and while there had orders to come here and join the regiment... You must know that the sad news of Hobart's death was a great affliction and very hard to bear being so very far away from home and friends but as you say it may be that this great trial is for the best let us trust that it is. I am in good health as well as the rest of the Hubbarston [MA] boys.... In your letter you mentioned that you wanted I should make an agreement with the rest of the boys so that in case of the death of any of us so that the body should be sent home. I have not said anything to them about it yet for it is a subject they dislike to say much about but should there be need of it everything would be done which is possible under the circ*mstances. George Greenwood Rothman's Point Sept. 15th 1863: Most of the letter concerns a group that went home. He apparently was ill for a while but his condition seems to have been exaggerated to his sister: I hope you will not worry about my being sick till I write myself or get Geo B. to do so for me for you can not always tell by what others write and say. George H. [Barnes] Camp West near Williamsburg Va. Feb. 28th 1864: Geo [Greenwood] sits at my elbow and has just informed me of the lamentable fact that you are 22 years old today but it is better than it would have been if your birth day was tomorrow for then you would be only 8 years old and then how would you look with those great children running after you and calling you Mother.... At least they still have a sense of humor! He goes on to report that they advanced to within 12 or 15 miles of Richmond but have packed to to go back to Newport News. Whether we walk all of the way down there or ride on the boat from Yorktown I neither know nor care much for I have got so that I can stand almost anything. There is a callous on my back where the knapsack lays. He goes on to tell her that they were just paid and he received a check instead of cash: if we can't get exchanged down at Newport News or where ever we are we shall be obliged to send it home therefore we shall not spend so much as we otherwise would.... George Greenwood Gettys Station Virginnie April 3rd 1864: Most of the first half is about some pictures that were sent to them from home. ...Chester did not come with the rest of the boys and has not yet. I should think they would send them along soon. I wish he could have been persuaded to stay at home and help father for he will need him very much but he will have to make the best of the way he has chosen. I tried all I could to have him stay at home. I hope father will get along well till I get home which I hope will be in the fall...As for Geo. B. and I we are fat and well... Unfortunately things did not work out well. The fifth letter is from Chester Greenwood Cross Hill Va. May 25th 1864: We have had a hard time of it since we landed at Bermuda Hundred there has been hardly a day but there has been fighting and our Regt. has been under fire ten or twelve days since we came here.... We had a fight the next day after we landed at Valley Farm about three miles above here. George had the sole of his boot shot off in that fight. George was wounded at the Battle of Petersburg with three balls one passing through his breast one hit him in the groin one broke his right arm but for all that he lived till the next day and did not suffer at all. George Barnes was on picket at the time that fight came off...Role Pond was killed he was one of the best men in the company... [Roland Pond KIA 5/16/64 Drury's Bluff VA] George Barnes was lucky on this day but less than a month later (6/3/64) he too was killed at Cold Harbor. Chester was wounded the same day but did survive to make it home. Even though he enlisted late in the war he was discharged for disability in July presumably a result of wounds received at Cold Harbor rather than going West with many other 3-year enlistees. The other two letters are from noncombatant family members and predominantly discuss health business etc. No real war news. The ''Georges'' (Greenwood and Barnes) enlisted in August 1862 from Hubbardston MA and ''little brother'' Chester (Greenwood) in Feb. 1864 (presumably when he turned 18). After a veteran furlough in early 1864 the unit was reunited at the end of March near Portsmouth VA. Over the month of May into early June the unit lost 460 officers and men 112 mortally (killed or mortally wounded) at Port Walthall Junction Arrowfield Church Drury's Bluff Cold Harbor. Then the remainder proceeded to Petersburg until late August when it was withdrawn to Bermuda Hundred then Newbern NC where those who had not veteranized were sent home the rest settled in for the winter. The following spring it was in action at Wise's Forks then joined Sherman near Goldsboro. The war was nearly over for these battle-tested troops one of the few that lost nearly as many men in action as they lost to disease (163 KIA/ 169 DOD). They were ordered home in June and mustered out at Readville in mid-July. Condition: Variable with a few minor separations at folds. Overall very good.
GA 9TH CSA CIVIL WAR ARCHIVE - E. S. CASSADYConfederate Archive of 4th Private Elbert S. Cassady, Georgia Company G, 9th Regiment (Walker Co., GA - Lafayette Volunteers). 10 total letters (2 pre-war, 8 Civil War period) letters from Elbert S. Cassady to his cousin, Nancy E. Sawyers (Nancy E. Sawyers McBee married name) of Knox Co., TN, 5 covers (most war period), 1 1864 letter from Nancy E. Sawyers. Elbert S. Cassady enlisted as a private in June 12, 1861 and was discharged a month later on July 14, 1861 for tuberculosis. He was born December 16, 1830 and died October 28, 1902. January 20th, 1862 Lafayette letter - writes that he received a letter from Rus dated Dec. 25, 1861 and January 8th, 1862. "We have a report here that England has acknowledged our independence... For us Rebeles as they call us in Lincolns Government, I love to be called a Rebele, in this fight. I had much rather be a Rebel or called one than to be a tory, for I look upon them as being the last of Gods Creation..."I always think of the Boys every night and wish they had or could have a good soft bed to sleep on like they had at home, but I know they cant. They are Brave Boys and I love them. I wish I could be with them and help them fight for my Country and defend our fair sides.....I had a fine time in Missouri and Kentucky a spying around among the Lincoln Armies...Elbert goes on to speak about the first case of murder that has taken place in Lafayette. June 28th, 1862 letter - Elbert writes, "Sorry to hear of the destruction of property in your section of Country (Knox Co.) by the enemy. But there is a better coming and I think that it is near at hand when victory will pearch upon our Banners and we will be free.. August 14th, 1862 - "there has been a skirmish at or near Tazwell and our troops drove the feds back and occupied the town that is the way to serve the Rascals they aught to be driven to the Northern Ocean and the Baptized head formost-through ice 40 feete thick. There is hundreds of Soldiers + waggons passing through here every day from Tupelo to Chatttanooga. I saw the Commissary last week. he told me that we had one hundred + twelve thousand soldiers at Chattanooga then there as several thousand gone their since..there is 2 companies some where above Knoxville from Walker Co., one commanded by Capt Brady.....(he lists other regiments and their commanders..). Elbert goes on to write, "Several Negros started to Lincoln's Army last weeke from here. We caught them and brought them back South. There is a woman in jail that will be hanged for burning a house..." January 21st, 1863 letter - speaks of attending weddings and spending time in the woods and Piggeon Mountain. He has not received a letter from Russ since the second of the month and writes of him being in the hospital. March 20th 1863 letter - "I had seen a dispatch from the Knoxville Register a few days ago about the difficulty that you spoke of in your last...very mean in those poeple to conseal torys + traitors about their house...There has been some bush whacking in our County in the last few days but nobody killed yet, the balls whispers tolerably close, some times they pass through a mans hat but generally though his coat...I must now tell you that the small pox is here.. April 26th, 1863 letter - "I keepe moving a bout to keepe the Blues off. There is two Companies of Soldiers stationed in Lafayette at present one company of Cavalry and one of Infantry. They have caught seventy five deserters since they arrived here, So the bush whacking has ceased for the present.. I received a letter from Russ dated 13th of this month he said he was still improving...the Regiment is at Suffolk Va, under Longstreet." July 25th 1863 letter - refers to an Exhibition of Tableaux and how the performance came off well..."money made by this arrangement goes to our sick and wounded soldiers in the hospital at Ringgold...about 30 cases of smallpox at Ringgold..There is an other one (soldier) in our jail to be sent to Chattanooga to be tried by the Military authorities for deserting the Army and murdering a soldier..(Elbert knows the young soldier as he also enlisted in the 9th Regiment)...The Georgia Boys are flocking to Savannah by the hundreds.." Elbert also writes he has not heard from Russ. August 9th, 1863 letter - speaks of the capture of Morgan (General). "a true Southern patriot would be willing to die half a dozen times if it were possible for him to have than many lives...all the good people of the Confederate States ought to be found upon their knees as often as each day as was Danil of Old, in humble supplication to Almighty God in behalf of the people of the Confederate States...there is too much extortion, stealing going on in our land, God will not recognize such conduct as that, and my opinion is that the People of the Confederacy will have to Repent of their sins National and Individual before this war closes...Condition: Letters and covers overall very good condition, one cover with stamp cut off.
SHARPS NEW MODEL 1859 .50-70 CIVIL WAR CARBINESharps New Model 1859 Civil War Carbine, serial number C25823, converted by the Sharps Company in 1867 from percussion ignition to take the more modern center fire .50-70 Government cartridge. This was all on contract for the U.S. Government for reissue to western cavalry units for the Indian Wars. These desirable carbines have double history in them- first as primary Union cavalry weapons in the Civil War and then a few years later sent west to fight in the Indian Wars. Many of these were later sold off as surplus in the 1870s and saw use on the frontier as buffalo guns. The Texas Rangers were known to favor this model Sharps Carbine. This particular example has the desirable inspector cartouches in the left side of the butt stock- one under the sling ring bar and one in the center of the stock. This is an obvious indication that the stock has never been sanded or refinished. Further, it is especially interesting and historical as it shows evidence of sling carry wear on the left side of the stock (the light vertical rub mark) and the ring wear spot just above the ring bar which only issued and used carbines exhibit. The stock and forend show wonderful frontier use and wear, but no abuse. All wood is solid and the metal shows no evidence of abuse while retaining an attractive aged patina. There are good Sharps markings on various parts of the receiver with excellent mechanics. This fine carbine displays a bright bore with fine rifling throughout. This is a particularly desirable Sharps combining Civil War history with later Indian Wars usage and no doubt considerable civilian use on the frontier. Few cartridge conversion Sharps carbines display this kind of honest aged appearance plus retain their important original stock cartouches. You can’t find a gun with more history or appeal than this one! This firearm qualifies as an antique, and does not require FFL Transfer or NICS Background Check.*
Remarkable Collection of Hand-Colored Civil War Magic Lantern Slides A collection of approx. 170 beautifully hand-colored Civil War magic lantern slides made from paper photographs and stereoviews originally produced by popular Civil War-era photographers including Mathew Brady Alexander Gardner Timothy O'Sullivan A.J. Russell and George Barnard. The majority of glass slides measure 3.25 x 4 in. Most lack a paper border and are not covered with a protective glass sleeve and only a select few have handwritten or paper labels including: a handwritten label identifying the photographer as George Barnard; a printed label with only H. Mc legible which almost certainly refers to the T.H. McAllister - Keller Co. Inc. a lantern slide manufacturer active in New York City during the 1890s and known for producing glass slides many hand-tinted. Also included is a small group of black and white slides most featuring images of a GAR reunion and parade. One of the black and white slides has a printed label from Theodore J. Harbach / Manufacturer of Philadelphia.The collection is comprised of images of the leading military and political personalities of the war post-battle shots capturing the dead in the field broken earthworks occupied forts and bombed buildings plus views of supply wagons Union and Confederate camp scenes hospitals and prisons. Several shots of the Navy as well as Union and Confederate Ironclads on the James River are also included. The group features images from both the Eastern and Western Theaters with the vast majority taken from military and naval operations in the East. Some highlights include:The Marshall House Alexandria VA where the Union suffered its first loss with Col. Elmer Ellsworth (Pywell)Lincoln with McClellan after the Battle of Antietam (Gardner)Gen. "Fighting" Joe Hooker in front of Hospital (Brady)Father Thomas Mooney leading Sunday Mass 69th NY Infantry Regiment (Brady)The Michigan Black HatsUnion Train derailed near Manassas VAThe Confederate engine GeneralThe locomotive Fred Leach after being hit by small arms and cannon ballsUSS ShawsheenUSS Atlanta Ironclad patrolling the James River (Brady Organization)USS Lehigh Monitor probably on the James River (Brady Organization)The "Bean Pole" Bridge over the Potomac Creek (Russell)Gen. U.S. Grant and Staff at Cold Harbor (Brady)Gen. U.S. Grant with his horse CincinnatiLibby PrisonField Where Gen. Reynolds Fell Gettysburg July 1863 (O'Sullivan)Additional views of dead Union and Confederate SoldiersRuins of Charleston SCA few days after the burning of Richmond VAVictory Parade marching to Washington D.C. (Barnard)Gen. R.E. Lee and Staff on Richmond Porch (Brady)This group was discovered in Philadelphia in 1963 and has been in the hands of the current owner since then. There has been some speculation that this could be a portion of the magic lantern slide collection that once belonged to Mathew Brady's nephew and employee Levin Handy but there is a lack of provenance to support that assertion. While certain details in the slides suggest that they could have been produced by someone who knew Brady well (i.e. the Marshall House shot in which Brady can be seen in the lower right corner wearing a yellow duster which he typically wore) the absence of Brady's War for the Union paper labels combined with the fact that the work of a variety of photographers including those outside of Brady's organization such as A.J. Russell are included in the collection suggests otherwise. Based on the paper labels that are present from New York and Philadelphia and the fact that this collection was found in Philadelphia it is more likely that the glass slides were produced by a manufacturer and highly talented colorist in one of those two cities. Regardless the collection features some of the finest examples of hand-tinted 19th-Century Civil War photography that Cowan's has had the opportunity to offer. Condition: A small portion of the slides are cracked mostly along the edges or corners.
CIVIL WAR SOLDIER JOHN C WINN LETTER PHOTO ARCHIVE United States,19th CenturyCivil War Archive of John C. Winn 1st Connecticut Artillery Siege of Petersburg Certificate ?Grand Army of the Republic? of Vermont issued to J.C. Winn 1895 3 Daguerreotypes of John C. Winns Father (8) CDV and Cabinet Card Photographs of the Winn family Letters are paraphrased for content with only a small sample given below. There is very good war content. The letters begin in January 1864 with Camp Life at Fort Scott, Horses and conditions, and the Killing of Col. Elsworth. 1864 May 28th Bermuda Hundred? There has been many fighting since we come here. Only two boys out this right killed? we are behind the breast works and no balls are coming through. 1864 June 9th, Bermuda Hundred with cover .. Being attacked by ?Black Rebels? 1864 June 10th Fire the guns for three straight days down the bridge at Apomatics where the Richmond and Petersburg cross? we had a good time they tried to repulse us but old Gilmore was to scary for them. We made the attack on there center forces? Richmond is what we want. You do not know anything what war is until you see 2000000 worth of ammunition shot away in two hours. I have had a man shot next to me. We shot Jonnie and he lays in the corn field and in the fields when we shot cannister at them. 1864 June 16th Old General Grant was here yesterday, The Rebs left there breast works and only half buried there dead so this morning we had to get to work.. 1864 June 21ST I saw outside my tent Old Abe Lincoln and Grant inspecting their Darky?s , they are going to make a charge tonight and tomorrow on Petersburg? Grant gave the order to shell the place of Petersburg. 1864 July 6th The Jonnies are a ? mile away and we are firing at there batteries night and day into Petersburg. 1864 August 1st We had a battle and must say it was a fight! This letter describes a most gruesome battle from Cannon fire and with Black troops fighting. 1864 August 22nd Fighting in the Wilden Rail Road the Rebs charged twice in the fore noon and we repulsed them with heavy loss and again in the afternoon and they did not gain one inch. More content 1864 Sept 26th I have laid within a 130 yards from the Rebs Idid my duty when the Minnie balls flew like hail stones, I stood by the breast works where I could see the Jonnies succeed so plain! I could see the color of there hair and whiskers and I have thrown many mortar shells to them. 1864 Dec 30th ?Sherman is a Hero he has taken Savanna 1865 April 6th ?Petersburg Is Ours! 1865 April 10th Talk about the regt being discharged 1865 July 6th Some 800 of the Boys are in Castle Thunder in Richmond! 1865 Sept 13th We were mustered to notify us the we will be mustered out. I should be home in two weeks
Brevet Brigadier General James M. Ruggles 1st & 3rd Illinois Cavalry Civil War Archive 69 letters and documents; 1 diary; 2 presidential appointments; Veteran's hat; 2 shoulder straps; and coin purse with 19 coins. 1855-1900. An early and well-connected activist in the antebellum Republican Party and a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln James Ruggles was born in Mansfield Ohio in 1818. Seeking a place in life he apprenticed as a printer and moved to Ogle County Illinois at 19 but went on to study law before finally settling into business in Bath Ill. An antislavery man from early on Ruggles was intensely interested in politics. An admirer of Daniel Webster and an ardent anti-Democrat he was elected to the state senate in 1852 and became a friend and supporter of Lincoln in the elections of 1856 through 1860. With the Civil War erupting he volunteered for service in July 1861 and after some wrangling secured a commission as Major in the 3rd Illinois Cavalry. His distinguished service under arduous conditions at Pea Ridge earned him a promotion to Lt. Col. after which he distinguished himself at Haines Bluff Arkansas Post and the siege of Vicksburg. After mustering out of the service at the expiration of his enlistment on Sept. 5 1864 he was brevetted Brig. Gen. for faithful and meritorious services. The Ruggles collection contains both pre-war political letters and war-time documents providing glimpses into Ruggles' world of power and influence the earliest days of the Republican Party and Ruggles??T relationship with Lincoln and Governor Richard Yates of Illinois. On Jan. 9 1860 for example Yates then a potential candidate for governor wrote Ruggles about whether he should run for office: The opinion is entertained by some friends of mine that I would run better in the center & south and as well in the north as any candidate yet named -- I confess that I feel conscious of some strength once before the people and have rather concluded to be a candidate before the convention unless advised differently by some friends... There is a second ALS from Yates dated Sept. 16 1855; and a printed flier issued under Yates??T name To the Voters of Morgan County May 31 1855 clarifying where he stands on temperance legislation (he was soberly in favor). In these early days the Party faithful were filled with optimism. As the election of 1856 approached William Kellogg (soon to be congressman) advised Ruggles on no count [to] connect yourself with the Filmore movement there is death it in to any man who espouses that faction at this juncture... but added: The Democracy are getting up Filmore Meeting as a last hope. We shall rout them all the true old Whigs will come back and the Pro-Slavery men will go to Buchanan. The Republican State Central Committee sounded almost millenarian: The day for the battle of freedom and freemen is close at hand and if the friends of Lincoln work until the night of the day of the election a triumph is sure and certain. An unscrupulous party is attempting by its imported hordes of traveling voting machines ?to subdue? and over-ride the fair expression of the legal voters of this state... Much more on illegal non-resident voters trying to sway the vote in the state (the letter is fragile separated at the folds and worn but a highly important relic of early Republican Party history). Rounding out the political content are two rare election tickets for the Republican slate headed by Gen. John A. Logan. Ruggles' war-time service is represented by eight fine letters that give a sense of then range of conflicting issues and emotions Ruggles was forced to confront. The earliest is a letter written after the first Battle of Bull Run describing the heroism of the famous 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment: C. Hazlett wrote to Col. James Raguet to inform him that Samuel Raguet had been wounded by buckshot and had been operated on. Saml stood it manfully he is doing very well the shot entered the right side of his neck about 3/4 of an inch below the ear passing by the Jaw Bone without injuring it on around until it struck the bone in the back part of the neck. It made a very deep and severe-looking wound.... We have quite a number of patriotic northern Ladies who have come here as nurses. They are very kind... Saml. walked nearly the whole distance from the Battle to this city [Washington]... he was wounded in the second fire of the Traitors bur remained on the field and fought manfully all day. His sword was broken in the first of the fight. He has a sword that he took from a ?Secesh? cavalry man he held his revolver toward the above named Traitor and he fell Saml. having relieved him of the trouble of doing any more damage... I was on the ground during the whole of the Battle on the look out for my friends... Saml wishes you to tell Wm Wolf that Eugene Wilmer was shot through the head dead on the first fire.... It should not be surprising to find that Ruggles remained a political animal while under arms and the collection includes a fascinating letter from July 1 1862 rallying Ruggles??T support to get Illinois soldiers to defeat Democratic-inspired proposed changes to the Illinois constitution. Other war-date items include three superior letters from Henry G. Thomas an ambitious young officer (apparently a Brevet Colonel) looking to use family influence to advance in the army a printed copy of War Dept. General Order 126 Sept. 6 1862 specifying the composition of regiments in each line of service; half a dozen documents; an undated manuscript signed Maj. John Campbell regarding drafting men; a printed letter of transmittal accompanying Ruggles' Brevet to Brig. General Oct. 6 1866; and an interesting a manuscript circular Jan. 3 1862 declaring Pickets are not to go into houses nor tell Secessionists exactly where they are stationed where they are moved &c. and that they are not to be so careless as to allow persons to ride in among them before they know it... and much more to be learned by green recruits. Of special note are two Confederate items and two relating to some spectacularly poor discipline in the 3rd Illinois Cavalry almost amounting to mutiny. The Confederate pieces include a very rare manuscript oath of allegiance issued for a soldier from Nathan Bedford Forrest??Ts cavalry datelined La Grange Tenn. and reading in part I George H. Bennett a citizen of Fayette Co. Tenn. and conscript soldier of Forrest??Ts command having returned to my home where I wish to remain and take no farther part in the Rebellion... (marked duplicate at bottom left of document). Joining this is a particularly handsome and large printed Confederate States Loan certificate for $1 000 (very good condition and finely printed) issued Aug. 20 1862 slated to come due in July 1874. No warranties are made for exchange. The Ruggles' command was no Shangri-la appears in four documents beginning with a manuscript transcript of charges and specifications leveled against officers in the 3rd. The first a 7pp cites Captain Charles Dunbaugh for cowardice among many other things. The incidents detailed include Dunbaugh running away to the rear of the Battalion after a picket was fired upon leaving shamefully abandoning his post as commander of the company to which he did not return until some time after firing commenced); breaking down in tears when separated from his son and cried and bellowed shamefully saying ?My Georgy is lost ? ??" ?we are I an enemy??Ts country? ??" ?it will kill his mother?...; and shameful behavior at the Battle of Pea Ridge where he was so much under the influence of fear from the fire of the enemy that he repeatedly called upon the commander of the Battalion to move the command out of the range of the enemy??Ts guns... The charges go on to include malingering with an allegedly injured foot neglect of duty conspiracy and disrespect against his superiors drunkenness conduct unbecoming (falsely reporting himself wounded visiting a house of ill fame occupied by degraded and abandoned prostitutes repeatedly) and more. As might be expected the list of witnesses to the charges is nearly a page long (and a long page at that). As if that were not enough paired with Dunbaugh??Ts charges are charges against Capt. James Nichols for violating military orders and discipline leaving his command without authority in Nov. 1861 going AWOL insubordination conspiring with Dunbaugh to undercut Ruggles??T authority and conduct unbecoming an officer. Perhaps as evidence the collection also includes a fascinating letter written to send to Gen. Siegel but apparently not sent relating to an expedition under Dunbaugh that tore down a secession flag at a court house near Springfield Mo. that was appropriated by the Major in charge and not returned to the men who took it down. More ill discipline is documented in a letter from Col. L.F. McCrillis Jan. 30 1863 citing Capt. R.H. Carnahan for disrespectful and insolent language used while attempting to tender his resignation for want of confidence in his Colonel and Lt. Colonel and then corruptly and feloniously abstracting the paper from its proper place and requesting his dismissal from the service. Notably the dockets on the verso include signatures of Gen. John A. McClernand and U.S. Grant. Finally among the gems in the collection is a noteworthy closely-written 7pp detailed Historical Memoranda of the 3d Ills. Cav. Vols. possibly written by Capt. A.B. Kirkbride of the regiment in about 1864 describing the regiment's formation and service its battle record but also the controversies over its officers and political machinations. It ends Notwithstanding these efforts to break up and destroy the Regiment by intermeddling and malicious officers the remaining 83 men of the 3d Ill. Cavalry are as brave patriotic and well-disciplined men as are in the service and will again make their marks upon the enemy when opportunity affords. The lot also includes the following: 1860 newspaper clipping outlining delegates that attended the Republican Convention in Illinois making reference to J.M. Ruggles a Secretary at the Convention; two Presidential Appointments for Ruggles both for the rank of Colonel by Brevet one dated 3 July 1866 the other dated 3 August 1866. Each with Andrew Jackson??Ts stamped signature; Society of the Army of the Tennessee certificate recognizing Brvt. Brig. Genl. J.M. Ruggles as a member dated 15 October 1874 signed by President W. T. Sherman; Civil War veteran??Ts hat with braided cord with acorn drop and wreath and star insignia; Colonel??Ts and Lieutenant Colonel??Ts shoulder straps; and small coin purse containing 19 19th and early 20th century coins. With its balance of pre-war politics and wartime dramatics the Ruggles collection offers a marvelous opportunity for research into the personalities and events of a critical period in American history centered on an individual in the inner circles of power. Condition: Good condition throughout with expected signs of wear and age.
Corporal George F. Lewis 12th Massachusetts Infantry Civil War Archive 9 letters 1861-1864. Organized by Fletcher Webster a son of the great statesman Daniel Webster the 12th Massachusetts Infantry began recruiting in April 1861 and mustered into the Federal service in June. They were not destined for the featherbed. After service in the Shenandoah Valley they saw action at Second Bull Run where they lost their colonel and in the cornfield at Antietam where 63 percent of the effectives were killed or wounded the highest of any federal unit in the battle. They went on to horrific losses at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg the Wilderness Spotsylvania North Anna River and Petersburg earning the distinction as one of the hardest fighting regiments in the Army of the Potomac. A typical volunteer George F. Lewis learned the rigors of a soldier??Ts life the hard way but even during the darkest days maintained a confidence in the success of northern arms. On Feb 16 1862 for example he wrote that the war news he hears is encouraging The Rebels are getting all the Bull Run battles that they ask for. I wonder if they think one Southerner is as good as five Yankees now. They have got a foretaste of what is to come yet. I don??Tt think Manassas will ever be attacked by our troops unless we surround them & starve them out... There is an excellent early letter regarding the occupation of Harpers Ferry and preparing to be attacked by Johnson??Ts forces as well as N.P. Banks??T efforts to retreat and draw Johnson out. Though not content as a soldier Lewis kept his sense of humor. After stating that they could be held in service only three months and that that was as much of a soldiers??T life as he would like to see he adds with a wry touch that he always carries with him the revolver he brought with him from Boston: when I am on guard or on any dangerous duty he [the Capt.] will let me have it the way he is going to do by all the rest of them who have got them. I am rather a saucy looking fellow when I am armed and equipped: knife revolver and rifle... Accompanying Lewis??Ts letters are two from relatives: one in the 12th Massachusetts and one from Lt. George H. Ditson of the 4th US Colored Cavalry in New Orleans (formerly the 1st Corps d??TAfrique). Written on May 19 1864 as the bloody spring campaigns were beginning Ditson writes: things look very dark in this department at present but iff what we hear from Grants Army is true or even one half of it we are all right. In this department but I dred to here the official reports I have no doubts but what he has gained a victory but at what sacrifice we do not know or we never shall. I have no doubt but what he would sacrifice one hundred thousand lives rather than be defeated. It is an awful thing to think of but should be he defeated god help us... A small glimpse into New Englanders under arms during the Civil War: one an optimist attached to an illustrious but ill-fated regiment the other a pessimist leading newly liberated slaves fighting for their freedom. Condition: The items display some wear and minor damage to the bindings of the volumes expected wear and soiling throughout.
1885 "SHERIDAN'S TROOPERS" BY DE. B. KEIMOffered in this lot is the 1885 "Sheridan's Troopers" by De. B. Keim, publisher David McKay, No. 23 South Ninth St. Philadelphia. "Sheridan's Troopers On The Borders: A Winter Campaign On The Plains" is a narrative of more than six months spent on the Southern Plains of the United States, observing the operations of the army directed by then Major Philip Henry Sheridan against the native peoples of various tribes. A very interesting account of several battles vs the Indians in the days of the old west. Keim writes as a man of his times, his descriptions of Indian ways is fascinating from a man who was there. Personal experiences of war against the Plains Indians With the conclusion of the Civil War the American nation turned once again to its 'Manifest Destiny' in earnest, and as the influence of the 'white man' became an ever greater burden upon the hitherto wild western frontier the inevitable escalation of antipathy and open warfare flared with the indigenous Indian tribes of the Great Plains. The 'Winter Campaign ' of 1868 saw the military men who had become household names during the war between the States-among them Sheridan and Custer-once more in the field to subjugate the Sioux, the Cheyenne and their allies. This campaign is reported here by one who took part in it-one of that resolute breed of nineteenth century journalists, the special correspondent. So the story of Forsyth's defense of Beecher's Island, The Battle of the Wash*ta and other famous and notable fights are eloquently recounted within these pages together with the writers own personal experiences of camp, campaign and conflict. This is an excellent chronicle of the Plains Indian Wars and an essential addition to every library of the subject. De Benneville Randolph Keim (1841-1914) was a 19th-century journalist who became a war-time confidant of Ulysses S. Grant, the commanding general of the Union Army, during the American Civil War, and remained an advisor to Grant through his presidency. General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. This blue-green cloth bound gold gilt stamped illustrations hardcover is in fair condition, the spine cloth is separating. Gold gilt is bright, edges exhibit scuffing. Intact pages exhibit age tanning and foxing throughout, measures 5"W x 7.75"L x 1.25"D
INDIAN FIGHTS AND FIGHTERS BY CYRUS BRADY 1ST ED.Included in this lot is a First Edition of “Indian Fights and Fighters” by Cyrus Townsend Brady, 1904, published in New York by Doubleday, Page & Company. This book is illustrated with original drawings by Remington, Schreyvogel, Blumenschein, and Crawford, and includes maps, photographs, and sketches of life from original sources, many of which are now published for the first time in this book. The great clash between the U.S Army and the Plains Indian tribes the principal engagements of the Plains Indian Wars in the period after the Civil War. The book draws on the first hand accounts of many of the people who were involved and is notable for bringing before the reader accounts by those who had not previously been published. Herein is a veritable cornucopia of western incident, campaigns, battles, fights and massacres, the full list of which is too numerous to catalogue here. They include the Fetterman Massacre, the Wagon Box Fight, Beecher's Island, the Fight on Beaver Creek, the Wash*ta, the Rosebud and many, many more. This book has become an invaluable, highly regarded and enduring classic of the History of the West. This cream coloured cloth bound hardcover is in good overall condition, illustrated cover and spine exhibit soiling, edges scuffed. Intact pages exhibit age tanning and foxing throughout, no other obvious marring noted. Measures 5.5"W x 8.25"L x 1.5"D
LARGE GROUP OF PRESIDENTIAL BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORYLARGE GROUP OF PRESIDENTIAL BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY, Recollections of Reagan: A Portrait of Ronald Reagan (signed); The Ike I Knew (signed); Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage; Poems of Abraham Lincoln; Public Papers of the Presidents: George W. Bush 2001; The Civil Rights Legacy of Harry S. Truman; Famous Statements Speeches and Stories of Abraham Lincoln; Yes U Can: 44th President Inauguration Day; Barack Obama: The Official Inaugural Book (2009); George Washington's Rules of Civility; Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush; Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington; Saving Freedom: Truman, The Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization (signed); The United States and Africa Relations: The Obama Presidency; The Presidency in Translation (signed); Reagan in His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America; Roosevelt's Centurions: FDR and the Commanders He Led to Victory in World War II (signed); Arrival: Barack Obama 44th President of the United States; Reagan Remembered; Presidents of War (signed); Nixon's Piano: Presidents and Racial Politics from Washington to Clinton (21) Provenance: Estate of General Colin L. Powell, to benefit America's Promise Alliance and the Colin Powell School at City College of New York.
Five Richard Kidder Meade, Jr. Confederate Civil War Letters, Civil War Era Photographs, Paintings, Meade Family Archive Virginia, 1861-1862: letter from Fort Sumter, March 21, 1861, to sister Julia Meade (1830-1906), Petersburg, Virginia, excerpt “…Nothing of importance has transpired…with the exception of that accidental (?) shot fired from one of the batteries on Cummings Point [a battery on the northern tip of Morris Island, south of Charleston, South Carolina]…we consequently accepted their apology & dismissed them with…‘Go & sin no more’…”, signed “Kidder”, letter in brown ink and graphite on cream-colored laid paper, 7-3/4 x 10 in., slight fading to ink, fold lines with slight wear and tiny separations at edges, grime; Letter to a sister, from Yorktown, Virginia, June 14, 1861, excerpt “…Since I have been here, our scouting parties operating between here and Hampton have succeeded in killing two or three of the enemy and taking six or seven firearms, and on last Monday (June 10th) we gained a splendid victory over the Yankees at Bethel Church…. They were evidently marching on this place with the intention of attacking it and did not expect to meet with any resistance between Hampton and Yorktown… the result of which was 1 killed and seven wounded (only) on our side. We buried on the field about 15 or 16 of their dead and took ten or twelve prisoners & wounded…”, “…I wish I could send you some of the many relicts [sic] we are constantly digging up…. Every day a cannon ball fragment…together with the fragments of human bones. Our works are mostly built on the site of the old Revolutionary ones….Yorktown is one of the oldest-looking villages…there is not a house in it but that looks as if it existed at the time of the Revn…”, signed “Kidder”, two-leaf letter in brown ink on cream-colored laid paper, 8 x 10-1/4 in. and 8 x 5-1/8 in., good condition with strong ink color, fold lines with slight wear and minor grime, scattered slight ink smears likely made at time of writing; Letter from Meade to Confederate General J. R. Anderson (Joseph Reid Anderson, 1813-1892), from Fort Fisher, North Carolina, October 19, 1861, discusses possibilities for altering the elevation of the “…Rifled Banded 32-Pdr [pounders]…” at the fort, no signature, copybook letter in brown ink and graphite on pale blue laid paper, 9-1/2 x 7-1/4 in., good condition with strong ink color, fold lines with slight grime; Letter from Fort Fisher, Confederate Point, November 4, 1861, to a sister, excerpt “…We are still looking out for the Yankee fleet but hope it may be delayed for a week longer when we will be better able to give her a warm reception…”, signed “Kidder”, letter in brown ink on pale gray laid paper, 9-1/4 x 14-1/2 in., good ink color, fold lines with minor wear and slight grime, scattered slight ink smears likely made at time of writing, two small stains; Letter, “Head Quarters Engr Dept (in Field) near Richd June 5th 1862”, to his mother, Julia Edmonds Haskins Meade (about 1809-1891), excerpt “…The day I arrived in Richmond the fight [i.e., Seven Days Battles] was going on and after great exertions succeeded in manning a horse & hurried out to the field to join Genl Holmes [Theophilus H. Holmes, 1804-1880]…. The Rifle Comp’y was out in the woods as skirmishers, expecting the advance of the enemy when I came upon them…”, signed “Kidder” (Meade died eight weeks after he penned this letter, on July 31, 1862), letter in brown ink on cream-colored laid paper, 10 x 7-3/4 in., good condition with strong ink color, fold lines with slight grime, slight ink smears likely made at time of writing; With related family papers: Autographed Civil War letter, from Richard’s brother Hugh Everard Meade (1838-1862) to a sister, May 21, 1862, from a camp outside of Petersburg, Virginia; Letter from Richard Kidder Meade, Jr. to a sister, from West Point, December 17, 1854; Carte-de-visite of Meade with eight other officers of Fort Sumter, March 1862, (before the Battle of Fort Sumter, April 12-13, 1861); Book of albumen prints of Richard Kidder Meade, Jr., his parents and siblings; Painting of Richard Kidder Meade, Sr. (1803-1862); Painting of Blandford Church, Petersburg, Virginia (where many members of the Meade family are buried); Newspaper articles, miscellaneous papers, 16 books and three textiles related to the Meade family and descendents; all loose papers in archival sleeves, Detailed Listing: Textiles:Handsewn brown satin-weave silk drawstring bag lined with maroon silk, embroidered with the first national flag of the Confederacy (“Stars and Bars”, 13 stars) and the second national flag of the Confederacy (“the Stainless Banner”) and the motto Pro Aris et Focis (literally, “for our altars and our hearths”), 12 x 8-3/4 in., very good conditionHandsewn silk textile representing the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s infantry battle flag, 12-1/2 x 13 in., some deterioration of silk borders at edges, minor substance spatter on red ground, otherwise in fair to good conditionHandsewn linen table cover with self-fringe, embroidered signatures of 12 individuals, very good condition with some staining Here are books and manuscripts: Books:Georgia Society, Colonial Dames of America, 1931 directory.Hogarth, The Works of William Hogarth, vol. 1 (London: 1812), hardcover.Holy Bible (New York: American Bible Society, 1867), copy presented to James Burke, Dec. 18, 1868.John Howard, The Illustrated Scripture History for the Young, 2 vols. (New York: Virtue and Yorston, n.d.), copies belonging to Mary Meade Platt, hardcover.Eliza J. Lines, Marks-Platt Ancestry (Sound Beach, CT: 1902), 2 copies: one in a suede leather cover, one with no covers.Bishop Meade, Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott, 1872) hardcover.Henry, J. Peet, ed., Chaumiere Papers Containing Matters of Interest to the Descendants of David Meade (Chicago: Horace O’Donoghue, 1883), hardcover.Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (Philadelphia: Charles Desilver, 1856), copy belonging to W. H. Platt.Horace G. Platt, John Marshall and Other Addresses (San Francisco, Argonaut, n.d.), hardcover.W. H. Platt, Judith Carson; or which Was the Heiress?(Rochester, NY: E. R. Andrews, 1887), softcover.———. The Philosophy of the Supernatural (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1886), hardcover, 2 copies.Robert E. Lee, In Memoriam (Louisville: John P. Morton, 1870), hardcover. Manuscripts:Two diaries of Mazy Platt, 1887 & 1888, together with letters, pressed flowers, miscellaneaEphemera:-framed genealogy of the Latham/Meade family-vellum “Supreme Court of the United States of America” to William H. Platt, February 10, 1846, with wax seal of the Supreme Court-watercolor of Bishop’s Palace in England-two leaves of gravestone rubbings: Hugh/Richard Kidder Meade and Mary Martha/Susan Meade-miscellaneous genealogical papers on the Meade family-letters to William W. Platt from the President of the College of William and Mary, -poem commemorating the death of Richard Kidder Meade from a sister-document from the Supreme Court of the State of Georgia-documents from the Supreme Court of the State of Alabama-papers on Old Blandford Church in Petersburg, Virginia-carte-de-visite of the William Platt home in San Francisco-William Platt’s survivor’s pension from the Mexican-American War-newspaper articles on Richard Kidder Meade from the 19th and 20th centuries- two stereoscopic cards of church interior, Louisville, Ky.-carte-de-visite of Richard Kidder Meade with eight other officers of Fort Sumter, March 1862, with newspaper clipping from 1862
Colt Richards Conversion Revolver Presented to Daniel Huston USA .44 cal. 8" round barrel with single line address ?S/N 2722. Full nickel-plated finish with ivory grips.?Backstrap with one line inscription Daniel Huston USA from his fellow Officers.Born in Maine Daniel Huston Jr. (1824-1884) was an 1848 Military Academy graduate and career regular who was breveted three times during the Civil War later serving as lieutenant colonel of the 5th U.S. Infantry during the Indian War. Colt manufactured about 2 200 of the .44 caliber Richards conversions beginning in 1871 making this Colonel Huston's Indian War service revolver.At the start of the Civil War Captain Huston was serving with the 1st US Infantry and fought at Wilson's Creek on August 10 1861 earning a brevet to major for "gallant and meritorious service." In February 1862 he became colonel of the 7th Missouri Cavalry posted to Blunt's Army of the Frontier and later was in temporary command of the 2nd Division when Brigadier General James Totten was detached. Part of Herron's command at the battle of Prairie Grove Arkansas on December 7 1862 Colonel Huston's regiment charged advancing Confederate infantry near the Borden House early in the see-saw fight. Hindman's exhausted Confederate Army was forced too withdraw that night yielding the field and giving Blunt a tactical victory despite roughly equal casualties of 1 300 killed and wounded on each side.Colonel Huston was serving as Assistant Commissary of Musters Department of Missouri when he was detached to Vicksburg during siege operations and received a second brevet to lieutenant colonel for gallant conduct there. Meanwhile in August 1863 Huston had been advanced to major 11th US Infantry and returned to staff duty as officer in charge of receiving applications for "Commissions in the Colored Troops." Huston formally resigned the colonelcy of the 7th Missouri Cavalry in December 1864 and received a third brevet to colonel on March 13 1865. Afterwards he was given command of the 11th US Infantry stationed in war torn Richmond serving there until December 1868.Post-war Major Huston briefly transferred to the re-organized 23rd Infantry in December 1868 and was rapidly promoted to lieutenant colonel 6th Infantry in February 1869 where he continued as second in command during the Indian Wars. The revolver was certainly well traveled as Huston subsequently commanded the supply post at Fort Gibson Indian Territory (1869-1871) served at Fort Dodge Kansas (1871-1872) and led detachments of the 6th Infantry in the field. In June 1872 Lieutenant Colonel Huston and two companies of the 6th Infantry built a post on the west bank of the Missouri River opposite present day Bismarck Dakota Territory called Fort McKean soon renamed Fort Abraham Lincoln on November 19 1872. In 1873 the 7th Cavalry of "Garryowen" fame arrived to garrison and expand Fort Lincoln and Colonel Custer assumed command from Colonel Huston.Huston then held command at Fort Stevenson Dakota Territory from August 1873 to June 1877 at the height of the Sioux campaign. During the ill-fated Little Big Horn expedition in June 1876 a single company of Huston's 6th Infantry accompanied Custer's Dakota column from Ft. Lincoln guarding the supply train. Three more companies had been posted to Fort Buford relaying supplies to the field from that riverboat depot. In August 1876 troops from the 6th Infantry formed part of General Terry's composite infantry brigade during the fruitless Rosebud expedition in the Yellowstone Valley. Colonel Huston held command of the 6th Infantry and the post of Ft. Buford Dakota Territory from October 1877 to August 1879. Towards the end of his career he commanded at Ft. Lyon Colorado and Fort Cameron Utah.After 34 years of service Huston was advanced to bird colonel 5th Infantry in February 1882 and retired at his own request on June 22 1882. He lived briefly in Burlington New Jersey where he died on December 2 1884. Colonel Daniel Huston Jr. and his wife are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Condition: All metal retains 85% of the original nickel-plated finish .? All numbers match. Backstrap with a period engraved inscription.? Ivory grips with nice aged and patina.
[Civil War - Autographs] Dorothea Dix Civil War-Date ALS from Camp Letterman Gettysburg Oct. 1863 1p dated October 29 1863 at Washington addressed to Surgeon Jayner - In Charge / Gen Hospital / Camp Letterman requesting the certificate of nurse be forwarded to her office. Dorthea Dix (1802-1887) lifelong advocate of the poor and mentally and physically disabled served as Superintendent of Army Nurses during the Civil War. Camp Letterman was a tent hospital near the Gettysburg battlefield which served the wounded for months after the fighting.
General Orlando B. Willcox Medal of Honor Winner Oil Portrait Post-war oil painting on canvas of General Orlando B. Willcox in uniform unsigned 21.5 x 25.25 in. framed 27.5 x 31.25 in. Born in Detroit Orlando Bolivar Willcox (1823-1907) was a celebrated career United States Army officer who graduated West Point in 1847 and dedicated nearly 40 years service to his country before retiring as a regular brigadier general in 1887. Willcox served initially in the 4th Artillery during the later stages of the Mexican War fighting Indians on the Great Plains and during the Third Seminole War before resigning in 1857 to pursue a law career. In March 1895 General Willcox was awarded a Medal of Honor for ?distinguished gallantry? at First Bull Run where as colonel he commanded a brigade consisting of his own 1st Michigan Infantry and the famous 11th NY (Ellsworth??Ts) Fire Zouaves and ?led repeated charges until wounded and taken prisoner.? Subsequently Willcox was held at Richmond Charleston and Columbia South Carolina before being exchanged in August 1862 and promoted to brigadier general retroactive to July 21 1861 (Bull Run). Afterward Willcox was given command of a division in fellow 1847 classmate Ambrose Burnside??Ts Corps and fought steadily at Antietam and Fredericksburg. In 1863 he commanded the District of Indiana and Michigan before returning to divisional command for the grueling Knoxville Campaign. Once more under Burnside he led his division during Grant??Ts Overland Campaign receiving a brevet promotion to major general in August 1864 for ?actions after crossing the Rapidan.? General Willcox commanded the first troops to enter Petersburg following the lengthy siege. Orlando Willcox was twice brevetted in 1867 for his Civil War service (Spotsylvania and Petersburg) and reverted to colonel of the 12th Infantry in March 1869. Toward the end of his stellar career Willcox took command of the Department of the Arizona and ?effectively suppressed the raids of the Apache Indians and for his service in this conjunction received a votes of thanks form the Arizona Legislature.? Willcox was promoted to Brigadier General Regular Army in October 1886 and was placed on the statutory retirement list in April 1887. The general was among the last of the army??Ts surviving high-profile Civil War officers when he died at age 84 on May 11 1907. The general is buried at Arlington (Section 1 Grave 18). Condition: Some edgewear and corner wear to frame.
William R. Carr 12th Massachusetts Vols. KIA Gettysburg Civil War Archive 9 letters from Sgt. William R. Carr 1861-1863. Plus 6 related family letters. The war letters start with Carr??Ts May 17 1861 admission to his father that yes he had run off and joined the militia. You said that Uncle Daniel let the cat out of the bag about my Enlisting in my Country??Ts Service; myself and eight others enlisted... I enlisted for three months at first but if they want us longer while we shall go... we are styled Company D 7th Reg. Mass Volunteer Militia H.J. Herve Captain. Liman Dike is Colonel of the Regiment. Lyman Dike prominent Stoneham resident had been colonel of the 7th Massachusetts Militia since 1858. In 1861 he was detailed by Governor Andrew to command a camp of instruction at Lynnfield to prepare the state militias for Federal service. The 7th was incorporated into the 14th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during this time. Note that this letter contradicts Carr??Ts service record which gives his enlistment date as June 26 1861 into the 12th Massachusetts Infantry. Carr??Ts letter of August 11 from Pleasant Valley Maryland explains what happened: I left that Regt about five weeks ago and joyend the 12th Massachusetts Regt. Commanded by Col. Fletcher Webster son of Daniel Webster. the reason why I left the 14th was because the Governor took our Captain away from us and we would not stand for it and so we broke up the Company and went into the Webster Regt... We have got a very fine Regt. I suppose you have seen Accounts in the Newspapers about the Webster Regt. Carr gives a detailed account of his first month in the 12th and relates how his company had to make a reconnaissance of the overgrown mountain at Maryland Heights where Rebel troops had built a fort: Three weeks ago the Secessionists had possession of the Mountain. there is About fifty Logg Huts which they Built besides a large Stockade built of loggs. We did not find anything worth of note. The November 3 1861 letter from Camp near Seneca Hills [Maryland]gives a harrowing story of a storm so powerful that flash flooding extinguished all fires and soldiers had to stand outside in the torrential downpour and hold on to the tents to keep them from being blown away! Carr had an ever-positive attitude and a gift for describing camp life in entertaining detail throughout these letters. In this one he explains to his brother how the soldiers dug a stone-lined fire pit with underground flue and sod chimney to warm the large tents. December found Carr in Camp Hicks near Frederick. Maryland. On the 22nd he writes his father: I have been very busy of late... We are building logg houses to live in. we expect to quarter here this winter... We are encamped about three miles from the City of Frederick one of the Oldest Cities in the Country; some of the soldiers are quartered in barracks built by the English. On December 30 1861 Carr wrote his sister from Camp Hicks Maryland proudly giving a detailed description of the construction of the 16 x 14 ft. log cabin he and 14 others would be spending the winter in and how Army life had helped some of their friends straighten up their lives: Some people have an idea that the Army is a great place for all kinds of vices. It is not so at all events it is not so in this Regt. for I know of fellows in this Regt. who were regular Drunkards at home that are as steady as you could wish out here. I think it is a good school for such! The January 15 1862 letter is another vivid portrait of camp life. We shall have a boiled dish for dinner to day composed of Corned Beef Poark Potatoes Cabbage and Turnips.... We are very fortunate in our mess in having a good cook.... We have boards we put up for a table at meal times and Chairs are an unknown luxury for a Soldier. On January 21st Carr wrote his father that the regiment had been put on alert: Orders came into camp last night for us to be ready to march at an hour??Ts notice with two days rations. At 9 oclock in the evening orders came to have our Blankets ready to march at a moment??Ts notice without knapsacks... Reports said that we should go to Hanco*ck or Winchester... I understand that the Rebels are collecting there in large numbers.? The next morning he adds: ?We have not had any further orders about Marching... I should hate to march now the roads are so bad. There is no snow here but a great abundance of mud! Carr wrote his sister on January 28 1862 explaining that he couldn't come home to visit because all furloughs had been cut off. So many men had left on leave that no one else was being allowed to go. This could not have happened at a worse time for one of the men in ?I? Company: he received a letter last night from a Doctor in North Bridgewater stating that his wife was very sick. they did not expect her to live but a short time and told him that if he wanted to see her alive that he must come home immediately and requesting him to show it (the letter) to the Officers he went to the Col. and handed him the letter and asked him for a furlough the Col told him at first that there was no possible chance for him to get home then after thinking it over a short time he told him that he would do the best he could for him he gave him a pass to go to Washington and see Gen McClellan his pass has got to be signed Genl Abercrombie Genl Banks and Gen McClellan. I don??Tt know whether he will get it or not but I hope he will for he is a good steady fellow and it would be to bad if they did not let him go. In September 1862 the regiment had been nearly destroyed at Antietam fighting the Louisiana Tigers in vicious combat in the infamous Cornfield and capturing the colors of the 1st Texas Infantry. The 12th Massachusetts suffered 67 percent casualties in that battle the highest of any unit. Only 32 men of an original 334 answered muster that evening. The last letter of this archive is dated May 30 1863 and covers the actions of the 12th Massachusetts at Chancellorsville. Carr writes his sister explaining why he hasn??Tt written in so long: Dear Sister Please excuse me for not writing to you before this late day. the reason that I have not written before is that I have had a very lame hand... I sprained my hand the day that we recrossed the River after the Chancellorsville fight. We left our position about three oclock in the morning [May 6] and marched towards the River. It was dark and rainy so dark and so many troops on the march we could hardly pick our way along. We came to a fence and we commenced to scramble over it. there were some eight or ten on the length that I was on. Our weight proved to much for the fence and down we came all in a pile. I threw out my hand to save myself and caught hold of a rail and at the same time that my hand struck the rail a comrade??Ts gun struck my hand and a pretty hard blow too... Our Regt was not in any regular engagement across the River but acted as skirmishers. We were out one day & one night. As skirmishers we had two men wounded and some eight to ten taken prisoners. There was only 75 of us in the Regt all told and we took one hundred and two prisoners. A pretty good day??Ts work don??Tt you think so? A month after this letter the 12th Massachusetts was one of the first Union infantry regiments to reach Gettysburg on July 1st as the Confederate Army closed in. With the rest of Baxter??Ts Brigade they surprised Iverson??Ts brigade of Confederates at Oak Ridge annihilating them. Facing the brunt of Ewell??Ts Second Corps Baxter??Ts Brigade were forced back to Cemetery Hill in vicious fighting. Sergeant William Carr was severely wounded in the left leg during this action. His leg was amputated and he died of his wounds July 14 in Gettysburg. He is buried in Gettysburg National Cemetery in gravesite MA-C-13.
[Civil War - Manuscripts] J. Culver 31st O.V.I. Civil War Letter Discussing the Tullahoma Campaign Culver enlisted August 28 1861 and mustered into Co. E 31st Ohio Infantry as a private. He served the entirety of the war mustering out at Louisville in July of 1865 as a 2nd Lieutenant. A 6.25pp letter dated October 22 186? at Galesville Alla. Writing to his brother Culver discusses the campaign and politics: We have been having one of the darndest campaigns since we left Atlanta that I ever saw. We have marched nearly all of the time we marched 32 miles in 22 hours and then dident git a chance to fight any. We have run the Reb's like the devel but they keep just far enough a head to keep out of our roads....We are living pretty well we have all the fresh meet and Potatoes we want hogs and Sheap are plenty....Col Walker run for Congressman in his district and was defeated and I am damd glad of it....I guess old Abe will be reelected. I don't believe this war will ever be settled until Some other Nation interferes and for my part I don't care how soon some one els mixes in....I think that Genl Sherman was a little out-Generaled on the commencement of this campaign but he soon found out the move and drove them from our R.R. with out firing a gun and they had to run like hell to Escape being Captured....
[Civil War - Manuscripts] Civil War Soldier's Letter Describing Sherman's March From Savannah GA 4pp dated January 5 1865 at Savannah Georgia. Writing to his brother P.H. Richardson You have doubtless learned that Sherman with his Yankee invaders have found their way to and into the City of Savannah. We left Atlanta on the 15th of Nov. for parts to us unknown & marched in all directions except West or Northwest but making our general course South East. He describes the terrain of coastal Georgia speaks of highly successful foraging to the point that he is the heaviest he has ever been (We had a plenty of Sweet Potatoes fresh Pork Beef & Molasses also some Honey etc so we lived fat & had a good time altho our March was a long one) and recounts the only fight along they way near Macon where one Union regiment terribly whipped 5 Brig. of rebs that charged them several times & were repulsed with terrible slaughter. He gives details of their entry in Savannah including dates resistance and other war news and describes Savannah as a fine city for a Southern one well laid out with paved streets and residents eager to take the oath of Allegiance. Richardson even gives his personal views on his ultimate superiors: I begin to think it was Sherman's head that made Grant so prominent a Gen. as you know 2 [drawing of a head] are better than one - still I don't feel to distrust Gen. Grant's ability as a General. The final page is full of news relevant to the correspondents' family and friends but closes with the plea O! when will this War be over is there any prospect of a Submission on their part ever or will the last man woman & Child be exterminated before submitting? O! for Grace to patiently endure & do our whole duty so long as duty Calls So I will will close wishing you Heaven's Choicest blessing here and hereafter and here I wish you a Happy New Year. Richardson does not sign with a rank but mentions in the letter that for the last few months he has been detailed with the Division Hospital 1st Div. 15th A.C. and is acting as Commissary Sargt. Condition: Very good.
Colonel Francis Parker 32nd Massachusetts Volunteers Civil War Archive 38 war-date letters 1860-1862. During the first days of the secession crisis in December 1860 Francis J. Parker wrote to Massachusetts Gov. John Andrew to offer his services announcing that Where the Palmetto flag is flying my place is beneath the Pine. The collection that follows tells a remarkable story of ambition and patriotism written in the delicate prose of the Boston Brahmin elite ending in one of the most famous Massachusetts Civil War regiments. Despite the prominence of Parker??Ts family and his wealth as a businessman he did not have an easy path to a high-placed position. In reply to the offer of Parker??Ts services Andrew had an assistant reply: Mr. A[ndrew] wishes me to say it affords him much pleasure to record as a ?volunteer? a true son of Massachusetts and also to know and to feel that when the flag of disunion shall rise all her sons forgetting former party differences shall be as one in defense of that union which they have inherited from their fathers... When offered command of a battalion of four companies of volunteers at Fort Warren in Boston with the rank of Major Parker was simply insulted replying curtly I cannot find in the rank or importance of the position sufficient justification for its acceptance adding later But if your excellency embarrassed in the selection of a commander claims the acceptance of my patriotism -- I accept -- and although failing to recognize in myself the qualities which you enumerate as desirable I will yet endeavor to do my duty. Stinging. Late in 1861 Parker apparently swallowed his pride and accepted a battalion (with Major??Ts rank) and assignment to Fort Warren with the knowledge that he could be transferred for duty elsewhere. That winter and spring he commanded six companies at Fort Warren remaining until May 1862 when he was attached to the Military District of Washington. Rather unusually Parker??Ts companies -- not yet a full regiment -- were assigned to take part in the Peninsular Campaign where they were supplemented by four other companies the first of what would become a pattern of absorbing other units as they were degraded in battle: the 32nd Massachusetts was one of Fox??Ts 300 Fighting Regiments. As soon as Parker left Fort Warren he received letters from soldiers who had been under his command there requesting his help in moving to active duty. Sgt. John Hirsch writes Sir could I not through you influences now as a private gentleman be transferred to some Regiment in active service I am willing to give up my position as Non Com. Officer and take a privates place... For his part Parker continued to lobby for promotion and transfer to the front. When he got his wish one gets a sense of his wonder. After the Battle of Malvern Hill (he was not present) he described the scene before him: War is not a pretty thing to look at from this aspect. Mud & dust alternate -- wounded men -- dead miles. Filth -- shouting wagoners -- galloping orderlies -- swearing men -- are the staple ornaments of the camp limits. The woods are being rapidly -- you would wonder to see how rapidly -- thinned and consumed by the countless fires and when a calm evening occurs the smoke hangs like a fog over the whole country which we occupy... He goes on to describe the countryside adding that he had hired two women former slaves of the Lee family at White House estate to do the laundry. Parker??Ts experiences in the field were bitter. With remarkable insight into a regiment??Ts response to terror he wrote on July 12 1862: Upon our arrival we were hurried into position with the reserve upon ground where the shells of the enemy had fallen but an hour before and our path to that ground was through a mob of demoralized soldiers -- wounded hungry and cowardly. Men cried out tauntingly at us that we should be used up before night -- that we didn??Tt know what we had got into & men from other regiments enquired ?hows your patriotism now.? The clay mud was actually knee deep -- men lost their boots & stockings in the mid and could not find them.... The stories about regiments being cut up are hums. The 22d reputed cut to pieces lost only one officer killed. The 1st Mass who reported only 175 men left has 800 upon its rolls!... On two points the army is unanimous: all want to go home and all curse the abolitionists. The Rebs bother us a little by firing into the transports on the river but otherwise we hear little of them... The 32nd Massachusetts was not in the thick of thick of the fray during the late summer and were on the edges as Parker wrote of South Mountain and Antietam. On Sept. 23 1862 he wrote: Nobody seems to be doing anything since our people got driven into the Potomac the other day on the Virginia side while my regiment stood doing nothing on the Maryland side. With all this campaigning I am getting to be inexpressibly dirty and hard looking -- I wouldn??Tt speak to myself if I met myself in the street and if you could see me you would be glad I was gone... The carnage of those months however evidently dulled Parker??Ts ambition and he resigned his commission not long after the Battle of Fredericksburg to return home to tend to his business interests. Most of the earlier letters in the collection deal either with Parker??Ts attempts to secure a suitable position or the attempts of former soldiers in his command to do the same but from the time of the Peninsular Campaign there are 16 letters from Parker himself to his wife describing his adventures in the field. It is worth noting too that there are two fine ALsS from Gov. Andrew responding to Parker??Ts lobbying. Wonderful writing and a superb example of a grasping desire for self-advancement combined with intense patriotism. Condition: Good condition with expected wear and signs of aging; many letters with the remains on the verso of the sheet of a former paper hinge presumably from these having been tipped into a letterbook or scrapbook.
MASSACHUSETTS OFFICER'S CIVIL WAR GROUPING WITH VERY RARE "MS" MARKED COLT REVOLVER This collection follows the Civil War service of 1st Lt. Sanford Almy, Quartermaster for the 18th Massachusetts Infantry between September 25, 1861 and September 2, 1864. During its three-year existence, Almy's busy regiment participated in most of the campaigns from the Peninsula to Gettysburg and back down again to Petersburg, losing 252 officers and men to disease and combat. Lt. Almy survived, settling in Ohioville, PA after the war. Included here are the following items: Colt Second Model Dragoon Revolver, matching serial number 10502 in five places, .44 caliber, 7-1/2 in. part round, part octagonal barrel, the top flat marked - ADDRESS SAML COLT NEW YORK CITY -, the six-shot cylinder roll engraved with a scene of Texas Rangers fighting Indians and a scroll reading U.S.M.R above the serial number; the left side of the frame with COLT'S/ PATENT/ U.S., inspector's mark "B" below and also on rear of top barrel flat; brass trigger guard stamped "MS" (for Massachusetts militia), conforming plain brass backstrap with walnut grips (smooth working action, attractive old surfaces throughout, good estate condition); ...plus: A period inscribed duplicate of Almy's Commission as a First Lieutenant in the Eighteenth Regiment signed by Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew and Secretary of the Commonwealth Oliver Warren, September 25, 1861, presented in 20th-century gilt frame (20 x 15-1/4 in. overall); plus...Almy's military discharge, Deadham, Massachusetts, September 2, 1864, presented with a 14K gold shield engraved "LIEUT. S. ALMY. Quartermaster 18th Regt Mass Inft" on the obverse and "Entered Service April, 16th 1861" on the reverse, plus... a second 14k gold shield is engraved "PARDON. ALMY. Jr. 18th Regt Mass Vols" on the obverse and "Entered Service Aug. 20th 1861." on the reverse (Pardon Almy, Sanford's younger brother, was killed at Second Manassas on August 30, 1862); between the shields is a red-enameled gold fill corps badge for the 1st Division 5th Corps, the reverse engraved "Sanford Almy / Lt. and R.Q.M. / 18th Mass Vols.”, the 20th century gilt frame being 20 x 15-1/4 in...plus: a postwar solar enlargement depicting Sanford Almy as a venerable civilian, presented in a period pine frame with gilt liner (31 x 27 in.)...plus: a manuscript Almy family tree starting with William Almy of Rhode Island in the 17th century and branching out to Sanford Almy and his children in the late 19th century, presented in a gilt wooden frame (33-1/2 x 27-1/2 in.) (minor stains with some insect damage).
Nathaniel D. Hackett Wisconsin 1st Heavy Artillery Civil War and Personal Archive 330 items dating from 1860-1947. While serving in the 1st Wisconsin Battery Light Artillery Davis Hackett kept in close correspondence with his family at home. An upstanding young man Hackett received 74 letters while in the service that provide a glimpse into how communities remained connected across the barriers of absence and military service as well as the adjustments made by family and friends on the home front. The letters are filled with familial concern news of soldiers coming home after their time had run out funerals and family and the daily events of life on the home front. In a typical letter Hackett??Ts sister wrote about a girlfriend of Davis??T (Leone Baldwin) whom she disapproved and whom she felt had wronged him by courting a number of soldiers: You can see as well as I how she has wronged you all this time. It is too much to bear peacefully. I would give a good deal if your letters were somewhere besides in her possession for I??Tll bet anything she will show them to everybody. She is just as true to you as she is to every one or as true as she would be if she were engaged to everyone. She expects and wishes all to worship at her footstool.... You desire a whole heart not one whose affections are scattered from the Potomac to the Rio Grande and you deserve it too -- but no one will ever receive such from her for she has no heart to bestow. I do not feel that I do her the least injustice when I say she is a heartless coquette... Hackett??Ts sister May wrote with some juicy local gossip: When Miss Maxwell came to our school she wrote it seems she left her Bible (on purpose I suppose) and today after Sabbath School commenced she came in after it and paraded the whole length of the house and out again so we all had a chance to see her which I dare say she considered a great privilege. I do not know as it is Christian like to slander ones neighbor in this manner but you know I do not wish to write the same things to you that the rest do so you must excuse me if I do say things sometimes which it were better not to say. Other letters offer similar flavor: Friends Marion Miles writes: You ask me not to ?forget the soldiers.? Know ye Dave there lives not one who has a more profound respect for the soldier than myself. I think they are fighting in the noblest cause for which a patriot ever unsheathed his sword; and we watch their course follow them with our best wishes glory in their achievements and are waiting patiently and hopefully for the time when we can welcome them home. I would be very glad if the last battle had already been fought if not another drop of loyal blood need be spilled if not another waiting heart at home need sent with anguish because of the death of a loved one; but How useless and vain the wish! For the horrid appetite of cruel remorseless war is not yet appeased. Many another noble life must be sacrificed ere this accursed rebellion is crushed. But now Lincoln is elected we hope to be safe again... From young brother Oscar: As to the use of Tobacco I did use it before you went away for I thought that it was nice and it was gentlemanly but I saw my error before it was to late but I thank you for your advice and I am very glad that you was s thoughtfull for my welfare. I have tried to help Father and Mother all that I could since you went away. I have stayed to home from school about a week to help Father get up some wood. I am learning t cipher considerably and Pa says that just as soon as you get bacl that that he is agoing to have me learn some trade for you know I do not like to work on a farm. I think that I shall learn the Blacksmiths trade for I like that the best any trade... Cousin Lizzie; I heard of the President??Ts death while I was in Farmington last Saturday afternoon. We got the intelligence about four in the afternoon and immediately the flag was seen flying at half mast. Bells were tolled and Stores and Houses draped in mourning. The evening before everyone seemed happy and all had a gay time. The stores on Main Street were illuminated also many private residences. Speeches were made by the clergymen and everyone was rejoicing over the recent good news... Marion Miles was just as deeply affected by the assassination: Seward??Ts loss too at any other time would be deeply felt and even now will be mourned sincerely but Lincoln was our Chieftain and it seems to me is just as necessary to us as a nation as was Washington in the Revolutionary War. Can the perpetrator of the awful deed ever be sufficiently punished for a crime too horrible for a just God to pardon? The only consolation is that Johnson will be likely (if he don??Tt get intoxicated) to deal with rebels and traitors as honestly as they deserve if possible. I don??Tt believe he would parole their Commander in Chief should be again be captured. I have just faith enough in Gen. Lee??Ts honor to believe he has gone to South Carolina to help ??~conquer??T Sherman and sent his army to the mountains to practice guerrilla warfare. I wish he and his whole command had been hung instead of paroled...The collection also includes a nice letter from Davis shortly after his arrival in Washington D.C. in Oct. 4 1864 describing the nation??Ts capitol at the height of the war: Here I am in the Capitol of the United States standing in the dome as you enter from the north side and turn to your right and there you see the picture of the landing of Columbus the size of which is about ten by fourteen feet. The next is the embarkation of the Pilgrims third George Washington resigning his commission to Congress fourth surrender of Lord Cornwallace fifth surrender of Gen Burgoyne.... We went through to the south side and got a drink of water at the fountain the basin of which is filled with fish and the park is a splendid thing and there is a fountain on either side of the wall coming north and south but the one of the west was not finished... After the war Hackett moved to the west settling in East Ashland Oregon by 1910 and then in Victor Montana where he died August 1929. As was true during his service his correspondence helped overcome the distance that separated him from his family. The collection also includes a thick sheaf of correspondence from relatives and friends written to Davis during the post-war period mostly during the 1860s through 1890s but continuing into the next generation as well. A solid typical domestic correspondence these letters discuss family illness aging parents dead dogs choking on bones and the usual ebb and flow of life in mid-Victorian Wisconsin (Baraboo Chippewa Falls). Among the most interesting series of letters are 14 from Davis to his wife Carrie written from Chippewa Falls Wisc. in 1889 describing his life there and a ?sensation? at the Stanley House hotel: They had a german girl doing laundry work that was not compos mentus & Ginns [an acquaintance] nephew has been a fool of her for some time & about the time Gonn died he got the negrow porter & 3 other fellows down in the cellar & they all took part in the fun each taking his turn. It finally got out & the authorities had 3 of them shut up & one skipped & one was not molested. Two were fined $100 each or 6 months in jail & the nephew $50. He & the negrow paid & the latter skipped as soon as he paid & the 3 one is in jail. The nephew was in school here but I heard Mr. Long was going to have him expelled. We little know what is going on right under our noses... Other items include a nice series of 33 letters from Florence Vrooman to her close friend Davis 1914-1917 discussing her life on a farm in Lakeville Wisc. and her efforts to cope with loneliness and hard winters; a series of letters to Millie Hackett from friends and relatives 1890s; and 45 letters to Davis??T daughter Edith 1890s-1940s including letters discussing life as a teacher and occasional mentions of the Second World War. Some general soiling and wear as expected many with envelopes. Condition: Some general soiling and wear as expected many with envelopes.
CIVIL WAR TIN TYPES AND CIVIL WAR-ERA LETTERS. Belonging to the Wait family of Franklin County Vermont. The majority of the letters express growing concern for the whereabouts of relatives fighting for the Union. Letters from the soldiers detail health hospital stays and in one case how a battle wound was recieved. One describes the mingling of soldiers from both sides while on picket duty and another letter mentions a photograph of one of the soldier being sent. The lot includes three sixth plate tintypes two of which are of Union soldiers the third is of a young boy. Together with an early workbook An Analytical Guide To The Art Of Penmanship by Enoch Noyes. Soldiers named in the letters include Henry F. Wait of Company C 14th NY Heavy Artilterty who dies in a Union hospital in Virigina and Edwin D. Sheets Co. J 10th Regt. (NY? VT?) who dies in Danville Prison. Tintypes may be of these men.
[Civil War - Manuscripts] Civil War Letters from Pvt. Frances M. Leach 4th Maine Infantry Lot of four letters written by Pvt. Francis M. Leach Co. C 4th Maine Infantry of Camden Maine who enlisted June 15 1861 and was declared missing and assumed dead just over a year later June 29 1862 when the unit was fighting the Seven Days battles. Including: a 1p letter dated Aug 17 1861 at Camp Mason Portland Maine addressed to his cousin Eleanor reporting on a sick friend of theirs and telling her about the camp routine which consists of a prayer meeting every night and a sermon in the morning as well as a recent lecture on temperance; a partial letter dated April 25 1862 addressed to his cousin Miles saying he has forwarded some pay which he may borrow interest free if he wishes and that he spent the entire night chopping trees and building a fort; a letter on Hero's Momento paper 2pp dated April 27 1862 at Camp Winfield Scott addressed to cousin Miles further discussing the money he has forwarded him and mentioning a delivery of 500 tons of powder which Pvt. Leach says will be all used be fore we giv up; and a partial letter to his wife telling her he had his picture taken and lamenting that he has no particular friends in camp to chat with but he will be returning home soon and will have a good sweet kiss from those sweet lips. Condition: Second and third are faded but legible.
[Civil War - Manuscripts] Civil War Letter from Corporal Warren B. Thorndike 19th Maine Inf. POW & Died at Andersonville 4pp on patriotic letterhead dated October 12 1862 at Camp Howard Boliver Hights. Accompanied by original envelope postmarked at Washington October 15 1862 addressed to Miles G. [?] West Camden Maine. Writing to Brother Miles Private Thorndike reports that he hasn't seen any fighting yet but expects to very soon the food is bad and the water is out of the river where there is dead Mules and Horses and every thing else that is nasty but despite going thirsty he recognizes it is a soldier's fate and I will try and put up with it the best I can. Thorndike says he has heard rumors there is a white flag waveing over the Capitol and the hole City and although he may be lying dead in the field by the time the letter is delivered my trust is only in God and if we do not meet on earth eney more may we meet where we shall not part eney more for ever. Despite the squalid conditions of camp and the prospect of untimely death he seems to accepted what will ultimately be his fate and found an inner peace: I am too unthankful for the blessings which I have injoyed in the past and present...keep this in remembrance of me for my sake. As expected Thorndike and the 19th Maine saw their first action just four days later outside Charles Town. They went on to see action at Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Bristoe Station Gettysburg Battle of the Wilderness Spotsylvania Court House North Anna river Cold Harbor and Petersburg in addition to scores of skirmishes. Thorndike was promoted to corporal sometime in 1864 the same year he and 133 others in the regiment were taken prisoner. He died at Andersonville on March 20 1865 just three weeks before Lee's surrender and is buried in the prison cemetery. Condition: Text is faded but mostly legible.
[Civil War - Manuscripts] Post-Civil War Broadside Seeking Vermont Veterans Due Money for Service Plus Disability & Pension Letters and Documents Lot of 6 including: Broadside seeking soldiers of the 2d and 3d Vermont Regiments of 1861 in order to pay them or their heirs the $100 U.S. bounty to which they are entitled. Posted by Boston pension attorney Freeman Emmons listing the names hometowns and companies of over 100 soldiers. Two documents relating to the discharge of August Haehnel (Hahnel in official records) Co. E 24th Illinois Volunteer Infantry including a discharge certificate dated October 28 1861 at Colesburg Kentucky and a pay document dated November 4 1861 for $66.69 for four months of service and travel expenses from Louisville to Chicago to be discharged for disability. A postwar 3pp manuscript letter by Henry Reilly 4th U.S. Army Light Artillery appealing to his congressman for an increased pension including a record of his service and an additional 1p note from his officer in command attesting to Reilly's actions at Buzzard's Roost Georgia February 26 1864 when he refused treatment and continued to fight following a serious shrapnel wound to the face. A $30 pension check to Jeremiah Guyette? dated March 4 1872 Merchants National Bank Burlington Vermont. Condition: Broadside very good. Pay document separated at two folds repaired with tape on verso. Others very good.
Colonel Ellsworth Commemorative Pitcher Plus Lot of 4 featuring a molded stoneware pitcher illustrating the shooting of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth the first conspicuous casualty of the Civil War at Alexandria VA made by Millington Astbury and Poulson Trenton NJ ca 1861. A baluster form pitcher with spurred handle molded in relief on one side with a dramatic depiction of Col. Ellsworth who lies dead at the bottom of the stairwell while three soldiers one identified as F.E. Brownell struggle to fight the man who shot Ellsworth in the chest identified as J.W. Jackson / The Traitor on the pitcher. Brownell the soldier shown bayoneting Jackson was credited with killing the traitor and later received the Medal of Honor for his actions. The reverse side is imprinted with the phrase Union and the Constitution and features a molded relief of an American Eagle with snake in beak perched above a fallen Confederate Flag with an American Flag flying at right above a gathering of rifles. Approx. 8 in. at widest point 8.5 in. tall. This is believed to be the first commemorative pitcher made by a U.S. potter. The lot also includes 2 Civil War illustrated covers honoring Ellsworth plus 1 cent token from the Marshall House Tavern where Ellsworth was martyred dated 1859 .75 in. dia. Condition: Stress crackatjunctionwhere handle meetsthe pitcher itself.Illustrated covers have yellowed a bit.
COLLECTION OF APPROXIMATELY 20 BOOKS regarding the Civil War History and the American west all with dust jackets some first editions: e.g. ''Fighting Confederacy'' edited by Gary Gallagher 1989; ''Frontier Regulars the U.S. Army and the Indian 1866-1890'' by Robert Utley; ''United States Military Saddles'' by Randy Steffen 1973; ''A New History of the American West'' by Richard White 1991; ''Gray Ghosts and Rebel Raiders'' by Virgil Jones 1st press ed. 1995; ''Great Battles of the Civil War'' 1st edition Oxmoor House 2002; ''All for the Union'' by Robert Rhodes 1991; ''The Buffalo Soldiers'' by Wm. Leckie 1967; et al.
TWO CIVIL WAR DRAWINGSTwo Civil War drawings , by Confederate soldier John Jacob Omenhausser, drawn while a prisoner at Point Lookout Maryland, the first depicting African American Union sentinels buying rings from the rebels, the second with a prisoner pleading to get out of prison to fight the Indians, with two African American Union sentinels standing guard nearby, 6 1/2" x 8".Competitive In-House shipping is available for this lot.Condition: Unframed. Light staining. Sheet size-8 1/2'' x 11 1/8''
Civil War Letters from Soldiers of the 17th Maine Infantry Including Col. Charles Mattocks MOH Winner ALS Lot of 4 including: ALS by Col. Charles P. Mattocks to Gen. B.B. Murray Jr. 1p July 20 1874 at Portland regarding new muskets signed C.P. Mattocks / Col. in black ink. Charles Porter Mattocks (1840-1910) was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant in Co. A 17th Maine Infantry in August 1862 and was promoted all the way to colonel and brevet brigadier general by the end of the war. He was captured at the Battle of the Wilderness escaped after six months as a POW returned to his regiment and received the Medal of Honor for leading a charge at Sailors Creek April 6 1865. After the war he attended Harvard Law School became a judge and served as a brigadier general of volunteers during the Spanish-American War. ALS by Private George W. Doughty Co. E 17th Maine to his father dated Jan. 1 1864 near Brandy Station VA describing the guard duty and the equipment required on a seven mile march to the picket line before lamenting that he sees no end to the war in sight and assuring his father that he will not re-enlist until all the other men in Cape Elizabeth and the State of Maine have served their three years as well. A second ALS from Doughty to his father 3.5pp dated Jan. 24 1864 Camp Bullock Culpepper Co. VA in which gives a detailed description of the camp describes the daily cleaning and inspection required by the officers and reports that the aforementioned Charles Mattocks has been promoted to major and is in command of the regiment. And an ALS from Doughty to his mother 6pp Sept. 23 1864 at Head Quarters 3d Division 2nd Army Corps where he discusses politics and the upcoming 1864 presidential election in length saying that he will vote differently than his father as any good soldier should support Old Abe especially seeing as when McClellan was nominated the rebels got up on their works all along their line and gave three cheers for him. That shows wha the Northern Copperheads or Peace men as they call themselves are doing for the Rebellion. They are hurting our cause more than the Rebels themselves that are in front of us and fighting us. Condition: Mattocks' very good with only minor bleeding of ink. Doughty's very good written in neat clearly legible script. The letter to his mother with some staining.
Conrad Wise Chapman (American 1842-1910) "River Landscape" 1882 oil on canvas signed and dated lower right 24 in. x 41 in. period frame. Note: The son of American artist John Gatsby Chapman in 1842 Conrad Wise Chapman was exposed to art and culture at an early age. When Conrad was young his father moved the family to Italy to paint. Chapman returned to America in 1861 to fight on the side of his native Virginia during the Civil War. Some of Chapman's most important works were created during this time including a series of thirty-one paintings of the war as he witnessed it while stationed in Charleston Harbor. Now in the collection of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond Virginia this important group of paintings give us a glimpse of the war's destruction as well as a rare view of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley. The rugged terrain of the landscape depicted here with its bustling boat traffic and moody clouds shows Chapman's adeptness in handling large scale panoramic scenes. While the location of the painting is unidentified Chapman traveled widely in his post-war years including Mexico France Italy and Northern Virginia.
Confederate Order Book 1st Virginia Regiment Pre-First Bull Run 8 x 10 in. hardbound order copy book with gilt title ADJUTANTS REPORTS. /1ST. REGIMENT. This book is a record of the orders received by the 1st Virginia Volunteer Infantry beginning April 29 1861 through the Battle of First Bull Run and ending August 1 1861.The 1st (Richmond) Regiment a pre-war militia regiment was one of the first groups of infantry to arrive for training at the Hermitage Fairgrounds in Richmond (later Camp Lee) in April 1861. The early orders in this book chronicle the day to day problems of forging various mobs of spirited civilians into an army for the newborn nation. The entire army structure above the regimental level had to be made from scratch and these pages of recorded orders give an unparalleled insight into that evolving process.The first combat orders for the 1st Virginia dated May 29 1861 sent them to Manassas Junction to join Bonham's Brigade Department of Alexandria. June 1 finds the regiment at Camp Pickens Virginia where all forces are ordered to cheerfully join in the necessary labors however hard and unusual for them and immediately begin entrenching fortifications at Manassas Junction. The next day Beauregard is announced as the new commander of the Department of Alexandria.On June 16 Beauregard orders troops be supplied with 40 rounds ammo and held constantly in light marching order ready to advance on short notice with 10 days' rations (3-5 in haversacks the rest in wagons.)June 20 orders are issued forming the Army of the Potomac arranging the various regiments into six brigades and assigning brigade commanders. The 1st Virginia is assigned to the 4th Brigade Colonel G.H. Terret Provisional Army of Virginia commanding.Beauregard's HQ June 23rd: So great is the obstruction of the most important public business by the personal presentations at these HdQrs of applications for leaves of absence (generally on the certificate of a medical officer for the benefit of the applicant's health ) that it is ordered that all applications for leaves of absence hereafter shall be made through the commanding officer of the Regiment Corps or unattached company to which such applicant may belong.4th Brigade HQ Camp Pickens June 27 ...The Colonel also directs that the whooping and yelling in camp be stopped and that the men who insist on continuing this unmilitary habit be punished...July 4 1861: Camp PickensThe colonels of the Regiments comprising the 4th Brigade will at once see that their Regiments are provided with three days provisions in their haversacks and forty rounds of ammunition in their cartridge boxes and be held in readiness ?to march forthwith to the front. The alert was canceled July 5th.On July 7 Longstreet assumes command of the 4th Brigade. The next day orders are issued designating a winged badge for the brigade to be worn yellow side out on the left shoulder". Pickets are told to learn the insignia of surrounding brigades and small parties are not to be fired upon unless it is well ascertained that they are of the enemy and there is no probability of capturing them.Beauregard issues a long order on July 11 haranguing the army for grievous breaches in security. Newspapers as far away as South Carolina have published detailed dispositions of Confederate troops along the Potomac with troop strengths and regiment names and examples are provided in these orders.JULY 16 CONFEDERATE BATTLE PLANS FOR MANASSAS: Beauregard issues detailed seven-part battle plans to his command for the attack on the Federal army which that day has begun its march from Washington DC towards Manassas. In part:Head Quarters Army of the PotomacManassas Junction ?July 16th 1861Special Orders}No. 120 ???????????}The following will be observed and executed by all concerned in the special exigencies indicatedI??? Brig Genl Longstreet will hold his Brigade in readiness to march at a moment's notice and take position at Blackburn's ford one regiment to be placed with two pieces of Walton's battery in position in advance of that ford carefully concealed from the view of the enemy the other two regiments remaining on this side of the ford concealed from sight as far as practicable but ready to be thrown across at any moment and when Genl Longstreet shall hear the enemy engaged on his left at Mitchell's ford he will move and attack him in the flank and rear as already instructed keeping communications open with Bonham's brigade on the left and Jones' brigade on the right.II??? Brig Genl Jones will be prepared to move his Brigade from Camp Walker simultaneously with the 4th Brigade to positions at McLean's ford corresponding to those to be occupied by Longstreet at Blackburn's ford; as already instructed he will advance thence to the attack of the enemy's flank on the Centerville Road about halfway between Centerville and Mitchell's ford maintaining communication with Genl Longstreet on his left and Genl Ewell on his right...??? ???The next day Beauregard announced to his army that the Federal invasion of Virginia had begun:General OrdersNo. 41 ?I.??? The General Commanding the army of the Potomac announces to his command that at length the enemy have advanced to subjugate a sovereign state and impose upon a free people an odious government; notwithstanding their numerical superiority they can be repelled and the general commanding relies confidently on his command to do it...By the 18th Union General Tyler's advance division had reached Centerville. As the enemy approaches General Longstreet addresses his men:Head Quarters 4th BrigadeBull Run July 18th 1861General Orders No. 1Virginians you are now fighting for your own soil your homes and your liberties! Let it not be said that any Virginia Brigade gave way one foot before the vile invaders! We have taken our stand; let us show the enemy that we can and will repel them hence.Beauregard correctly expects McDowell's main attack to be from Centerville towards his right flank. Tyler spoils the Union plans by advancing early on Blackburns Ford and escalating his scouting mission into a battle with Longstreet's brigade. The Confederates repulse his attack prompting McDowell to change his plans and attack the alerted Confederates on the opposite flank once the main body of the Union army arrives. Colonel Patrick T. Moore of the 1st Virginia was severely wounded in the head during this battle an injury that would remove him from field service for most of the war.July 21 1861: BATTLE OF FIRST MANASSASSpecial Order No. 136 the morning of the battle informs the brigade commanders that:Lt Col Richard Snowdon is placed on duty with this army and is authorized to join any brigade engaged and opposed to artillery in which event he will be furnished with a detachment of picked riflemen to shoot fused balls into caissons and ammunition wagons.The next order entered into the book is dated June 22 1861 the day after the battle: Beauregard orders Longstreet to detail Lieut John G Meem 17th Regt Va Volunteers to proceed to the front with a strong escort and abundant means of transportation for the purpose of collecting arms munitions subsistance etc abandoned by the enemy...Also on this day Beauregard's Special Orders No. 146 advances his army into the Centerville area:1st Brigade Brig Genl M.L. Bonham at Centerville. 2nd Brigade Brig Genl Ewell at or about Union Mills in advance. 3rd Brigade Genl D.R. Jones at a position on Union and Centerville Road about half way between Braddock's Road and Union Mills ford. 4th Brigade Brig Genl Longstreet at or about the crossing of the Centerville and Union Mill road and the Braddock road. 5th Brigade Genl co*cke at or about suspension bridge over Cub Run. 6th Brigade Col Early in a position on Bull Run one mile above Stone Bridge. Evans command at or about Stone Bridge except Hunter's Regt Va Vols which will remain at these Hd Qrs for present...On July 24 1861 Beauregard orders Captain E.P. Alexander to choose from the captured Union artillery 1 large rifled gun two 6 pounder rifled guns and two 12 pounder rifled guns with proper caissons mobile forge and battery wagon and send them to Brigadier General T. H. Holmes.On July 29 in order to absorb the huge numbers of new soldiers Beauregard reorganizes the Army of the Potomac into 8 brigades of 4 regiments each plus artillery and cavalry.The last entry is a request for a Court of Inquiry by Captain F.B. Schaeffer Virginia Volunteers to examine into certain imputations and allegations made against his conduct as a soldier on the 21st July 1861..." ?Schaeffer was rumored to have in a panic ordered his men three times to retreat during the battle.1st Regiment Virginia Infantry (Williams Rifles) ??? ????1st Infantry Regiment completed its organization at Richmond Virginia in May 1861. At the outbreak of the war it had ten companies but in April three were detached. Thus the unit contained seven companies from Richmond and in mid-July a company from Washington D.C. was added. It fought at First Manassas under General Longstreet and in August totaled 570 men. During April 1862 when the regiment was reorganized it contained only six companies. The 1st was assigned to A.P. Hill's Kemper's and W.R. Terry's Brigade Army of Northern Virginia. It was active from Williamsburg to Gettysburg except when it was with Longstreet at Suffolk. Later the unit was involved in the capture of Plymouth the conflicts at Drewry's Bluff and Cold Harbor the Petersburg siege south and north of the James River and the Appomattox Campaign. This regiment lost twenty-two percent of the 140 engaged at Second Manassas had 9 wounded at Fredericksburg and had more than half of the 209 at Gettysburg disabled. Its casualties were 12 killed and 25 wounded at Drewry's Bluff 1 killed and 77 wounded at Five Forks and 40 captured at Sayler's Creek. Only 17 surrendered on April 9 1865. The field officers were Colonels Patrick T. Moore F.G. Skinner and Lewis B. Williams; Lieutenant Colonels William H. Fry and Frank H. Langley; and Majors John Dooley William P. Mumford George F. Norton and William H. Palmer.?(National Park Service Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System) Condition: Front cover detached some leaves clipped or loose.
Samuel Lawrence Early New York Representative & the Lawrence Family Manuscript Archive An extensive archive of approximately 67 documents of the noted Lawrence family of New York spanning the years 1799 to 1908. Dealing primarily with Congressman Samuel Lawrence (1773-1837) but also concerning among other things the sea trade of Samuel??Ts uncle captain Andrew Lawrence from 1799 to 1801 on the brigs America Fair Columbian and Anna Elizabeth. The nautical items include the 1799 sworn testimony of Captain Andrew Lawrence of his witnessing the grounding of the ship Grand Turk in a nighttime gale on the reefs off Mango Key and his rescue of the captain and crew; entry papers for the brig America for the ports of Guadeloupe and Kingston Jamaica; several documents concerning the wine trade in Spain including a May 1800 contract with a Spanish wine merchant for a cargo of red wine (paying in silver reals); and an employment contract for a crew for the brig America??Ts voyage to Spain and back stopping in Madeira. Other sea-related items are a September 1813 letter to Samuel describing the American privateers Scourge and Rattlesnake preying on British shipping around Norway in the War of 1812 and a December 3 1822 issue of the National Intelligencer featuring a front page account of the USS Alligator single-handedly tackling a pirate squadron off the coast of Cuba and rescuing five captured American ships and their crews. Many letters in this archive revolve around the lengthy fight starting in 1816 between the Lawrences and the local government concerning the seizure of part of their land in Greenwich to lengthen 8th Avenue. These letters include hand-drawn plats of the area in question. Other letters from 1815 concern the scarcity of goods for the Lawrences??T businesses in upper New York state caused by the embargo in the War of 1812 but also the explosion in population of the area. Another interesting set of documents are the original contract including floor plans for the construction of the mansion known as the Lawrence Homestead and now known as the Fontainebleau Inn on Lake Cayuta in what was then Tioga County New York. Perhaps the most interesting business-related document is an 1824 award of $18 920.52 to Lawrence for a spoliation claim against the government of Spain under the terms of the Adam-Oniz Treaty. This may be from seizures of ships and/or cargoes during the war of 1812 since the Lawrences were involved in the Spanish wine trade. Several documents relate to the disposition of the estate of Jonathan Lawrence Samuel??Ts father. In addition to inventories of the estate there is an 1817 contract signed by the other heirs selling their partial claims to the slave Thomas Henry to Samuel signed and sealed by John Albert Joseph and William Lawrence. There is also a certified copy of the 1875 will of Samuel Richardson uncle to Samuel Lawrence??Ts son also named Samuel. State political items include the November 9 1816 appointment of Samuel as a Presidential elector for New York signed by Governor Daniel D. Tompkins; and a November 10 1820 letter from Richard Riker Recorder of New York City and a relative of Lawrence??Ts mother thanking Lawrence for ending the evils which have marked the Clinton administration (curious for the fact that in 1802 Riker was Clinton??Ts second in a duel stemming from the Hamilton/Burr duel). Documents from Lawrence??Ts career as Congressman include three printed dinner invitations from Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and his wife for balls in Washington DC given on January 8 18 and February 19 1824; a January 6 1824 letter from Lawrence to his wife from Washington DC on the difficulty in getting a Congressional caucus assembled to nominate a candidate for President (William H. Crawford would eventually get the nod for the contentious 1824 election); and a December 23 1823 ALS from John McLean as Postmaster General regarding the establishment of a new post office in Lawrence??Ts home district. A copy of the Statesman newspaper of New York City dated July 16 1824 contains a long article about the heated public disagreements between the President (Monroe) and his Secretary of State (John Q. Adams). There are several private letters from Samuel to his wife both from Albany as an Assemblyman of New York and as Congressman many with free franks. One letter warns his wife that their son has run away from his grandfather??Ts house due to being punished for habitual truancy and is on his way home. Other personal papers include a December 19 1835 New York City letter from Jonathan Lawrence to Samuel regarding the Great Fire of New York and the losses sustained by the family; and a large May 20 1858 passport document for Jonathan S. Lawrence to travel in the Empire of Austria signed by US consul in Trieste William A. Buffum. Dr G.H. Butler married the granddaughter of Samuel Lawrence Henrietta who was the last Lawrence blood relative to live in the mansion on Cayuta Lake. Butler papers include two 1869 letters of recommendation from Civil War commanders regarding his medical skill an 1886 ANS from Dublin Castle by John Bernard Burke of Burke??Ts Peerage and a manuscript treatment on the Arms of the Butler family also signed by Burke as Ulster King of Arms. Another genealogical document is a Lawrence family tree starting with an ancestor who was a Crusader at Acre in 1191 and ending at 1838. Associated items include two partial letters one apparently dated February 22 1603 and bearing the signature of Thomas Sackville Lord Buckhurst; and the other a partial document thought to date from around the same time and contain the names of early settlers of Nantucket including Thomas Coffin. There are three Albert Gallatin-related items: a printed 1806 policy letter to Congress regarding the public lands in the Indiana Territory a lithograph and an August 1802 ALS as Secretary of the Treasury with integrated free frank. Another curious piece is a recipe for the mass curing of hams (10 hams of about 6# each) annotated on reverse as being from Governor John Jay of New York! The last item is a blistering two-page letter written on election day in 1908 by William McKay excoriating the despotic rule of Theodore Roosevelt.
Ambrotypes of Confederate brothers Simeon and Thomas Asbury mid 19th century consisting of: cased portrait of Private Thomas Wesley Asbury and Private Simeon Asbury in Confederate uniforms H3 5/8'' W3 1/4''; portrait of Simeon Asbury with black jacket and bowtie H3 5/8'' W3 1/4''; portrait of Thomas W. Asbury with black jacket and bowtie H3'' W2 1/2''; another portrait of Thomas W. Asbury with black jacket and tie H3 3/4'' W3 1/4''; portrait of Thomas W. Asbury with top hat H2 7/8'' W2 1/2''; together with: two portraits of John Hammond Jr. in formal attire with bowtie one cased H6'' W4 3/4'' and H3 3/4'' W3 1/8'' (7pcs) Provenance: From the collection of May Asbury and Mary and Alling Jones. Literature: An ambrotype of the Asbury brothers was featured on the cover of TIMES THAT PROVE PEOPLE'S PRINCIPLES-CIVIL WAR IN GEORGIA. ed. Mills Lane. Savannah GA: The Beehive Press 1993. See lot 928. Other Notes: Thomas Wesley Asbury (1841-1919) and Simeon Asbury (d.1864) both served as Privates in the 8th Georgia Infantry Company E and enlisted on the 14th of May 1861. Simeon Asbury was killed on 28th of June 1864 at the Seven Days Fight in Richmond Virginia. Thomas was later promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Infantry Cavalry Regiment of Georgia Company C. John Hammond Jr. was the grandson of Abner Hammond and the nephew of LeRoy Hammond originally from Farnham Parish Virginia who were both Revolutionary War heroes imprisoned in Havana Cuba. After the war they moved to South Carolina. John was the brother of Frances Martha Hammond Hollinshead mother of Sallie Clarke Hollinshead Asbury who was the wife of Darden Asbury and son of Thomas Wesley Asbury.
A Fine Civil War Regimental Presentation Coin Silver Pitcher c. 1861 Bigelow Brothers & Kennard Boston wc. 1845-1863 engraved with vignettes of war camps the tents marked "Co. B" and "N.E.G."; the large void cartouche flanked by soldiers in dress and fighting uniforms above an eagle with banner marked "Our Nation's Honor The Bond of Union" over a "B" height 12 in. weight 30.35 troy ozs. Note: "In 1861 the New England Guard a Boston military organization was nearing its half-century mark. Organized in 1812 for almost fifty years it had been one of the best drilled companies in the Commonwealth. From the beginning its personnel consisted of the very finest afforded by the foremost city in New England; men who were capable of appreciating and if need be exemplifying its motto viz.: "Our Nation's Honor the Bond of Union." When 1861 began the Guards under the command of Captain Harrison Ritchie constituted Company B of the Second Battalion of Infantry. In those days military spirit ran high for the war between North and South seemed imminent." Reference: Alfred Seeley Roe The Twenty-Fourth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers 1861-1866 New England Guard Regiment 1907 Worcester MA pg. 9.
Confederate Captain Charles L. Minor 2nd Virginia Cavalry CDV Full length portrait by an anonymous photographer gold tinted inked Capt Chas. L. Minor / P.C.S.A. / May 1st 64.? Charles L.C. Minor (1835-1903)? began his Civil War service with enlistment in Second Virginia Cavalry (Mumford's) in 1861 in which he served as a private at Manassas in the Valley Campaign under Stonewall Jackson and in the battles around Richmond.?? He was promoted by competitive examination to Second Lieutenant ca 1862-63 and was serving as aide-de-camp to General Albert G. Jenkins when the General/Congressman was killed at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain May 9 1864.? General Sam Jones then claimed Minor and made him a captain in charge of ordnance at Charleston South Carolina from whence he was promoted further and saw his most significant service late in the war as the executive officer at the Richmond Arsenal under General Gorgas.? After the war Charles Minor served as president of what is now the University of Maryland and then became the founding president of what is now Virginia Tech although he was removed from office after eight years for getting into a fist fight with mathematics professor and former Confederate general James Henry Lane.
Private Cornelius Van Houten 1st New Jersey Light Artillery Civil War Archive 8 letters. Bearing a good old-New Jersey name just twenty years old and newly married when the war broke out Cornelius Van Houten enlisted in Battery B of the 1st New Jersey Artillery in September 1861 serving through the end of the conflict. As part of the Army of the Potomac Van Houten??Ts Battery saw action in 26 battles including nearly all the major affairs from the Peninsula through Appomattox. Although not numerous Van Houten??Ts letters are evocative reminders of how an average soldier progressed from raw recruit to old soldier learning ?the trade? by hard experience from learning how to cope with death and danger to staying healthy by keeping beds off the ground. More than most soldiers Van Houten seems to have been able to observe the worst of war and maintain perspective. In a characteristic letter written from the battlefield (possibly Seven Pines) June 13 1862 Van Houten described the carnage in clinical terms: I wish you would see this Battlefield there where so many men killed that we could not bury them all. Some we throwed a little dirt over and those who laid in piles we laid brush on and burned them some are not burned or buryed they lie out full of worms like a lot of dead horses.... Showing that he had a mind for the larger strategies at play he described the situation they faced near Washington DC on Oct. 3 1864 equally coolly: There is a break out in our front so we cannot lye down and know we will have a good nights rest but we have to sleep like the Rabbits with one eye open for our fort is only a few yards from the Picket lines and we have to jump at the first shpt. All the army is either on the left or right and we are about in the center. Our line is consequently very thin. There has been some very hard fighting for the last few days. First Genl Grant caught Mr Lee on his left flank and almost entered Richmond and before Lee know were he was Grant had him by the right. I think Lee has just as much as he wants to do now for Genl. Grant does not publish his movements a month or two ahead... The collection includes three letters regarding a promotion for Van Houten including a nice recommendation for promotion to Lieutenant from former Lieutenant George Woodberry Aug. 27 1863 citing Van Houten??Ts admirable service on the Peninsula and along the Rappahannock. A highly literate observant and fervent soldier. Characteristic wear and tear.
Giuseppe Garibaldi Rare Autographed CDV Albumen CDV of Garibaldi featuring facsimile signature and imprinted caption Photographed On Board H.M.S. "Hannibal" At The Capitulation Of Palermo in the recto margin and backmark of the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Co.? Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) was the Italian national hero known for leading outnumbered military forces to upset victories in the fight for a Italian unification.? He also contributed his military leadership to conflicts in South America and was offered a command by President Lincoln at the outbreak of the American Civil War but declined as Lincoln had not yet formally declared the war as a war of emancipation. From an album that belonged to Judge Alfred Crovatt of Georgia the father of Mary Crovatt Hambidge founder of the Hambidge Center for Arts & Sciences. Condition: Very good.
CONFEDERATE FLAG FRAGMENT These silken colors of the battle flag of the Confederacy have been fashioned by a Virginial girl whose father, before she was born, was wounded while fighting under them. Yet she, with consistent Patriotism, cheered three of her brothers when they recently went to Cuba with General Fitzhugh Lee in the Volunteer Army of the United States in the war with Spain. Miss. Juliah Mann of Petersburg, Virginia, through a friend who knows and admires him, pre sents these colors with her compliments of Colonel N.P. Pond of Rochester, NY – A Gentleman whose courtliness, in time of peace, must be the reflex of his gallantry in war. Petersburg, Virginia. November 17th, 1899. A piece of the first rebel flag captured in the last Civil War.The flag was taken from the roof of a Hotel in Alexandria, May 24th, 1861 by Col. Ellsworth.Coming out of the hotel with the flag, the bearer was shot dead by the landlord, who in turn, was killed by Ellsworth’s soldiers.One of these soldiers was Mr. Frank Brownell. Mr. Brownell gave a part of the historic flag to a Mr. Millard, whose son in turn gave a piece to Mr. Sam’l Mc Auliffe, who gave this piece to N. P. Pond in Nov. 1899.
TWO LETTERS PENNED AS THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR SEEMED INEVITABLE Both by Sam Nesmith to "Brother Robert," the first, 4to (9 in.), 4pp., Charlestown, (MA or NH), May 29, 1860, contains a self-composed "campaign song" reading in part: "... Old honest Abe we will elect/ the rights of all he will respect / The North and South, the East and West / Till all will praise and call him best..., plus a second letter, 4to (9 in.), also "Charlestown," January 3, 1861, states, We are on the very verge of war, there is no mistaking the time - the rebels and disunionists have been taught to believe that the power of the government would not be used against them, but their eyes will soon be opened. The President (Buchanan) has at last got his back bone up...I hope the President will do his duty...but I don't want any fighting, it will only make the trouble ten times worse. There's no trade now between the north and the south and if there is war it will be a sorry day for all parties concerned...I think the 7th regiment of NY could march there and take the state of S.C alone and unaided..."
3PC. VINTAGE/ANTIQUE BLADE LOT: Camillus Folding Airman Bowie Knife/Machete, Civil War era wood-handled fighting knife with illegible inscription, fighting axe that appears to be of considerable age. Sold as is.
Texas & New Mexico Military Correspondence of Jonas P. Holliday Lot of 3 ALsS. 1850-1857.Appointed to West Point from New York Jonas P. Holliday graduated 24th in the class of 1850 and remained in the military service for life. As a young officer in the 2nd Dragoons he was stationed initially on the Texas and New Mexico frontier and then after a lengthy sick leave he served at Fort Leavenworth Kansas the Utah Expedition of 1857 and in the Dakota Territory. His later career however was marked by tragedy. As the Civil War began Holliday was commissioned as Colonel of the 1st Vermont Cavalry and rushed into service well before he felt they were ready. Holliday fell apart. Being naturally of a nervous temperament and not very robust according to a newspaper account and troubled by fighting his southern countrymen he shot himself through the forehead in April 1862 while standing on the banks of the Shenandoah River. He had served with his regiment less than a month.This small collection of three letters reveals a great deal about a recent West Point graduate and young officer on his first assignment. The first surviving letter dated at Albuquerque Dec. 24 1850 appears also to be the first written home after traveling west. Holliday explains that mail arrives only once per month and departs for the U. States just as seldom. He offers a classic of early western travel: I was sixty days crossing the plains which would have taken us only forty but for an ox train we had to escort. We stopped at Las Vegas a week; one of the first settlements we come to & about seventy five miles from Santa F? to make the division of recruits & Horses our command being merely a detachment destined to recruit the Dragoon Arm stationed in this Territory... In the city of Santa Fe I saw but one building of wood & that a rather poor affair the buildings have a singular plan but one very well suited to the usages of the country [Holliday sketches a floorplan!]. The Mexicans are nearly all thieves... The people of New Mexico are generally small -- dirty -- lazy -- & worthless! Some however have become considerably Americanized in their dress manners & customs. I have not seen one yet who can speak English with any degree of fluency from which or rather because I am unable to speak or understand Spanish I been in some ridiculous positions. But I am learning. Some of the women are pretty but is not at all common however to see such. The Mexicans are all very fond of Dancing & music; their fiddlers play with an enthusiasm equaled only by that of the Negro. They give Bailes or (Balls) the manner in which the invitation is given I think quite original. The musicians who are engaged for the ball go through the streets playing a regular break-down usually followed by a gang of urchins half clad or with not clothing whatever showing their love for music by their grotesque antics & horrible nasal-twang accompaniments...?Datelined at Fort Worth Texas Sept. 15 1853 Holliday's second letter describes the general movement of troops in Texas to the Rio Grande in anticipation of Mexican troubles whether it will all turn out a false alarm or not I am unable to say.. So far as I am concerned I would rather see a little gunpowder burned than not just to see whether I could stand fire. I have heard there will be one or two new regiments formed this winter... He also discusses his efforts to gain political support for a promotion in one of the new regiments if formed being nearly alone on base and hunting on a grand scale.We had some very cold and stormy weather a number of men were frost bitten and our Horses and mules died from cold & starvation so fast that we had to abandon wagons & saddles in the road. In my company I lost about thirty horses between Laramie and this place.... No Mormons have been seen since the Dragoons came into the country. They seem to have a very wholesome fear of Dragoons. Some of the Valleys here were cultivated by the Mormons last summer but everything was laid waste before our arrival... Some think the Mormons will resist others myself among the number think that Brigham Young will run away before spring and that the Mormons will be very glad to submit to terms. I have hopes of being ordered back as soon as this Mormon war is ended. Much more.Though addressed to his relatives at home it seems likely that the letters were intended for publication in a newspaper -- one is docketed on the verso please return these letters after publication -- however if they were actually published or where has not been determined.A wonderful collection documenting the brief career and too-short life of a tragic West Point graduate. Condition: Good condition with only minor wear and signs of age.
Sergeant R. Ross Wallace 74th Ohio Infantry Civil War Diary Pocket diary Feb. 1-Sept. 2 1864. A typical hard-bitten western regiment the 74th Ohio Infantry was organized in February 1862 and within twenty months could say they saw the elephant at Stones River Chickamauga Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge. Even after all this Ross Wallace a Sergeant in the regiment agreed to reenlist for the duration and in May 1864 after a brief furlough home he returned just in time for the endless combat of the Atlanta Campaign. Although it covers barely more than six months Wallace??Ts diary is an outstanding record of one soldier??Ts experiences during that momentous campaign with entries relating to Buzzard??Ts Roost Resaca Mill Springs Gap Pumpkin Vine Creek (Dallas New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills) Pickets Mills Marietta and Kennesaw Ruffs Station Atlanta Siege and Utoy Creek. After the close of the diary Wallace soldiered on taking part in the March to the Sea and March through the Carolinas and he and his comrades became only the third regiment to enter Richmond after the fall in 1865. An intelligent writer Wallace was more aware of tactical issues than many enlisted men and he provides cool dispassionate accounts of the steady battle that confronted the 74th as this description of Buzzards Roost and Rocky Face Ridge: May 8 Changed line of battle on left Battalion about 8 A.M. and advanced the line to the top of the ridge in the woods where we lay in line until about 4 P.M. and again advanced our line over to the main works on our front and bivouacked for the night in line of battle. Has been some skirmishing... [May 9] the right being unable to ascend the precipitous rocks of the extreme point of the mountain we were compelled to halt on the crest of the mountains to our front where we were in open view and under a galling enfilading fire from the enemies batteries on the cliff of rocks just to our right and within short range of us. While we held the line quite a number of the Regt were wounded and two or three killed... Much more detail and detailed and highly active account of a regiment in the heart of Sherman??Ts forces during the campaign. Similarly his account of Allatoona: About 4 PM we are thrown rapidly into line in rear and support of the 78th Penn. There is a charge made on the enemies works which is unsuccessful except to [illeg.] their positions. We hold our lines against two or three charges made by them but from the form of their lines we are too much advanced and subjected to a heavy enfilading fire both from their infantry & artillery. We hold our lines until after dark when they make another assault upon us but are repulsed with heavy loss. The 78 Penn & 37th Ind being in the front of our Brig. lost pretty heavily in killed & wounded we being on the reserve line loose no men though the shells & balls are flying over us rapidly for several hours.... Constant action shelling and firing artillery duels enfilading fire and advancing through mid-August. At the end of the diary are transcriptions of several letters sent home by Wallace and an excellent letter from Wallace to his father written from the battlefield near Kennesaw Mountain June 27 1864 during an apparent lull in the fighting: whether I shall be permitted to finish it [the letter] or not depends on the mere probability that the Rebbles will keep their batteries on our front quiet enough for me to write a letter. He describes the scene We have pushed out lines as near as practicable to the enemies main works: here we have thrown up works within short artillery range and as usual in such cases keep up an almost constant firing... Describes the double pincer strategy used by Sherman to dislodge Johnston from his defenses the long but surprisingly intact lines of supply that connect the 74th to Ohio. Also laid into diary is an assortment of period pieces: two partially-printed receipts for the loan of money by Thomas Oldham Sutler to the 122nd Ohio to soldiers 1862 (glue staining and erosion); an advertising card for the John O. Neill (late Captain 17th USCI) who identified as a Solicitor of Military Claims Nashville; an advertising card for Fay Neereamer and Wheeler Soldiers??T Claim Agency Columbus Ohio; and two railroad passes for Wallace to travel from Chattanooga to Bridgeport Ala. (Sept. 20 1864) and from Nashville to Atlanta (Oct. 5 1864). A superb well written diary with constant action and a wider perspective on the war. Some wear to the leather cover and loose fascicles and pages but apparently complete as is.
(8) CIVIL WAR SOLDIER'S LETTERS, GOOD CONTENTCollection of documents from the Wheeler family of Brown County, Indiana, including eight letters from Elihu Wheeler dated from 1862 to 1865, a few recounting action. Condition varies, generally good, with a couple of tears, losses and toning, as is typical. One letter, dated 1863, reads [sic]: "...we have been in a fight at Chatnuga we whiped the rebles we had one kiled and four wounded in our company, the rebs retreated ... we had some hard times scarce of rations ...had to forage for all we had to eat for seventeen days, we have no tents to sleep in..." Lot includes family photos and other (post-war) documents. shipping info This item will need to be shipped by a packing company of your choice. We maintain a list of reliable shippers, or you may choose your own.
