Beschreibung:

Large mixed lot of 1,000+ papers some completed, but most left blank, for the 11th Massachusetts Infantry and the 3rd Army Corps during the Civil War. The lot includes: 4 leather bound books recording the receipts for the 3rd Army Corps., 2nd Division 3rd Brigade; two formerly bound books containing general orders from 1863 and 1864. The first book contains 71 pp. of general orders as well as 21 miscellaneous documents, mostly completed, some of which will be explained later in the entry; the second book has 753 pp. of general orders as well as a separate 99 pp. index for the General Order of 1862; 68 blank requisition for forage papers and 11 blank monthly report of forage papers; 45 p. of mostly unfilled special requisition papers; and 24 additional papers which include an 1861 deed for land and at least four completed muster rolls for the 11th Massachusetts Infantry Co. G. The 11th Massachusetts had a hard service and participated in most of the major battles in the Civil War. Its first few months were relatively quiet until it made its battlefield debut at the Battle of Bull Run. It lost 88 men, 21 being killed or mortally wounded. There was some reprieve after the fight. It joined the famous Hooker Brigade, built forts, and served on picket duty near Washington, D.C. In the spring of 1862, it left the capital and participated in the siege of Yorktown as well as Hooker's Peninsular Campaign. It fought at Malvern Hill and was heavily engaged at Manassas, leading a famous assault on the railroad embankment. It toiled at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Appomattox. In total, 153 of the men either died in battle or were mortally wounded, 95 died of disease or accidents, and 11 officers perished in battle. Bedraggled and war-weary, the survivors returned to Massachusetts and mustered out at Camp Meigs at Readville on July 18, 1865. Specific papers of note include: [1] An ALS from Samuel C. Whittier while assistant surgeon of the 11th Massachusetts attesting that Lieut. Thomas H. Dunham was unfit for duty because he suffered from Rheumatism as well as wounds he earned at Chancellorsville. Superior officers denied his discharge request. Fresh out of Harvard Medical College, twenty-five-year-old Samuel Crook Whittier enlisted in the army as an assistant surgeon for the 11th Massachusetts Infantry on August 29, 1862. He attended to its wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run, Siege of Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Manassas, Second Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and Cold Harbor. A month after Cold Harbor, he was discharged for a promotion to surgeon and commissioned onto the field and staff of the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry. The 23rd experienced some action, but an epidemic of yellow fever took more lives than the Rebels. Whittier mustered out of service on June 25, 1865 at New Berne, North Carolina, but continued to practice medicine and surgery until his death in 1893. Thomas H. Dunham worked as a salesman for his father, a wealthy Boston entrepreneur, before he entered the army. Either Dunham's charisma or his father's position earned him an impressive series of promotions. He enlisted in the army as private, but was almost immediately promoted to corporal on June 13, 1861. He mustered into the 11th Massachusetts Infantry Co. F and fought bravely in many major battles. He was wounded at Chancellorsville and at the Battle of the Wilderness. Still suffering months after Chancellorsville, he requested to leave the army. He was most likely thankful he was not discharged because, over the next two years, he earned a total of six promotions. By June 11, 1865, he reached the rank of colonel, but mustered out of the army four days later. [2] 3 one page copies of letters or handwritten drafts of general orders from Major General J. P. Finklemeir and Colonel R. McCallister adhered to heavier paper. The corre