Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR]. [ATLANTA CAMPAIGN, 1864]. RICKS, Augustus J. Union Officer, Brigadier General Milo S. Hascall's Staff . 17 Autograph letters signed to his wife Emma and his brother, various locations, 4 September 1862 to 9 August 1864. Together 54 pages, 4to and 8vo, some browning . [With:] A signed CDV of Ricks in civilian clothing, two printed general field orders signed by Ricks, Rick's copy of History of the 104th Regiment O.V.I. during the War of the Rebellion . Akron, Ohio: 1886. MARCHING WITH SHERMAN THROUGH GEORGIA: THE LETTERS OF A STAFF OFFICER A richly detailed, vivid account of the Atlanta Campaign written by a member of Brigadier General Milo S. Hascall's staff (2nd Division, XXIII Corps) during Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. Ricks enlisted as a 1st Lieutenant in the 104th Ohio Infantry in 1862. In 1864, he was placed on Hascall's staff. Highlights from the group include: 7 July 1863: "I hope John Morgan will take a speedy departure from Ky...[he] seems to have been pretty roughly handled...I expect exciting news from Meade's Army tonight. If Lee is only annihilated there is no possible hope for the Rebels."; 7 December 1863, Knoxville: describing the battlefield at Knoxville, "Forms, human once, mangled, torn, bloody, some living in agony others cold in death lay in numbers before me. The wounded begging to be carried to the fires, for it was bitter cold. The dying in their last convulsions."; 17 May 1864, "Battlefield near Resaca": "We had hard fighting in front of Resaca & defeated them...Our division was dumped down a precipice 15 ft into a creek & in five minutes lost 500 men"; 31 May 1864, "Near Dallas Ga": "The enemy has made three assaults on our works...These artillery duels after night are grand. Such pyrotechnic displays are not afforded many times during a life time...the dead scattered here and there all tend to fill you with horror...near are lying six poor fellows who have fired their last gun waiting for the picks & shovels to find them their resting places."; 8 June 1864, "Near Acworth Ga.": "Gen Sherman will give them battle now on the first favorable ground...the battle when it is fought will be a desperate one."; 27 June 1864, "in front of Marietta": "This has been another awful day...I never thought I should stand amid the realities of a battle field amid souls passing into eternity so quick in succession that the air was filled with the beating of their wings...How grand [war is] in some of its aspects how shocking in others."; 28 June 1864, "In front of Marietta": "Gen. Sherman you could see by his eyes was a harum-scarum lively boy...[he] is a nervous quick spoken man...Gen. Hooker is a handsome man of fluid complexion, light side whiskers, very tall and well-built...Gen. Sherman told him he ought to get married."; 16 July 1864, "Near Atlanta": "Gen. Hooker...felt that he was to be killed the day of the charge near Kennesaw."; 25 July 1864, "In Front of Atlanta": "I yet believe we will have Atlanta by the 1st of August...I confess things looked very disastrous. The noble [James Birdseye] McPherson was brought in. Gen Logan succeeded to the command in the midst of a battle...The Enemy were impetous in their assaults and succeeded for a time in breaking through our lines..." (21)