Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR]. WARD, DUDLEY H. 30 autograph letters signed ("Dudley H. Ward") to his father Colonel Thomas William Ward, and one to his brother James W. Ward written from various Confederate camps in the vicinity of Vicksburg, Mississippi and in Texas, 25 January 1863 - 14 September 1864; and an autograph letter signed from Lt. J. Atchison to Dudley Ward, Camp Lubbock, Houston, 16 November, 1863, one page, 4to . Together 32 letters comprising 115 pages, 12mo-small folio, most on white or blue lined stationery, most with recipient's docket, a few tears and small holes, occasional staining or browning, one letter with a 5-line passage deleted in acidic ink resulting in 3 holes and browning on verso ; [ with :] Printed document signed as above, countersigned by Captain George W. Goddard, Paroling Officer, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 7 July 1863, broadside, oblong 8vo, 157 x 202mm. (6 1/8 x 7 15/16 in.), printed on a half-sheet of lined stationery, accomplished in manuscript , a parole certificate, "I. Dudley H. Ward...being a Prisoner of War, in the hands of the United States Forces, in virtue of the capitulation of the City of Vicksburg and its garrison...do in pursuance of the terms of said capitulation, give this my solemn parole under oath--That I will not take up arms again against the United States, nor serve in any military, police, or constabulary force...held by the Confederate States of America, against the United States of America...until duly exchanged by the proper authorities". A FIRST-HAND CONFEDERATE ACCOUNT OF THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN As a private in the Second Regiment of the Texas infantry, Thomas Ward's son Dudley participated in the defence of the Mississippi at Vicksburg from his brigade's arrival at Fort Pemberton in early March 1863 until his capture by Union forces during the final siege in May. This series of letters to his father forms an unusually vivid and detailed record of the long resistance of the Confederate forces to Grant's determined onslaught, from the viewpoint of an ordinary soldier. The news of the war is put in context by the young man's careful descriptions of the lay of the land, the wildlife, the weather and state of the crops, and the local prices of common produce, and, in a different manner, by his increasing homesickness and reiterated pleas for news from home. Under the command of Col. Ashbel Smith ("one of the most unpopular colonels among his men in the Confederacy"), Ward's brigade had been assigned to Fort Pemberton in March 1863. After a temporary separation, he succeeded in joining them on 13 March "after a journey of thirty-eight days; and a very weary one it was, the communication having been entirely cut off between here and the other side of the Mississippi River...on account of gunboats being in the way" (14 March, 1863), arriving in the middle of a bombardment that would scarcely cease until the Confederates' final capitulation on July 4th: "...the Yankees have been bombarding us very heavily, and every minute while I write this you might hear, at fifty miles off, the report of the Artillery. There have been already about eighteen men wounded, some of which will certainly die. A good many of the wounds were occasioned by the explosion of a magazine caused by the bursting of a shell thrown by the enemy. There have been about three hundred shots today on both sides, some thrown by the Federals measured thirteen inches in diameter and weighed so much that the strongest of our men could scarcely lift them. These were only shells: solid shot of the same size would weigh according to the rule two hundred and ninety-four lbs...the enemy's force at this place amounts to twenty seven vessels in all, of which seven are iron clad gun-boats...". 7 April: "Since I last wrote you the enemy have twice attacked, and as many times been repulsed by us, which, as you must know, is a very unusual thing when they approach any point by water. Our position is only a tolerably good one...The For