Beschreibung:

Mixed lot of 35 items related to the Civil War. [1] A spirited ALS from a young man to his cousin discussing the war and the patriotic cover the cousin sent. John Whipple P. King wrote, I like your envelope very well all but the Rebel flag it makes me think too much of Jeff Davis it fairly makes my blood boil to think of him. I would like to shote at him once I peper his sides for him It would take him quite a while to pick the lead out of his side…. I do not think it is right to fight so but Jeff commenced it and now we will end it (Richmond, Maine, February 12, 1862). [2] Colonel William M. McArthur ALS to his Father after being wounded at Petersburg, Jun 23, 1864. Major William M. McArthur studied law before firing weapons at the front. He enlisted in the army on September 7, 1861 and commissioned as a captain in the 8th Maine Infantry. He fought bravely and earned a promotion to lieutenant colonel. Witnessing the action, he did not have a high opinion of the press. The newspapers lie awfully, he wrote. They don’t seem to give our regiment much credit, or even mention. All correspondents are in the pay of officers to “write them up.” His life and career were almost cut short after the enemy delivered a near fatal bullet at the Battle of Petersburg. From his hospital bed at Chesapeake Hospital, he wrote his father, Wounded was I Saturday started to Point of Rocks on Sunday to come hither on Monday…I write to say that my wound they tell me is doing nicely…[I] have under the surgeons advice concluded that my wound will heal quicker by keeping quiet…my wound is not dangerous although severe on account of its locality (Fortress Monroe, Virginia, June 23, 1864). The wound was not enough to keep him from service or succeeding. He returned to the front and received several promotions, reaching the rank of brigadier general by brevet on March 13, 1865. He mustered out of service on January 18, 1866. Throughout his service he fought at Port Royal, Cold Harbor, Fair Oaks, Petersburg, and Appomattox Court House. [3] ALS from Palmer Swan to Cousin Camp Near Buells(?) Point, VA, January 26, 1863. Nineteen-year-old Palmer Swan saw hard times during his service. I have been through 8 battles and have never been wounded yet, he wrote to his cousin, My health has been tolerable good so much so that I have never been obliged to go to the hospital (Camp Near Buells(?) Point, VA, January 26, 1863). He enlisted in the army on September 24, 1861 as a private. A few weeks later he mustered into the 76th New York Infantry Co. B. By the time of his letter he fought at Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. While he managed to avoid bullets on the battlefield more at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, his health plummeted in the late summer of 1863 and cost him his life. [4] Hand-written 18 p. report concerning a battle fought near Benton County, Arkansas before March 10, 1862, written in great detail by the Colonel Commanding of the 4th Division. Other items in the lot include: 6 pamphlets: Soldiers and Sailors Almanac for 1869, and History of the Late Rebellion, ca. 1869; two related to Elmer E. Ellsworth, ca. 1925 and 1937; A List of Soldiers Buried at Andersonville, ca. 1890; 1860 Report of the Secretary of War; and Independence of the South. Speech of Hon. Roger A. Pryor, of Virginia on the Resolutions Reported by the Committee of Thirty-Three, ca. 1861. 24 miscellaneous documents: a large Drake De Cay signature with the phrase, Conservatism now means treason or cowardice; General Order No. 171 containing a court martial for an officer who slurred the president; 2 receipts from Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon in Philadelphia, one addressed to Aunt Salley, presumably a free African American woman or runaway slave; General Order No. 27 from the Navy Department dated January 4, 1864; a ledger book from November 1864 until March 1864 for the 46th New York Infantry that appears to keep the company's checks given to its members;