Beschreibung:

Archive of detailed and literate letters from a sergeant in the 1st Rhode Island Light Infantry, covering numerous engagements, Southern and slave life on the Carolina Coast and his service alongside African-American troops.
V.p.: 24 December 1861 to 6 October 1864. 31 autograph letters signed (generally 205 x 125 mm). Written to his sister Emily Gallup, most letters with the original covers. Gallup, an educated and observant writer, gives his sister extensive accounts of his experiences as 1st sergeant in Battery F, 1st Rhode Island Light Infantry in the Civil War. The company saw conspicious action under Burnside in the April 1862 expedition to Hatteras Inlet and was part of the occupation of Roanoke Island and New Bern. While at the latter, Battery F participated in expeditions, including those to Little Washington, Trenton, Rawle’s Mill, Goldsboro and Blount’s Creek. Gallup also makes many comments in his letters about news of other engagements. On the Hatteras expedition: “ …all sorts of reports in the papers and but few of them hit the truth… it was the 4th R.I. Reg. that lost so many horses (about 80) the rest are with us.” In a 21 April letter from New Bern regarding their forays as cavalry: “ We live on horseback most of the time day and night. Another of our men was taken by the rebels 2 days ago. Nothing has been heard from him since. It is pretty dangerous business, but the men get whatever they please wherever they go: plenty of sweet potatoes, molasses, eggs, chickens, geese, pigs…” Also from New Bern he describes with astonishment the skill of African-Americans to carry heavy loads atop their heads: “ I saw one stout negro woman passing … with a very large iron dinner pot on her head; sometimes they will carry a wash-tub of water .” In December 1863 and the following month, Gallup gives a description of Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout: “ About 11,000 of them are confined here now … If you would like to see a specimen of Southern Chivalry in 1863 I wish you could look upon this rabble … They are in all kinds of clothes, grey, brown, black & butternut, hats and caps & some with neither …” On 12 February 1864, in the midst of a lengthy description of an aborted raid on Richmond, he comments on serving alongside African-American soldiers: “ Our battery was attached to a Brigade of Colored Troops; the 4th, 5th, & 6th U.S. Colored Troops with our Battery forming the Brigade. I have quite as much confidence in them for their fighting qualities as in any others who went with us. Such a thing would not have seemed possible.” Gallup’s descriptions of combat are particularly evocative: “ The opening canonade at 5 o’clock was awful. The sound of cannon was one continuous roar, and the air full of every kind of shell and shot. The smoke all settled on account of the fog, and both together made it almost as dark as night. It was impossible to see at a distance of twice the length of a horse. Taking advantage of this, the enemy charged upon our line…” a nice archive of correspondence, with extensive war-related content.