Beschreibung:

Lot of 26 letters from various Union soldiers serving in varied regiments, writing from the Eastern Theater of the Civil War, 1861-1866. Includes letters referencing Petersburg, Antietam, Yorktown, Richmond, Washington, and Lincoln’s Funeral. August 4, 1861, Camp Hunter, [VA], with patriotic letterhead 2nd Lieutenant Fred A. Stowe, Co. B, 3rd Michigan Infantry, complains to his fiancee about politics within his company and laments that, “it is so dull here.” February 4, 1862, Alexandria, Camp Howard, Army of the Potomac Frank M. Thompson, Co. B, 3rd Maine Infantry, recounts skirmishing and an interesting account of a blockade runner, “There was a schooner went up by the blockade and they fired thirty guns at her and all the damages they doner her was they took her foremast out. But they boated to her and towed her bye. She was loaded with stuff for Washington. And then they have repaired her and she has run the blockade a number times since. They are so mad since the steamer went down they fire at everything that comes along.” March 18, 1862 James S. Sickles, Co. E, 9th New Jersey Infantry (“Jersey Muskrats”), provides gruesome battlefield reflections from his service in Burnside’s Expedition, “To see the doctors cut off the men’s legs and arms is enough to make a man sick of the bad smell.” March 18, 1862, Camp near Snickers Ferry W.C. Hoyte, Co. E, 12th Massachusetts Infantry, writes while marching through Virginia, making fun of the hereditary society First Families of Virginia,“I have been on a Union foot race for three weeks...Our boys have changed the First Family’s of V[irginians] to Fleet Footed V[irginians] and I think it is so for I have not seen one of them yet. But we shall follow them up until we get them in the Gulf of Mexico.” On a separate sheet, he transcribes a charming camp song which expresses the deep longing the men held for home. [ca March 20], 1862, Camp East of the Capitol, printed battlefield stationary Cpl. Charles E. Stone, Troop E, 1st Rhode Island Cavalry, early in his service recounts marching through Baltimore and the mixed reaction they received, “some cheered us and others looked ugly. There is a good many rebels here if they had dared to show it.” March 23, 1862, Fairfax Court House, printed patriotic stationary The first four pages from an unknown cavalry soldier who writes of troop movements, foraging, and going to see the fortifications at Manassas. April 9, 1862, Newbern, NC, printed patriotic stationary and unstamped cover Unidentified soldier from Rhode Island named George, he explains his deep hatred for the South, “Mother thinks I have lost all sympathy for the South. I plead guilty to the charge. If everyone in Bristol that sympathizes with the South had seen and heard the tales of suffering and abuses the poor farmer and women of Newbern and vicinity have had to put up with, you would all go in for butchering every officer of the Rebel army as fast as they are taken prisoners.” Context of the letter suggests the letter was written shortly after the Battle of New Bern during Burnside’s Expedition. May 11, 1862, On the way to Richmond 1st Lieut. George B. French, Co. C, 4th Vermont Infantry, gives his impressions from the Siege of Yorktown, “Warwick Creek & the charge of the Green Mountain Boys are themes which will not soon be forgotten & I am proud that I was among the number engaged.” He gives a thorough appraisal of the various generals involved, spending a lot of ink on William Farrar Smith vehemently defending him, “Gen. Smith is a man of talent from the highest branch of our military service & a man in whom, but for one thing, the officers & men under him place implicit confidence. And here comes the rub - we all know he is given somewhat to the flask. This is true. I will not attempt to conceal nor try to palliate the fact. But that on the 16th April he was drunk and thus pushed us into the snare, I do not believe. And indeed, I think I can prove to you beyond a doubt that suc