144th New York Infantry Letter

"I have not heard from James nor Gilbert since I last wrote to you for it is about sixty five miles from here to Charleston and we don’t have to go there since [General Joseph E.] Johnston surrendered. There is a great many Union prisoners here from Rebeldom to go to their homes in the North and some have been prisoners a long time and won’t there be joy for a son and husband when they get home. It is estimated that about fifty thousand have been sent North from here in the last two months and still they are coming in every few days."...  

144th New York Infantry Letter

"General Sherman has come through here so that the Confederacy is cut in two now and both army’s will be together in a few days for they are only forty five miles apart now and Savannah is between them with all the railroads in our hands and the place must fall soon and then Charleston will come next and Sherman is the man to drive the Rebs to their holes and whip them too before the war will end. There is a report here that Savannah is ours and if it is not it will be in a few days for Sherman is on all sides of it and our men are between there...  

144th New York Infantry Letter

"Try to get along as well as you can this winter for I think the war is almost done, but it will take some time to get around, but the fighting is about done. The deserters that come in now say it is and they come in by the hundreds every day with us, and more in other places. There was over a hundred come from Charleston last week."


4 pages, 5 x 8, in ink, written by Abram Bogart to his wife and children. Comes with the original envelope with C.D.S., Port Royal, S.C., Oct. 12/64. Addressed to Mrs. Abram Bogart, Masonville,...  

144th New York Infantry Letter

"hope that your lives may be spared until we all shall get home again to enjoy a season of rest from the tumults and trials of war, and see the star spangled banner wave over rebellious graves and the nation once more in peace with the world and give freedom to them that are in bondage, and liberty to the poor soldier that is worse than slavery in any form for they are treated worse than beasts...the officers won't give a pass unless they are a mind to and that's where they have us so you see that we are worse than slaves."

4...  

144th New York Infantry Letter

"I should like to have you see some of the slaves as they are on the plantations with all their notions for they have been made to believe that the Yankees have horns and tails and are great thieves and robbers and destroy everything where they go, and to see them roll their eyes when they see the Yankee soldiers come around the plantations, and the little ones hide..."

6 pages, 5 x 8, in ink, written by Abram Bogart, to his wife and children. Comes with the original envelope, addressed to [Mrs] Abram Bogart, Masonville, Delaware...  

144th New York Infantry Letter

4 pages, 5 x 8, in ink, written by Abram Bogart, to his wife, with the original envelope, C.D.S. Port Royal, SC, Jul. 25/64, with 3 cents George Washington postage stamp, addressed to Mrs. Abram Bogart, Masonville, Delaware Co., N.Y.

July 22/64, Hilton Head, S.C.

Dear Wife and Children,

Dear, it is with pleasure that I send a few lines to you to let you know that I am in the land of the living, and in good spirits yet, and hope you are the same though I don't hear from you in some time. There is not much news here at...  

Union Naval Surgeon's Letter from the U.S.S. Mackinaw

The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln

"I suppose the awful news of the murder of our beloved president created a great excitement in our little town..."

4 pages, 5 x 8, in ink, written by Surgeon Joseph Cottrell, U.S. Navy. Comes with the original envelope addressed to Miss Hallie K. My, Columbia, Lancaster County, Penna., with C.D.S., Old Point Comfort, Va., Apr. 24, postage stamp has been torn off.

U.S.S. Mackinaw, James River, Va., April 24th, 1865

My Dear Hallie,

As I was...  

5th Maine Infantry Letter

Written by Major Clark S. Edwards, future Colonel of the regiment

He commanded the 5th Maine Infantry during the battle of Gettysburg!

Promoted to Brevet Brigadier General for gallant conduct during the Civil War!

1862 eight page letter with original cover signed twice by Major Edwards with excellent content defending the Army of the Potomac and citing some of their recent battles!

"we had one hundred & fifty thousand men, the finest army the world ever saw, but where is it now. The remnants are here, but the largest...  

5th Maine Infantry Letter

Written by Captain Clark S. Edwards, future Colonel of the regiment

He commanded the 5th Maine Infantry during the battle of Gettysburg!

Promoted to Brevet Brigadier General for gallant conduct during the Civil War!

1861 letter with excellent references to the 1st Battle of Bull Run, Virginia

(1824-1903) Edwards was 37 years old when the news of the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter reached the small town of Bethel, Maine. He was high on a ladder shingling his roof and he immediately climbed down, obtained permission...  

2nd Rhode Island Infantry Letter

Written by a soldier who was killed in action at the battle of the Wilderness, Va., in May 1864

Excellent Gettysburg campaign letter as the 2nd Rhode Island is marching through Maryland on their way to join the fight at Gettysburg!

6 pages, 5 x 8, written by Henry T. Blanchard in a very neat pencil hand to his parents. Comes with cover addressed to Mr. Horace K. Blanchard, Prov., R.I., Care of L.D. Anthony & Co., with partial Washington, D.C. postmark, with stamp cut off.

Camp near Manchester, Md., July 1st,...