Bidspirit auction | Civil War Letters

Civil War Letters - 16 Civil War Letters And War Related Documents Of Captain Richard Carter, Company C, 2d Wisconsin Infantry, And Later 5th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, Dating From June 30th 1861 To Sept. 24th 1865. ALL CREDIT CARDS WILL BE MANUALLY VERIFIED PRIOR TO SHIPMENT. Earliest Letter, Dated June 30th, 1861 Relates To His Brother The Apprehension Felt By Union Troops In Passing Through Baltimore On ”Our Famous Night March Through The City” After The Recent Baltimore Riot, Or Pratt Street Riot. He Writes ”We Reached Baltimore About Dusk... My Hand Was Never Far From My Revolver And My Eyes Sure All Around Me As We Were Told In Every Place, Even In Baltimore That The Aristocracy Were Secessionists As Were Also The Police Force, But With The Exception Of A Few Little Girls, No Demonstration Hostile To Me Was Offered... Some Of Them Hollered Hurrahs For Jeff [Jefferson] Davis And Hissed Me.” Mentions Arrest Of George P. Kane, And A Conversation He Had With A Man Who ”Said He Voted For Old Abe, [Who] Said That On the 22nd Of April He Had To Call The Police To Defend His Shop Against The Mob.” Next Document Titled State Journal August 7th 1861, Describes Richard Carter And His Brother George B. Carter Running To The Aid Of A Man Named Stevenson In Bravely Refusing To Furl The Flag Following The Union Defeat At The First Battle Of Bull Run (First Manassas). Lot Includes The Papers Appointing Richard Carter As Quarter Master's Sergeant Of The 5th Wisconsin On March 21st 1862, Signed By Colonel Amasa Cobb. Letter Dated July 27th 1862, After The Failure Of The Union Peninsula Campaign, Sent From A Camp Near Hamson's Landing Va.” All is quiet above board. What is brewing just beneath the surface ready to force itself through some pressure to overwhelm us by its suddenness and force God only can know...This morning the Col. told me (confidentially) he expects a leave in a day or so to recruit his regiment... Clark says you are, immediately upon receipt of this letter, to go to Lancaster with your gun and Jessie and he will assist you to destroy some ammunition notwithstanding the law.” Two Letters Dated Aug. 30th 1862, Addressed To His Brother And Sister, Respectively, Following The Second Battle Of Bull Run (Second Manassas) In Which He Writes: ”The Army of the Potomac has again changed its base. Ordered from Harrison's Landing where we performed all th arduous duties of an army before an enemy during picket duty.... You will perceive I like the change. It transfers us to active scenes again... It points toward a policy I would like to have seen months ago. viz. the concentration of our forces. Hitherto our policies have been to divide our army to scatter it... We now have within striking distance The Army of Virginia, the Army of the Potomac, and the Army of the Mountains. A vast army not too large nor too soon massed. The Rebels have massed a powerful army in our front to prove their immense superiority in number it is only necessary to state that even after Burnside. The Corps of McClellan's army have joined him with some troops from the Mountains Department, he was compelled to fall back. the Rebels have held in the last week Manassas, Centreville, but they are now in our position as I have seen cars once lost brought in to day. Reports are rife of great victories on our side today, but I will hold opinion until truth can be obtained... Our Corps left here yesterday and morning and marched to Annandale... Firing did not cease until long after dark tonight- Should it open again in the morning I think our Corps will be within supporting distance... Boys from G.D.2nd report O'Connor killed in action, some companies badly cut up... Captain Bentley in Command, well when they left. I have faith in repulsing the Rebels at Menassas [and] forcing them to fall back. Should Pope do it alone. I hope he may... Bill, the war has lost it's charms. I am disgusted. Bickerings between Generals, appointments for political ends, the aristocracy caused by rank, made by pieces of parchment... Should I ever reach home I should be ashamed to acknowledge as an acquaintance one half of our officers... Sunday Aug. 31st- Raining. No cannonading heard this morning. I go to the front for orders. Rumor says Jackson has escaped...” Letter dated Oct. 1st 1862 Begins With Carter's Heated Complaints About His Commanding Ofiicers, Lamenting The ”almost idiots in position above [him]” and his present difficulties in being promoted to a higher position despite ”vacancies recurring daily in this Regiment.” He further writes ” You talk of the Maryland Campaign, its defeats and victories, and hardly know to which side of the ledger to place the debt. With you I was greatly surprised at the celerity with which our immense army was massed and handled. It reflected great credit on McClellan... The blow was sudden. It was Severe. You ask with asperity, and not without cause, 'Why was Harper's Ferry surrendered?' My Dear Brother...