July 14th, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/14/2011
War-date Autograph Letter Signed, “D.M. Dunlap...26th Regiment N.C.V. Company H...” 4pp. quarto, ink & pencil, March 27, 1862, with fantastic content, in part: “...I suppose you have doubtless suffered your mind to be somewhat troubled...owing to some of the reports that was current just after the great Battle of Moore’s Brick yard, there was so many reports about the Battle and such alarming ones that it was enough to surprise you it was reported that Col. Vance’s Regiment was cut to pieces and the most of them killed & taken prisoners but thank God it was not the case or at least not all of the report, our losses was not a great deal but not as much as I expected on time of the retreats there was only two companies in our Regt. that suffered very much but those two sustained a very heavy loss. Capt. Rand from Wake & Capt. McMillan of Ash was the comp. that suffered mostly. Capt. Rand [WIA 3/14/62] is thought to have been killed and lost 44 men & one Lieut. , Capt. McMillan lost 21 men & was himself wounded in the arm. I don’t know exactly what was the loss of our Regt. but according to the best information we lost about 100 men or 125, our company lost 4 Capt. Martin was killed & Brock Lyson wounded & H. Ray & W. Whitlock not heard from. Capt. Martin was shot through the head the ball went in at the left temple and came out at his right ear. Lyson was shot in the thigh close to his body his thigh was broken but it is supposed the wound will kill him if not already, if he is a prisoner I expect he is dead. C.E. Jones was wounded in the head but escaped and got safe to Goldsborough & is now at home. This fight lasted 3 hours & 50 minutes and it was a hard fought battle. I am unable to give you a good description of the Battle, if we had not had been behind Breastworks a good many more of us would have been killed. The Yankees are well drilled and splendid marksmen and they have the very best of arms and the most of them or at least their leaders are brave men. When we were ordered to retreat the Yankees discharged their guns at us and the balls fell thick as hail around us. We had to retreat from the field of Battle to Kingston about 41 miles, tho we had to walk about 75 miles to get there...we had to swim & ford rivers & creeks all this time in our retreat. I had much rather fight 3 or 4 Battles than go through such another retreat - on this retreat I was taken sick and left behind a day and a half. The cause of my sickness was getting very hot & drinking a great deal of water and then walking through mud & water...” VG. The Battle of New Bern was fought on March 14, 1862, near the city of New Bern, North Carolina, as part of the Burnside Expedition of the American Civil War. The US Army's Coast Division, led by Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside and accompanied by armed vessels from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, were opposed by an undermanned and rather badly trained Confederate force of North Carolina soldiers and militia led by Brigadier General Lawrence O'B. Branch. Although the defenders fought behind breastworks that had been set up long before the time of the battle, their line had a weak spot in its center that was exploited by the attacking Federal soldiers. When the center of the line was penetrated, many of the militia broke, forcing a general retreat of the entire Confederate force. General Branch was unable to regain control of his troops until they had retreated to Kinston, more than 30 miles away. New Bern came under Federal control, and remained so for the rest of the war.
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