September 22, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/22/2011
War-date Union soldier's Autograph Letter Signed by Albert D. Perry, U.S. Signal Corp, 6pp. octavo, Allatoona Signal Station, Georgia, October 10, 1864, with cover, it reads in part: "...You will no doubt (ere you receive this) have heard of our bloody battle at this place which I have passed through in safety. Thank God for it, words cannot describe with what desperation the soldiers fought on both sides. But victory perched upon our banner & we repulsed them with awful loss, the enemy losing two to our one, at the last estimate....I will give you the full particulars just as the affair occurred on the ever miserable 5th Oct. 1864. The Battle of Allatoona. To begin with, Hood detached the main body of his army (after being whipped out of Atlanta) to come around in Sherman's rear & destroy our line of R.R., cut off our supplies & thus compel our army to evacuate this State. Now I will tell you how they have succeeded thus far. They came around & began to tear up our R.R. this side of Kennesaw Mt. burnt big [sic] Shanty & continued on towards this place, stopping enough at Acworth to capture 500 of our boys & burn the town which did not amount to anything & then started for this place with all sail set. Now you will see where our branch of the service becomes indispensable. they destroyed the wires & left us without telegraphic communication. Consequently, we had to go to work in good earnest & everybody says we saved Allatoona. The night before the battle, Sherman signaled from Kennesaw to us (13 miles) to have reinforcements come from Rome, Ga. about 18 miles above here, & they arrived here just 2 hours before the Rebs attacked us. They arrived at 12 & the attack began at two A.M. Had it not have been for them, we would now be on our way to Libby [Prison] sure. We skirmished until daylight & then the heavy fighting & charging began & such fighting. Never during the whole campaign have I seen such determined bravery displayed on both sides. The Johnnies were determined to get our supplies & we were determined they should not & our determination prevailed. Another joke on the Rebs was at the opening of the fight. The Confed Genl. French sent, under a flag of truce, an order to surrender stating that he had the garrison surrounded & in order to spare an unnecessary effusion of blood he wanted an immediate & unconditional surrender. Our Genl. Corse told him to being the effusion as soon as he liked, telling Mr. Reb he would whip h_ll out of him. Well, the ball opened, & such fighting. They did have us completely surrounded & thus we fought them all day, occasionally receiving a dispatch from Genl. Sherman to hold out, that he would try & send us more reinforcements. But none came. We all had muskets & fired away like Trojans. The rebs actually charged right up to our fort & took the colors belonging to the 37th Iowa Infantry. We could see the whites of their eyes, they came so close, but we beat them back time after time & finally caught up our flag & began to wave it & shout. That was too much for them, so they go up & dusted off after fighting us all day. Then began their retreat. We pressed them very hard & captured about 100 of them. They left all their dead & wounded on the field. Our loss is between 6 & 700, theirs between 16 & 1700. Our position was very good. They fell all around me. One artillery man fell right at my feet in the fort. A great many others were wounded right around me. But I was spared...Our Genl. Corse was wounded in the face & our post commander in the knee & most all of the officers were wounded or killed. The town is full of wounded Union & Rebels. Genl. Sherman arrived here yesterday & complimented us highly for our good fighting & said he knew his boys were good for them..." Fine condition.
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