Raynor HCA 2013-07
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/18/2013
A very rare war-date Union general's battle letter concerning the role played by his troops in helping repulse the Confederate breakthrough at Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865, 4pp. 8vo., written by Brevet Brigadier General John C. Tidball, "Hd. Qrs. Arty. Brig., 9th Corps, April 3, 1865" addressed to Sally Satterlee the day after the evacuation of the Confederate capital of Richmond and the besieged city of Petersburg. Tidball, a brevet brigadier general on the field staff of the 4th New York Heavy Artillery, talks about a recent engagement: "We have had considerable fighting for the past week. Yesterday morning, at 4 o'clock a general assault was made along the whole line, and we broke through and drove the enemy at many points." Several days before, Tidball was at the Battle of Fort Stedman and gives his account: "...I got about thirty pieces of artillery to concentrate upon them...our infantry reoccupied it [Fort Stedman] without opposition. The cross fire in rear was so terrific as to deter them from going back to their own lines." Regarding the capture of Richmond, he says: "The great object for which we have been fighting so hard for the last four years has now been gained...and I suppose we may...begin to look for a speedy conclusion of the war." Six days after writing this letter, Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox with all other Confederate armies in the field following suit over the next eight weeks. Much, much detailed content. Overall near fine.
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