Raynors HCA 2015-02
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/19/2015
Nice war-date group of soldiers letters penned by George Morgan, 11th New Hampshire Infantry, who enlisted as a private in August of 1862 and eventually died of disease in July of 1864. While with his unit he saw action at Fredericksburg, the Siege of Vicksburg, Siege of Knoxville, the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. This group of forty-five (45) letters, are 164 pages, octavo, written from Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., all to family members, between May 12, 1862, and September 21, 1864. Two of the letters are penned by a brother and Charlews Woodward pertaining to the death of George while he was serving his country. They read in small part: “....[Lancaster, Ky, 5/12/1862] I suppose that we shall have to keep a marching and helling about all summer we probably should have much fighting to do as long as we stay in Ky. we are here to keep the rebels back if we get oof down in Tennessee we shall probably have to fight some...we are in a sick state and we dont get half enough to eat and what we do get aint fit for the devil to eat...I see some niggers planting tobacco the other they dont rais much tobacco in this state. I have seen the nigges a plowing with five or six two horse teams in one field one right behind the other. Some of them work oxen but they dont know how to drive them. I wish you could see their ox yoke I guess you would laugh...[11/14/62]yesterday I see a little shooting. The Rebels cavalry attacked some of our cavalry and pickett the other side of the river, they were where our battery could see them and so they put the shells int to them for about a half hour and then left. They took some of our men....there has been 5 or 6 died out of our regiment...we got in the rest for our regt had to go 2 miles to a little squirmish on double quick where we left that night the rebels were in there the next morning by day light....[11/27/62] three of our companies went off on picket duty we went over to the Rappahanock river we was posted right along on the side of the river right opposite of the city of Fredericksburg the river aint more than 10 or 15 rods wide. The rebels pickets were right along on the other side of the river but they did not trouble us nor we them. We could talk with them across the river but I did not say a word to them. ...they are going to put a pontoon bridge across and they say that we have got to go across into the city but I dont know when. Then we shall have to fight some they have been telling that they were a going to bombard thecity the next day ever since we have been here. The thing of it is they dont dare to fight they are afraid of the rebels. I expect this war will be settled up before long they are all getting tired of it and they dont want to fight any longer....[11/21/ 1862 Fredericksburg] The city is heldby the rebels. We come right along close to the city but they did not trouble us any. They say that Burnside has sent in a flag of truce giving them a s short time to surrender the icty. If they dont surrender I suppose that we shall have to fight a battle here before many days...there has eight or ten died out of our regiment but there will be alot of them die before spring if we stay out here...we aint allowed to steal anything on the road the rebels property is all guarded. The army aint allowed to destroy anything as they pass along...[12/16/62] I have not had a chance to send this letter out till now, I have been in one hard battle and come out without being hurt and I never want to go into another. They call it that there was seventeen out of our regt killed on the field and a large number wounded. Benjamin Nelson was killed the ball went threw his head. He was close to me when the ball hit him and George Silbrick was killed...Charles Pike was wounded in the face...You want to know how near I was to getting hit Icant tell you exactly but I guess that the bullets came nearer me than you would want them to come to you. There was one shell that throwed dirt and mud all overme . The damn things whistled pretty close to me sometimes while I come home I will tell you about it probably some that you wont hardly believe it, would made your hair stand on your head to have seen that battle. You wanted to know how near we were to the Rebels I should think it was about fifty rods to there entrenchments. I dont think that I killed any at any rate I hope that I did not. I dont think there was any rebels killed in that place to speak of. I dont blame the rebels for fighting. I would fight if I were in their place. Our army is a destroying and wasting their property but they will get sick of it after a while. [12/16/62] we went over to the city last Friday morning they bombarded the city thursday and drove the rebels out there was a lot went over before we went. We layed by the side of the river that day and night. There is a steep high bank along side of the river and we layed close down to the river so their shelsl went over us, but some of them struck into the river they killed one man that afternoon that belong to the 12th regt. Right to the end of the pontoon bridge we see the shell when it struck there was a regt a coming over the hill and the rebels throwed over and one struck right in among them and it layed out three...it is hard business to see them killed. We went up on to the street and there we see some half a dozen dead rebels. They said there was a lot more but I did not want to see them....they carried off our wounded that night and the dead lay there now. They dont dare go and bury them...the rebel sharp shooters fired at them...[12/19/62]our folks have been over to bury the dead they went over with a white flag the city was full of rebels and they had to go away out back of the city to get on to the battle field they wanted to have me go out of our company but I swore that I would not go anyway. I went a little ways with them and turn around and went back. Them that went said it was a horrible sight to see the dead bodies in that place. They dug ditches ten or fifteen rods long and throwed them right in two or three deep and they said that some of them want covered more than six inches deep and they were robed of everything they had. Some of them was stripped naked. When I came off the fied it was after dark and I went right by lots of dead bodies and if I have had courage I could have got any quantity of stuff out of their pockets and the almost all had some money but I would not have put my hand in one of their pockets I knew that I could get a hundred dollars. They wont get me to touch a dead soldier if I can help it. Ben Nelson they said had thirty dollars in his pocket and they stole that. The Rebels got a lot of stuff there....[3/19/63 Newport News] There is a large man of war lays here in the river and several gunboats. The monitor dont lay but a little ways out from the wharf. It looks like an old raft it aint but a foot and a half above the water. There aint no guns to be seen nor anything else hardly there is lots of steam boats on the river all of the time....[3/23/1863]there has been hard fighting here on the water, the rebels sunk one of our big vessels a man of war the Old Cumberland it is sunk right here not but a few rods from the wharf the top of the mast are sticking up out of the water...there is a lot of niggers live a mile or two from where we are. The wenchescome in every day gets clothes to was they will wash shirts for five cents a piece. I let them wash mine once and the old black bitch washed them clean....[August 1, 1863, Mississippi]after the surrender of Vicksburg we started after old Johnston his army was out the other side of the Big Black...we did not see anything of the rebels until we got to Jackson and that is about fifty miles from the landing when we got to Jackson they had the rebels drove into their breast works but some sharpshooters the first day that we went uup we supported our skirmishers. The balls whistled over us some that day the next day we went up in front there the bullets came pretty thick and some come pretty close to us...Dave Bagaley got a ball through one of his legs. There was one ball came pretty close to my legs it struck in the ground about two feet from me ...[9/23/1863]we have got to go through the Cumberland Gap where old Burnside took over two thousand rebels they took them to Camp Nelson. We met them when we was coming here the Rebels looked pretty rough, they had on grey clothes they were rather small young looking soldiers....” Much more. Good content from this soldier. All letters are very good or better condition.
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