Raynors HCA 2015-02
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/19/2015
A good war-date Union naval officer's letter, 4pp. 4to., written by a certain "Daniel" U. S. S. Romeo, Bear Creek, Miss., Feb. 23, 1863 to his mother concerning the escape of the their pet fawn, capturing Confederate cotton and of the disillusionment will experience in coming into the Federal lines, in part: "…we are…lying in a little stream called Bear Creek…there are plenty of bear here also deer…we had a pet deer on board, a young fawn, the pet of the whole crew, but yesterday it got ashore and the woods proved too tempting for it and she let. Our men in attempting to find it…stumbled upon sixty bales of cotton…worth three hundred a bale. We left it there (it was on the Yazoo) and today came up to this place…the yahoo…is called very bad water…the people are coming in and taking the oath in large numbers twenty came in this evening. They think their cause is about hopeless and are ready to pledge themselves to the U. S. Government. The negroes are coming by hundreds, yesterday one of the steamers attached to the fleet [brought] down to Vicksburg about a thousand and they all know that they are free, but they have not the most remote idea of what constitutes freedom. They think it is a sort of millennium with no more work, no more cross words, or lashes and they only find out their sad mistake by harder usage than they ever experienced before. We are…lying here for cotton and in the morning…I shall be on my way to go [?] miles up this creek in a flat boat to bring out two hundred bales of prize cotton…while the rest are at work Mr. McCurdy (our chief engineer) and myself have planned a bear hunt…this boat (Romeo) is at present separated from the…fleet which is about forty miles up the Yazoo busy loading cotton. The object of this expedition was to clean the rebels out of these rivers…guerrillas are scarce. The commander of the expedition thinks since we are here we may as well load with cotton…I shall get quite a little sum of prize money perhaps four or five hundred dollars…yesterday I heard some very nice music on the piano…played by a very handsome young lady. the family is one of the aristocrats of the south. Mr. McCurdy and I got permission to take a ride…and stopped at the house, were invited into the parlor and some two young ladies made their appearance. We chatted for a while and then had some music and she played excellently…one little girl…[and] the oldest one one were very handsome…but did not think they could like a Yankee. They were very pleasant and agreeable, but I think they will have more cause than ever to dislike the Yankees when they ascertain that we have found about seventy-five bales of cotton belonging to their father secreted in the woods…". VG
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