Rebel Houses Are Destroyed While POWs Are Brought In At Suffolk, Virginia.

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/21/2015

War-date Union soldier's letter, 6 1/2pp. 8vo., written by Sgt. Moses M. Ordway, 40th Mass. Vols., Suffolk, Va., Apr. 18, 1863 to his brother, in part: "We have made quite a jump…we marched through…to Alexandria where we embarked on board transports…our company and Comp. D. went on the Juniata with three New York companies….we passed down by Mount Vernon…the Potomac and the [Chesapeake] Bay were covered with flocks of geese and ducks…the soldiers fired their rifles…hit some of them…anchor in Hampton Roads…we found we were aground…we passed the famous Rip Raps. I saw the old battery on Sewall's Point also the masts sticking out of the water that the Rebels sunk a schooner. Norfolk is a very pretty place. We stayed int he city…when we took the cars for Suffolk…thank the lord we have got out of the Army of the Potomac. The Army of the Potomac has bad luck. They failed in about every thing so far. It is lively here. We are one side of the river and the Rebels the other. We hear the crack of the rifles of the skirmishers from morning till night. There is a battery mounted on the bank of the river also a gunboat in the river that have been shelling the woods on the other side. Our battery knocked to pieces a couple of houses on the other side and made the Rebs skedaddled…[April 20]…there was firing all night just below us. They took about 160 prisoners last night. We can see Rebs crawling round on the other side…I went down…and saw the prisoners. They were taken last night. They were terrible ragged and dirty but they looked as though they had enough to eat…M. M. Ordway." The original stamped transmittal cover is also included. VG

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