..father, the Lord is quite forgotten here...

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2004

April 10, 1865, A Devoted Son Writes to His Parents from the Field, Stephens Station, Charlestown, VA, Very Fine. Autograph Letter Signed, Andrew J. Griffin, Co. B, 92 Regiment NY Vols., fine-laid paper, 7.75" x 5.25," 8 pages. Brown-toned pages, a few small edge splits. Accompanied by original transmittal envelope, canceled from Washington, D.C., toned and stained. Addressed to his father and brother, Griffin complains of the long marches and the coarse language and behavior of fellow soldiers, but also compliments the food, equipment, and worldly knowledge he has acquired since enlisting. In part: "To commence then I am well and enjoying myself as well as could be expected. I should say I am having very good times down in old Virginia. the only fault that I can find is that the Lord is quite forgotten. Yes father the Lord is quite forgotten here. The boys curse, drink steal and lie by the wholesale. Father I think that it has been good for me to enlist as I did. It causes me to learn a great eal more than I ever knew before. I learn a great eal about the country. a great eal about the people. and many other things... We marched similar to the first untill about 5 o clock in the afternoon. when we stopped where we are now camped. I was very glad to stop as we did. A great many of our men fell out and were picked up by the guerillas. They took what they wanted of the men and then let them go. One of the men had two rings on his fingers. they wanted to take them from him but he told them that his sister gave them to him to help him remember her by. So they left them on his fingers. I must say that let them so ever so barberous that looked well of them. They care but little for any one...." Outstanding content--written a few days before the end of the war!

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