Raynors HCA 2016-10
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/21/2016
War-date Union officer's letter, 7pp. 8vo., written by Lt. William M. Thurston, Battery F (Ricketts), 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, "Camp near Petersburg," [Va.], Nov. 20, 1864, in part: "…it has rained all day and knight. The camp is quite muddy. It is difficult to keep dry. Some of our huts are filled with mud and water…we anticipate news of a startling notion from Genl. Sherman's army soon, but we may pebbly be disappointed as we many times are…it is proposed and generally believed that we will relieve our suffering prisoners in then south…we have fought many bloody battle to which the trail of our army will attest. The shallow graves of the ten thousand poor men. The bereaved parents and friends of the lost, the wounded and maimed for life all bear witness to the severity of this campaign which has been watched with a scrutinous eye at home and in Europe…we have not accomplished the great object for which the flower of the American army was marshaled in the field neither has Genl. Grant gratified the expectations of his numerous admirers, but still I cannot avoid saying that he possesses a determined mind, and is worthy the name of a great soldier. He has lost the pride and flower of his army. Still his men have confidence in him and present today a bold and defiant spirit and are seemingly unconscious that in another moon they may be reaping the harvest of death. I am still alive and enjoy the blessing of this life. I have assed unharmed thru the bloodiest battle on record. Many of my mess mates and intimate friends now lie wrapped in a soldier's shroud, some in the dismal swamps and others in some obscurer place, maybe lost until the day of judgement. I have seen them fall by my side. They died like me…last May when I wrote to you and told you to pray for me I did not expect to ever see you again. During the progress of that ever memorable battle in the Wilderness…imagine my thoughts every moment I looked for a fatal wound…Capt. Ricketts was ordered to send one section of his battery to hold the cross roads. He decided to send Lieut. B[rockway] with his two guns. His brother Frank had one and I the other. When we had nearly approached the place a dead silence reigned. Lieut. B. came to me and said "Should I fall do the best you can." Scarcely had he uttered these words when the work of death commenced, but our boys stood like rocks and did not yield until ordered to retire…I rec a present from the Sanitary Com. in the way of two towels , one pair of socks and a pair of slippers…W. Thurston, Battery F, 1st Pa. Arty, 2nd Corps…". VG
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