February 23rd, 2012
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/23/2012
War date Union soldier letter by John Myers, 28th Iowa, WIA at Port Gibson, Died of Disease in August, 1863 at Helena, Arkansas, 4pp. quarto, December 8, 1862, Helena, Arkansas, concerning an expedition under the command of Union General Hovey from Helen, Ark. to Grenada, Miss., reads in part: "...We started on this expedition the 28 day of November and got home the 7 day of December. We had a force of 16000 of the best men we could select out of 50000. The first order was to take 25000 and then that was countermanded and only 16000 taken we went down the river to a place that the Secesh was holding and they all run and we burned the place then we started for the Tallahatchie River about forty miles from the Mississippi and when we came there, there was a small Rebel force there destroying the brick we opened fire on them and they all run we killed 3 of them and got 11 prisoners...we heard firing...and run to reinforce them but they again run and we followed them with 4000 cavalry 8 pieces of artillery 900 infantry to a town 20 miles the name of the town Oakland and we stopped to take dinner and the artillery and cavalry was a short distance ahead and there was a band of Texan Rangers lying in ambush and when they got their horses unhitched to fight them they run out to our men by surprise and captured 2 pieces of our artillery, killed 6 horses and wounded ten men but none very dangerously, and as soon as we could open fire on them they run and we recaptured one piece of the artillery but they got the other piece. We then marched on in the town and took everything we could make use of and destroyed the balance and burnt two railroad bridges and one more house that was full of supplies for Price's army and a hundred cars loaded with supplies for Price's army. We could hear Price and Grant fighting all the time that we was gone...our force was too small so we retreated..." Fine condition.
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