(CIVIL WAR) Austin Henry Benton Manuscript map of the Battle

Sale 2287 - Lot 155

Price Realized: $ 2,880

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

"A DAY OF HUMAN BUTCHERY WHICH WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN" (CIVIL WAR.) Austin, Henry Benton. Manuscript map of the Battle of Ball's Bluff, and 3 related letters. Various sizes and condition; the map 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches with closed separations at folds. Vp, [1861]-62

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Henry Benton Austin was a first lieutenant in the 16th Indiana Infantry, which played a prominent role in the Battle of Ball's Bluff, one of the worst Union defeats in the early part of the war. Austin's map of the battle, accomplished in pencil and ink, shows the basic features of the terrain such as Edward Ferry and Leesburg, but also sites more specific to the 16th Indiana, such as "the woods where we skirmished" and "Hay stack Col. Lucas got behind." Along a line keyed as "the pickets of the Mass Zouaves" is marked "This was as far as the enemy got."
Austin's letter to his sister Hettie, dated White Oak Cottage, 26 January 1862, also discusses the battle: "Many hearts are breaking with sorrow, as sisters & mothers cast their thoughts towards the bloody butchery of Ball's Bluff. Yes, that was a day of human butchery which will never be forgotten. . . . In one boat I saw at least one hundred dead & wounded soldiers, throwen helter skelter upon eachother & deep mournful cries of anguish came gushing forth from the boat." Two other letters to Hettie in the same hand are undated and unsigned.