?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400
(CIVIL WAR.) Dwight, William. The commanding officer of Fort Jackson describes his investigation after a mutiny by Negro troops. Autograph Letter Signed to Josiah Gardner Abbott. 4 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one sheet; minor wear at folds. Fort Jackson, LA, 28 January 1864
Shortly after the famous Fort Jackson mutiny among Union troops, on 25 January 1864, some of the white officers in camp were charged with harassing and raping African-American laundresses, an ongoing problem which had been one of the underlying causes of the mutiny. Three days after the investigation began, Dwight offers to "give you some idea of affairs in this Department, of the Corps d'Afrique, and of the disgusting nature of my command. . . . When I sent for Capt. Knapp & put him in arrest, he was surrounded by officers. He looked frightened and the officers jeered at him, saying, don't be scared Capt, he (me) won't shoot you today." He enclosed copies of his official report of the incident (not included in this lot), which he asked Abbott to keep quiet, adding that he expects to be relieved of his duties for offending General Banks.
