(CIVIL WAR) Mitchell Marcus U Letters of a medicine hawker a

Sale 2310 - Lot 90

Price Realized: $ 1,140

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

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(CIVIL WAR.) Mitchell, Marcus U. Letters of a medicine hawker and photographer working the Union camps in and around Washington. 29 long and substantial Autograph Letters Signed to sister Sarah J. (Mitchell) Reynolds of Chester, NY; mostly folio, various conditions, but generally complete and legible. Vp, July 1862 to May 1863

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Marcus U. Mitchell (1828-1897) was raised a farmer in Chestertown, NY, an Adirondack Mountain town north of Glens Falls. In 1862 he left home to concoct and sell patent medicines to soldiers based in Washington. This proved to be an ineffective plan: "There is a large amount of dysentery here among soldiers & if they had to pay for medicines, we could sell large quantities of it, but they have physicians free & the Gov. discourages anyone from getting soldiers' money." In the same letter, he is impressed by the many photographer's shops along Pennsylvania Avenue: "There are three first-class photographers on this avenue. They will compare favorably with the New York artists. In fact, one of them, Brady, is from New York" (3 August 1862). By late September, he had launched into the photography business himself, crossing into the Union camps of northern Virginia with his "picture tent."
In addition to discussing his entrepreneurial efforts, Mitchell also noticed the prostitutes: "There are many fancy girls here, the trick house just opposite here . . . is filled with them. Sometimes 2 or 3 of them come in here and get some wine. They appear rather lady-like & are generally handsome and young, dress finely and get much of the soldiers' money" (10 August 1862). This collection offers an unusual and colorful look at camp life from outside the military ranks.