Apr 27, 2017 - Sale 2444

Sale 2444 - Lot 94

Price Realized: $ 750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(CIVIL WAR.) Morgans, William T. Diary of an infantry sergeant during the closing months of the war. [72] manuscript diary pages, plus [22] pages of official memoranda. 12mo, original limp calf, worn; moderate dampstaining, missing one leaf from 22-25 April. Vp, 24 March to 13 July 1865
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William Thomas Morgans (1844-1882) of Callicoon, NY was a sergeant in the 143rd New York Infantry. His diary covers the momentous closing period of the war as his regiment pressed north from North Carolina under General Sherman--who he mentions seeing at a drill in the diary's very first entry. By this point, they encountered only minimal resistance: "Our foragers were driven in this morning, two of them are missing" (26 March). While marching toward Raleigh, "we were stopped by a few Rebs, but after about 1/2 hour we drove them and marched on" (10 April). Most noteworthy was the regiment's reaction to the dramatic news of April: "News came out that Richmond was taken. Great excitement all day. Cheering, band playing, and drinking was the order of the day, and I saw more drunken men than I have seen in a long time" (6 April), then six days later "News reached us that Lee with his entire force had surrendered, which caused the greatest excitement and most cheering I have ever heard at one time." On 17 April, sadder news arrived: "News reached us that Abraham Lincoln was dead and that caused much excitement. Everyone was talking about it." Morgans was promoted to lieutenant on 27 April; he describes receiving his commission and shoulder straps. The diary ends in July with him still writing up payrolls, waiting to be discharged. After the war he returned to Sullivan County, where he worked as a newspaper publisher and raised a large family. He was also known as a prominent manufacturer of wooden type.