?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(CIVIL WAR.) Mott, Gershom. Letter describing rifle pits lost to the Confederates during the Siege of Petersburg. Autograph Letter Signed as "G Mott, Brig Genl" as commander of the 3rd Division, II Corps, to Captain William Potter Wilson, an aide to General Hancock of II Corps. 2 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one folding sheet of headquarters letterhead; folds, minor wear. [Petersburg, VA], 10 September 1864
Brigadier General Gershom Mott (1822-1884) reports on the day's shifting lines at Petersburg: "The enemy has recovered a small portion of the pits taken from them this AM with a few prisoners. On the right of the plank road, the Col commanding the regiment advanced his line farther than was intended, mistaking in the dark one certain tree for another. . . . He occupied the pits from which he had driven the enemy, these they have recaptured. . . . It is now disputed ground and constant firing is kept up. With this exception the new line is complete. . . . I regret to report that Lt Col Meikel, 20th Indiana, is seriously if not mortally wounded." George W. Meikel did indeed lose his life in this skirmish; one of the Union forts at Petersburg was soon named in his honor. with--a carte-de-visite and two clipped signatures of General Mott, and a signed carte-de-visite of the unfortunate Lt. Colonel Meikel in uniform.
