(CIVIL WAR CONFEDERATE) Isham R Page Letters from an overwo

Sale 2646 - Lot 90

Price Realized: $ 688

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

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Isham R. Page. Letters from an overworked Confederate doctor in Richmond. 3 Autograph Letters Signed "I.R. Page" to uncle David C. Randolph, 2 on letterhead of the Confederate Medical Purveyor's Office; various sizes, minor wear. Richmond, VA, May-June 1864

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Isham Randolph Page (1834-1923) was a Confederate surgeon based in Richmond. He wrote these letters to his uncle David Coupland Randolph (1804-1886).

The first, dated Monday, 16 May 1864, offers a battlefield report from a friend who left the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on 14 May: "Most of Mann's Brigade & Channing Page's Battalion of Artillery were captured, but Mann's reg't was on picket at another point at the time the Yankees charged over our breastworks & took the guns & prisoners. . . . It is believed that Gen'l Beauregard has force enough to take care of Beast Butler. Regarding his own work as a doctor, "I am closely at work all day, every day and ordered to be on duty here every other night. I only hope my supplies will hold out, as everything is enormous here now."

Eight days later, he explained his grueling schedule in more detail, adding that "my usual weight is 142, I now weigh 124, but my general health is very good. Nothing the matter except tired."

Finally, he wrote an undated letter docketed on 14 June: "I rec'd information last Friday that Mann was captured by the Yankees the morning of the 14th. . . . He was scouting for Gen. Early." He adds that "my wife wrote to Matty Barton that Dr. Johns had given her a place in the female department of the Purveyors Bureau. . . . I'm afraid the Yankees got all of Mat's Negroes & Jennie's fine blacksmith when they were at Lexington."