Sep 17, 2009 - Sale 2186

Sale 2186 - Lot 86

Price Realized: $ 2,160
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
"I LOOKED BACK AND SAW THE REBS NOT TWENTY FEET FROM ME" (CIVIL WAR--ILLINOIS.) Hoagland, Henry V. Archive of an Illinois sergeant's letters to his future wife. 28 Autograph Letters Signed, various sizes and conditions, most reinforced with tape at center folds, in a few cases obscuring small portions of text, and a few separations at other folds affecting text. Vp, 1861-65
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Henry V. Hoagland (1842-circa 1929) was a New Jersey native who moved to Bunker Hill, IL in his teens. He enlisted in the 7th Illinois Infantry early in the war. The regiment was famous for purchasing at their own expense a full complement of state-of-the-art Henry Rifles, one of the largest units thus equipped. Most of these letters were written to his sweetheart Marietta Randolph, whom he married shortly after the war, with one letter addressed to his parents.
Hoagland writes that after a day of fighting at Shiloh, "when we saw our position, how we had been driven a mile or more in spite of all our desperit fighting and saw our reduced numbers, we began to think the case allmost a hopeless one" (18 July 1862). He also recalls Shiloh at some length upon its three-year anniversary, 6 April 1865. His regiment played a prominent role in the Battle of Allatoona, GA, described vividly in his 20 October 1864 letter: "We were deposited around the fort in rifle pits, our regt ocupying the most important position (as we were armed with the Henry rifles). The rebs atacked us early in the morning with both artilery and inftry on all sides, showing plainly that we were surrounded . . . The first asault as was expected was made on our regt. They charged us three times most desperately but was repulsed each time." Their position was soon overrun, though, and his regiment retreated toward the fort: "I concluded to run for it and did so, and thought I was doing first rate, until I triped and fell, and when I looked back and saw the rebs not twenty feet from me, with their guns pointing right at me." He surrendered but "just then came a shower of bullets from the fort," and he escaped in the confusion. He added that "nearly one half of our company and regt fell or was taken prisoners. Among the killed was Corp. Robbins, he fell by my side. While fighting bravely a ball struck him in the forehead."
The regiment marched with Sherman through South Carolina, and Hoagland promised that Sherman would "leave behind nothing but ashes and smoke, he will devastate the country where ever he goes" (3 January 1865). Hoagland's 11 January 1865 letter to his parents is 17 pages long and recounts his role in Sherman's march at great length.
Even the non-combat letters are colorful. While on scouting duty in Mississippi, Hoagland wrote, "we never take anything much to eat, it is to troublesome to carry, but when meal time comes we divide up in squads and dine or sup . . . with the reble citizens. We ride up and order a warm meal the same as we would at a hotel . . . The men are generaly very quiet but the women sometimes are furious but are soon reconciled" (24 September 1862). The 20 July 1864 letter describes his religious awakening at length. On his route back north, he describes Libby Prison and the grand review (26 May 1865). Some letters include extended extracts from Hoagland's diary.
Hoagland mustered out as a lieutenant at the war's conclusion, having survived nearly four years of duty without suffering any injuries or being captured. He was later a police chief and county sheriff. with--Hoagland's 1865 discharge 1918 newspaper clipping of Hoagland's battle stories, with transcript 5 pages of additional transcripts of Hoagland's memoirs.