Sep 28, 2023 - Sale 2646

Sale 2646 - Lot 118

Unsold
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(CIVIL WAR--MARYLAND.) David Low. A Union soldier describes the arrest of a Maryland secessionist, and his pistol-toting daughter. 2 Autograph Letters Signed to wife, plus one pass signed by future general Edward W. Hinks. Quarto letters, 3 and 4 pages each on one sheet, and the pass smaller; minimal wear. With typed transcripts. Maryland, 19 June and 5 July 1861
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Additional Details

David W. Low (1834-1919) of Gloucester, MA was a lieutenant in the 8th Massachusetts Infantry who enlisted on 30 April 1861. His 19 June 1861 letter describes how "each co. was furnished with 13 cartridges to a man. They were made in 1812 for flint muskets & furnished the reg't when we left Boston as they had no new ones made." When modern ammunition was issued, they tore the bullets from the old cartridges and fired a volley of blanks to commemorate the anniversary of Bunker Hill.

The 5 July letter describes an expedition upriver to rural Maryland to arrest secessionist militia general Tench Tilghman of Talbot County: "They surrounded & arrested Mr. Tiglman, a rabid secessionist. His daughter (18 y) threw up her window, presented a revolver & said she would shoot the first man that dared arrest her father, but she had to come to terms as they were too strong for her. This Tiglman . . . had some 200 arms which he refused to give up. . . . He has been a terror to all the Union men in the vicinity. . . . He invited Col. Hinks & Capt. Devereaux to breakfast with him & gave them a first-rate breakfast. The Dep'y Marshall from Baltimore would not eat with him for fear of being poisoned."

Also included is a pass issued to Lieutenant Low to visit Washington for 24 hours, signed by Colonel Edward W. Hinks of the 8th Massachusetts, later a Union general at Petersburg. camp Essex near Baltimore, 24 May 1861.

Provenance: collection of Arthur G. "Gil" Barrett.