Apr 07, 2022 - Sale 2600

Sale 2600 - Lot 78

Price Realized: $ 531
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(CIVIL WAR--MARYLAND.) Memoirs and correspondence of Jacob Duryee, who commanded the 2nd Maryland Infantry at Antietam. 8 typescripts, the bulk typed out by a stenographer and top-bound with fasteners circa 1914, with occasional manuscript corrections and minimal wear; plus 6 letters dated 1913-1914, most with minimal wear. Los Angeles and New York, 1913-1914, 1970 and undated
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Additional Details

Jacob Eugene Duryee (1839-1918, also spelled Duryée or Duryea) was born into a distinguished old New York family. Days after the fall of Fort Sumter he enlisted in the 7th Regiment of the New York State Militia, the famed "Silk Stocking Regiment," which had been commanded by his father Abram Duryee (later a brigadier general). He was soon promoted to lieutenant in his father's 5th New York, and then in September 1861 was made Lieutenant Colonel and de facto commander of the 2nd Maryland Infantry. At Antietam he led his regiment on a famously desperate attempt to cross Burnside's Bridge, with 44% casualties. That same week, after the Governor of Maryland failed to visit his broken regiment at the hospital, he resigned his command in protest and left the army; he was later made a brevet brigadier general.

Offered here are 7 typescript sections of Duryee's memoirs which he intended to make the basis of a book. One covers his earliest service in the New York regiments, including a short notice of his fellow private Robert Gould Shaw (later of 54th Massachusetts fame). Of most interest is the 53-page "Story of Burnside's Bridge, Antietam, Maryland," which contains his heart-rending personal recollections of the battle, including the many dozens of dying men gathered in an old cow shed which functioned as a crude field hospital. A rumor spread that he had been killed in the battle with so many of his men, and a chaplain told him "General Warren has sent me for your body to send home to your mother." Duryee replied "Give my compliments to General Warren, and say to him he cannot have it." Also of interest is a separately bound 3-page section describing his resignation shortly after the battle, after consultation with General Burnside.

6 letters to and from Duryee are dated 1913 and 1914, all with later Silk Stocking Regiment members Daniel Appleton and Charles E. Lydecker regarding the regimental history; the portion relating to his New York service was apparently published in 1914 in the Seventh Regiment Gazette edited by Lydecker. Also included with the lot is a family genealogical manuscript, apparently written by Duryee and then expanded and typed by a descendant in 1970.