Mar 31, 2011 - Sale 2241

Sale 2241 - Lot 113

Price Realized: $ 7,800
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
"I CAN GO INTO ANY ACTION & COME OUT ALL RIGHT" (CIVIL WAR--MASSACHUSETTS.) Abbott family papers, many dealing with the Civil War and the death of Maj. Henry L. Abbott. Approximately 275 manuscript items (0.3 linear feet); condition generally sound, but signatures clipped from a few of the pre-Civil War letters. Vp, 1815-91
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Most of this family archive consists of letters to Josiah Gardner Abbott (1815-1891), who graduated from Harvard in 1832, and practiced law in Lowell and Boston, MA. He was later a judge, was active in Democratic Party politics, and served briefly as a United States Representative. Judge Abbott's son, Major Henry Livermore Abbott (1842-1864), was a junior officer in the 20th Massachusetts Infantry, known as the "Harvard Regiment," and performed heroically at the battles of Ball's Bluff, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg.
A highlight of this collection is a letter written by Henry L. Abbott to his Aunt Lizzie on 27 October [1861], shortly after his unit was decimated at the Battle of Ball's Bluff. He informs his aunt that cousin George was taken prisoner, and then describes the battle: "Of the 24 officers that went into the engagement, nine only came out unhurt. 3 of those 9 were knocked down by spent balls & carried off bullet holes in their clothes. A man was shot on each side of me within 2 feet of me, yet I escaped. I feel now that I can go into any action & come out all right. . . . I am confident that we shall lick them awfully next time."
Abbott was commanding his regiment when he died at the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864. He was widely eulogized and his letters from the front have recently been published. The present collection includes more than 30 condolence letters on his death, some from fellow officers, in addition to a printed memorial from the Christian Witness. A touching Autograph Letter Signed from his close friend (and future Supreme Court justice) Oliver Wendell Holmes was sent from the headquarters of the 6th Corps on 8 June 1864: "Henry could hardly have been dearer to me if he had been really a brother. . . . I shall miss him at every step of my future life." Abbott's commanding officer, General Alexander Webb, called him "one of the most faithful & efficient officers I have ever known" (17 January 1865). Also included is an 11 May 1864 telegram announcing "Col. Macy on his way with body of your son."
Frequent letters from Judge Abbott's wife Caroline express a lively interest in the war. On 29 July 1863, she wrote about the famous leader of the 54th Massachusetts: "I see by the papers that Shaw is wounded and a prisoner. I don't believe he will be treated badly on account of his belonging to the Negro reg't, do you? Poor fellow, it was not his wish to command the negroes." The early reports were wrong; Shaw had died on the battlefield, and his body desecrated.
Other highlights include a letter from the Harvard president announcing Henry's suspension for "a disturbance in the College Yard, of a somewhat serious character," 20 June 1860, just a year before his enlistment. Judge Abbott also had numerous letters from former Supreme Court justice Benjamin Robbins Curtis and Secretary of War William C. Endicott; and signed letters from other notables such as Wendell Phillips, Augustus Belmont, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Darius Couch, and Benjamin F. Butler. An 8-page 12 October 1862 letter from General George H. Gordon describes in detail how he founded the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry. More details on this important Massachusetts military and political archive are available upon request.