Sep 28, 2017 - Sale 2455

Sale 2455 - Lot 90

Price Realized: $ 1,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(CIVIL WAR--MASSACHUSETTS.) Codman, Charles R. Letters by the 45th Massachusetts colonel, describing the Battle of Kinston and more. 4 Autograph Letters Signed to wife Lucy L. Sturgis Codman, for a total of 42 pages; condition strong, small scorch mark on last letter; all four with original envelopes, some incomplete. New Bern, NC, 1862-63
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Charles Russell Codman (1829-1918) of Boston served as the colonel of the 45th Massachusetts, a nine-month regiment. He was an 1849 graduate of Harvard and a prosperous lawyer. The first letter, dated 22 December 1862, describes at length the regiment's main engagement, the Battle of Kinston in North Carolina: "I was told to advance through the wood & find out the enemy. This was done by advancing in line, firing at where we supposed the enemy to be (for we could not see them) and when we were tired & the fire was very hot, lying down and letting the balls pass over us. The enemy, however, must have known our position well, as many men were hit lying down. One man was killed at my side. . . . One man was killed by a shell in an appalling manner. It staggered the men for a moment, but they immediately went on." The same letter also describes the skirmish at Whitehall two days later, including the death by artillery shell of color sergeant Theodore Parkman (1837-1862), a personal friend who had a doctorate in chemistry: "I fairly broke down and cried like a child." The letter includes Codman's manuscript maps of both battles.
The final three letters were written on garrison duty in New Bern; the 13 March letter includes a map of the town, drawn to describe a minor skirmish. Codman makes frequent reference to Major General John G. Foster, commander of the Department of North Carolina. His final letter, dated 4 June 1863, describes the First North Carolina Colored Volunteers: "The negro brigade is doing well. About 600 are encamped near us under Colonel Beecher. There has not been the least trouble on their account." After the war, Codman went on to a long career in Massachusetts politics.