Sep 28, 2023 - Sale 2646

Sale 2646 - Lot 128

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 700 - $ 1,000
(CIVIL WAR--MASSACHUSETTS.) Newcomb Dyer. Letters of a 46th Massachusetts private, with an epic account of the Goldsborough Expedition. 20 Autograph Letters Signed to his parents Bela and Ruth Ranney Dyer of Plainfield, MA and other relatives, plus a packet of contemporary transcripts of his first 13 letters (including some not found in this lot); generally minor wear. With 9 original envelopes addressed to Bela Dyer, most stamped and postmarked New Bern, NC. Mostly North Carolina, September 1862 to March 1863
Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Newcomb Dyer (1837-1897) was a farmer from Plainfield, MA. He enlisted as a private in the nine-month 46th Massachusetts Infantry in September 1862. After training in Springfield, they arrived in New Bern, NC on 15 November, where they mostly remained through March. His 21 November letter describes the regiment's guns, adding that "all of our other accouterments were taken from the Rebels. Our belts are fastened together with a croocked brass rattlesnake. Lots of the tents & a great many Austrian guns used here are captured property."

Dyer's 12-page 22 December letter describes his participation in the Goldsborough Expedition, which included three battles. He praised the 3rd New York Cavalry: "The N.Y. boys all had short rifles, breech-loading, & would ride over fences 4 feet high & jump diches 6 feet across & not stop. They did everything to keep the road clear & take the spies that were hovering around. . . . The Rebels fell trees in the road & did all they could to delay us, but the cavalry got by the trees & chased 300 Reb cavalry & 50 infantry, taking & killing 18." At the Battle of Kinston, "we came on to the enemy. They were posted in a swamp. The water & mud was more than two feet deep. . . . The battle lasted four hours. The place where the Tenth Conn charged on a battery of Reb cannon was perfectly trimmed & the bark torn from the trees. It did not look as though a man could live after such a volley of musketry & grape shot. . . . The cavalry made a rush for the bridge & the Rebels were all ready to fire it. They had cotton & turpentine & started the fire. The cavalry fired & rushed on them. They spilt the turpentine on themselves & one was burnt to death. I saw him as we passed." At the battle of White Hall, "the 46 was called on to volunteer to go & shoot at the Rebels. They were posted behind trees, logs & rifle pits." Dyer was one of 4 volunteers: "We had to go down in fair sight of them. We got within from 25 to 50 rods. . . . they shot at us a great many times, Stevens & my backs were covered three times with splinters flung from boards & rails." As they withdrew at night, "the balls struck just over my head & went into the house." After the Battle of Goldsborough Bridge, "we had burnt the bridge & we started back at dark & marched 8 miles toward New Bern. We had fighting every day."

Dyer's 14 March 1863 letter describes the Battle of Fort Anderson or Deep Gully, in which the Confederates threatened New Bern: the river "was lined with Rebs & their batteries for more than two miles & they made an attempt to fling a pontoon bridge across the river, & had it more than halfway across but the gunboats tore it to pieces." Dyer left the army in June at the end of his term, and settled in Missouri after the war.

Also included are 3 letters from his brother Newell Dyer (1835-1899) of the 31st Massachusetts, from training camp, January to March 1862; one civilian family letter from 1863; and a blank volunteer enlistment form. 10 envelopes addressed to Mary Nash of Madison, OH may be unrelated; 7 of them are patriotic covers. A post-war cabinet card from Northampton, MA is captioned "Charles N. Dyer." Finally, a sixth-plate tintype in a worn case shows a Union soldier in a gray winter coat--possibly Newcomb Dyer in winter quarters in North Carolina.