(CIVIL WAR NEW YORK) 5 letters written by soldiers in the 6

Sale 2533 - Lot 89

Price Realized: $ 292

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(CIVIL WAR--NEW YORK.) 5 letters written by soldiers in the 60th New York Infantry, the St. Lawrence Regiment. Autograph Letters Signed to F.O. and Adeline Riggs of East Stockholm, NY, one on patriotic letterhead, most with original postmarked covers (no stamps); moderate wear. Vp, November 1861 to January 1862 and undated

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This collection includes 5 letters written by soldiers in the 60th New York Infantry to friends from home in St. Lawrence County in far northern New York. The letters were written during the early months of the war, when the regiment was mostly guarding the area between Washington and Baltimore. 3 of the letters are from Corporal Daniel R. Freeman, who wrote on 14 November 1861: "I had to take six men last night . . . and watch a secession house, a place that might be dangerous to us if it was not guarded." He described a train explosion on 12 December 1861: "An engine burst last night about half a mile from our camp, kill two men and scalding another very bad . . . and threw three pieces of iron into our camp which scared some of our men very much. They thought it was the enemy were throwing shells at us, and they run to get away from them before they would burst." Two other letters are from Corporal Martin H. Heywood of the same regiment. On 2 January 1862 he wrote that the regiment's colonel "resigned the other day & there is nowbody that is sorry," adding that he hoped the next colonel would be "liked better than he was; if he ain't, we will contrive some way to get rid of him." Heywood's other letter is lacking the first leaf and is undated. With--a worn 31 January 1862 issue of the Baltimore Clipper sent by Heywood, including war news from Kansas and Burnside's expedition and 4 non-war letters to the Riggs family, 1847-52 and 1868.