Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -
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Sale 2708 - Lot 73

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(CIVIL WAR--NEW YORK.) Civil War diary and letters of Capt. William Wood of the 9th New York ("Seward's Pets") and other family papers. Hundreds of items in one box (1 linear foot), almost all of it letters and diaries, including Wood's 1864 diary, and his 23 war-date letters; generally minimal wear. Various places, 1829-1910
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Additional Details

William Wood (1830-1903) was a farmer and lawyer from Butler, NY, about halfway between Rochester and Syracuse. He studied law at the University of Albany from 1855 to 1857, then spent time in Iowa and Mississippi. In 1862, he was chosen as a captain of the 138th New York Infantry, which was soon redesignated as the 9th New York Heavy Artillery. They became an infantry regiment again in 1864. Wood was brevetted a lieutenant colonel before the regiment mustered out. This archive documents Wood's life before, during, and after the war.

From the Civil War, we have Wood's pocket diary covering the entirety of 1864, including his regiment's service in the Overland Campaign (May and June), Shenandoah Valley Campaign (October and November), and then at the Siege of Petersburg. The regiment was formed under the command of Col. Joseph Welling; Wood was not a fan: "Col. Welling, the stink & coward, resigns. We await Col. Seward's return from Michigan" (21 May 1864). Lieutenant Colonel William H. Seward Jr., son of the Secretary of State, then assumed command; the regiment was known as "Seward's Pets." They saw their first combat on 26 May at the Battle of North Anna. The Battle of Cold Harbor began on 1 June: "The fight begins in middle of p.m. It grows warm & increases until it is terrific, fearful. The roar of cannon & crack of musketry is incessant." Two days later, "the roar of cannon is said to be about equal to that at Gettysburg." On 6 June, "at night Co. go out at dusk to work on battery. Work till 3 o'clock in morning. Dig up dead bodies, the stench of which is not pleasant." At the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road on 23 June, "our troops charged upon & drove Rebs a mile or more."

On 23 August, Wood pokes gentle fun at the colonel: "Col. Seward gives us a call. Is very anxious to get the regt. together. He is so anxious that I ask the question whether he would not rather have us together in Hell than in Heaven separated." The 19 October Battle of Cedar Creek is described: "We fight all day. The Rebs flank us in the morning & drive us about 3 miles. We drive them in the p.m. & occupy old ground & more. Take much artillery & many prisoners."

Also included are Wood's 23 letters home from the front to his mother and siblings, December 1862 to January 1865. Writing on 5 June 1864 from "Cole Arbor" [Cold Harbor], he describes the construction of batteries for the artillery: "Last night after we had finished our work & started back to camp, the Rebels made a furious onslaught, seemingly in the direction of our work. Luckily we were behind a little rise of ground. . . . We laid down flat on the ground for safety. The minie balls went zip zip over our heads & all around us for about an hour."

Dozens of war-date letters are addressed to Wood from family back home. 7 letters are addressed to Wood in his official capacity as captain of the 9th New York, 1863-1865. Most notable is one from his former commanding officer William H. Seward, Jr., since promoted to brigadier general, dated 29 January 1865 in Martinsburg, WV: "I regret to hear you say that the reg't is not in as good shape as it ought to be, but I hope this winter will do much towards an improvement. I assure you I was much disappointed in not getting the 9th assigned to my com'd, for whatever the feelings of the regiment are toward me, I cannot look back over the two years of my connection with it, without pleasure and affection."

Also included is a 2-page manuscript speech by Wood, docketed "Remarks presenting a sword to Lt. Col. Seward in behalf of 2nd Battalion 9th N.Y. Vols.," 23 April 1864: "Accept this steel from donors who are happy and proud to bestow it, as a memorial of their high appreciation of your impartial justice, their confidence in your unflinching courage, and their admiration of your exalted leadership. . . . The Stars and Stripes shall never permanently cease to float over one inch of territory where it ever waived."

The pre-war material in this lot is also interesting. From his college years we have 7 letters from Albany, 1856-1857, and a record book of a debate club which appointed him as clerk, 1855-1857. Pasted in is the club's printed constitution, "Constitution and By-Laws of the Marshall Club of the Law Department of the University of Albany" (10 pages, Albany: Weed, Parsons & Company, 1856), of which none are traced in OCLC. The volume also contains his diary from August 1858 to March 1859 while practicing law in Butler, NY.

While on break from Albany, Wood spent a short period in Iowa. In Bradford on 3 May 1857, he wrote to his sister: "It is very expensive staying here in Iowa. There are swarms going to the land office. . . . Every house is full, beds and floors, endless many that camp out. I suppose it is like a camp meeting, but I guess their deity has a cloven foot." Soon he was in the new town of Osage, writing on 17 May: "I regard the land sale as a perfect farce. . . . It is a perfect grab game. . . . Tomorrow is the first day that the office opens for private entry. I don't suppose I could get in the door tomorrow to save my life. . . . There was a crowd around 70 or 80 men. They took their stations there last night (Saturday night) to be ready for Monday morning. These are fast boys out here." He discusses "drawing of knives & revolvers. . . . Before the doors opened . . . one man had his leg pretty badly hurt. One had two ribs stove in." This letter is accompanied by an envelope with an Osage postmark and no stamp.

Also included are dozens of letters received by Wood and other family members from 1829 to the 1890s. Most are from family members in Butler, Elmira, Red Creek, Mount Morris, and Lima in upstate New York, and in Westbury and Center Moriches, Long Island. Some family papers relate to his wife Mary Green of Mount Morris, NY, including a play titled "The Guide of Life" produced at the Perry Academy where she taught in 1858. From the post-war period are family journals from 1869-1881, 1893-1905, and 1905-1910 (apparently kept by Mary Green Wood), her personal diary from 1881, and their teen daughter Julia Wood's 1889 diary.

The only photographs in the collection are a pair of hand-colored cartes-de-visite of a Civil War soldier and young woman, apparently William and Mary Green Wood, apparently early copy prints, housed in a period wallet.

Wood also spent several months in Mississippi in 1859 and 1860, selling atlases by subscription. His five letters and his diary from this period, full of vivid descriptions of life under slavery, are offered as lot 175.

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