(CIVIL WAR NEW YORK) Denison Eli A Union cavalry private de

Sale 2241 - Lot 115

Price Realized: $ 660

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Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400

"THE SHRIEKS OF THE WOUNDED AND THE GROANS OF THE DYING" (CIVIL WAR--NEW YORK.) Denison, Eli. A Union cavalry private describes Fredericksburg and his disgust with Lincoln. Pair of Autograph Letters Signed, addressed to cousin Azor Gallup in Knox, NY. 7 pages, 8 x 4 3/4 inches, on two sheets; moderate wear, a few pencil marks, ink faded but mostly legible. Belle Plains, VA, 13 February and 12 March 1863

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Eli Denison (ca. 1827-1865) enlisted in the 2nd New York Cavalry (also known as the Harris Light Cavalry) in 1862. He wrote to his cousin in the earlier letter: "I was a spectator of and partial participator in the Battle of Fredericksburgh. Seated at a short distance from the immediate field of action, I could see regiment after regiment of infantry march up to the woods where the enemy were secreted . . . then come on the wind the shrieks of the wounded and the groans of the dying. No regiment could withstand the fire of the conceiled enemy." He was quite disillusioned about the course of the war: "I believe that Abraham Lincoln putting his signature on the emancipation act signed the death warrant of his country, and that his hand is red with fratricidal blood. Were the war for the Union I would be willing to sacrifice my life but to free a few paltry slaves and gratify the ambition of a few black hearted abolitionists I am not." Denison was later captured and sent to Andersonville, where he died in January 1865. with--Carte-de-visite of a civilian (possibly Denison) Early manuscript genealogical notes on the Gallup family and two other related family letters, 1863 and 1864.