(CIVIL WAR NEW YORK) Herman W Bristol Letters of a soldier

Sale 2546 - Lot 63

Price Realized: $ 1,000

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

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

"GOD HELP US TO CONQUER AND PLANT THE STARS & STRIPES" (CIVIL WAR--NEW YORK.) Herman W. Bristol. Letters of a soldier who disappeared at Bull Run--and his mother's efforts to learn his fate. 7 Autograph Letters Signed by Bristol, mostly to his widowed mother and sisters, plus one final Bristol letter transcribed by a friend, and 4 other letters from his associates investigating his fate; generally minor wear, 4 June letter lacking a few words of text, sleeved in one binder. Vp, 1861

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Herman Waite Bristol (1839-1861) was the only son of a deceased Brooklyn typographer; he had followed his father in the printing trade. He enlisted in April 1861 with the 14th Regiment New York State Militia, also known as the Brooklyn Chasseurs and later designated as the 84th New York Infantry. They were also dubbed the Iron Regiment and were a colorful regiment, literally--they wore distinctive baggy trousers and red stockings. Supposedly, during the Battle of Bull Run, Stonewall Jackson noted their repeated charges and told his men "Hold on, boys! Here come those red legged devils again!"
This lot includes 7 original letters from Bristol, all from the early months of the war. The first dated May 1861 describes his imminent departure for the front. A 21 May letter describes his journey south, greeted by wild enthusiasm in Brooklyn and Philadelphia and almost no cheering whatsoever in Baltimore: "They offered no impediment to our marching through Baltimore (and if they had, we had our muskets ready loaded); the only thing they did do was to grease the track just outside the city, which impeded us for about an hour." He continues with a long description of Washington, where he is camped just across from the Capitol Building: "At present the lower part is occupied by stores of flour, beef and pork, etc for the troops, which appears rather as a desecration, but is necessary. I am writing this letter in the Senate chamber, seated at one of the desks which has been occupied by Clay, Webster and other great men."
Bristol's 29 May letter to his Aunt Blair described a sighting of Lincoln: "Yesterday we were reviewed by that brave old warrior General Winfield Scott at the White House. President Lincoln stood beside him and looked rather sorrowful. The general looked every inch of him a soldier." By the time of his 9 July letter, the regiment was stationed just south of Washington in Arlington: "There is no immediate prospect of our regiment being in an engagement, though we are to advance further into Virginia. We are one of the central groups of some 30 or 40,000 troops, soon to be increased to some hundreds of thousands, and when we march, we will all march in that position."
Bristol sent one more letter, to his friend Lewis Myers back in New York. Myers transcribed it the following year for the family; the transcript is part of this lot. It was written "near Manassas Junction--we expect to move on it soon." He describes a march from Washington through several hastily abandoned Confederate camps. In camp on the night before battle, "13 of the guard were ordered out to skirmish. After skirmishing about 5 or 6 hours and it raining all the time, we lost our way." He ended up spending the rest of the night in the camp of another New York regiment, the Fire Zouaves. In the morning he wrote: "We are to move on now against [the battery], and expect to have pretty hot work of it before night. When it is over, you will know the rest. . . . My only thought now is the battery we are to move on to, and there, if God wills it, sell my life as dearly as possible." He concluded: "I had to run just now to fill my canteen, as the enemy have tampered with our water arrangements. So, good goodbye, perhaps forever. If so, no great loss to the world, and perhaps of no great consequence to myself. God help us to conquer and plant the Stars & Stripes evrywhere."
The Union Army was routed at the Battle of Bull Run which followed. At the conclusion of the 14th New York's desperate retreat, Herman Bristol was not found among his regiment. Nobody knew for certain if he had been captured or killed or left wounded on the battlefield. Also included in this collection are 4 letters to his mother dated late 1861, reflecting her efforts to learn his fate. A friend from his regiment, William Newkirk, offered his research (quoted here with the spelling cleaned up): "Some of our men had seen him going for the hill by the retreat. Therefore I think he is taken prisoner. I was even willing to go out . . . to bury our dead, but they would not let us. Herman was with me on the 5th charge, but . . . I could not see him at times, only when I was looking to the left. . . . By the last retreat there was too much convection, I did not see him. . . . Mrs. Bristol, it was an awful sight." Another friend with Washington connections "had reliable information that Herman is alive & safe, this can be relied on." Bristol's captain wrote on 16 October: "I regret deeply not to be able to say whether he is dead or alive. . . . No one saw him fall, nowhere has he been reported a prisoner. . . . If he has fallen, you will at least have the satisfaction that he perished in a glorious cause, a martyr for his country's sake."
With--17 other letters and documents relating to Bristol's military service, 1861-89, most relating to his mother's efforts to secure a pension; and a 9-page typescript genealogy of his mother's family through 1959.