Nov 17, 2016 - Sale 2432

Sale 2432 - Lot 130

Price Realized: $ 938
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(CIVIL WAR--NEW YORK.) Willson, Andrew. Letters of a captain in the hard-fighting 17th NY Infantry. 11 Autograph Letters Signed to sister Maggie Willson and other relatives in North Granville, NY, plus one partial letter in an unknown hand, various sizes and conditions, most with original stamped envelopes. Vp, 1861-62
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Additional Details

Andrew Willson (1837-1862) was a promising young attorney in Newark, Wayne County, NY when he joined the 17th New York Infantry as a captain shortly after the start of the war. This correspondence includes a description of the First Battle of Bull Run, in which his company was fortunately held in reserve: "A terrible battle yesterday, a total & bloody defeat. Not less than 2500 men killed on our side. Half our cavalry & nearly all our heavy artillery captured by the enemy, who outnumbered us two to one. Our army scattered in the wildest confusion. Guns, knapsacks, every thing thrown away in the flight. I left late last night when all was lost. . . . A large number of our best officers are killed. . . . The roads leading to Alexandria are thronged with a bloody crowd of stragling soldiers without officers." It is not properly addressed or signed, and does not appear to be in Wilson's hand--it may have been written by one of his fellow soldiers. It is dated simply "Fairfax Monday a.m.," but was apparently written on 22 July 1861.
The letters signed by Captain Willson provide a more confident and polished tone. After an attack on Yorktown, he made a sardonic complaint: "We find the enemy very ungentlemanly, calling us very hard names and even going so far as to shoot at us every good chance. They come out on their works during some of our hottest firing, cheer for Jeff Davis, wave the rebel flag in our faces, and dare the damned Yankees to come on" (11 April 1862). After the Battle of Hanover Court House, he wrote "Gen. Porter complimented us as having decided the battle by a bayonet charge on a battery" (30 May 1862). Writing after the Seven Days Battles, "our position was considered the most dangerous one in the army, on the extreme right where the attack was first expected. After Porter had been driven back we were almost completely surrounded by cavalry, infantry and flying artillery but after holding our position until it seemed almost like rashness, we retreated in good order" (2 July 1862). Describing the retreat from Malvern Hill to Harrison's Landing, he noted that "the whole army was driven together pell mell, regiments, brigades and divisions were mixed together . . . sick and wounded men were wading through the mud trying to get to the river where the boats were" (12 July 1862). This was his last letter; he was killed by artillery fire during the Second Battle of Bull Run on 30 August 1862. with--a 1952 letter and memorandum by Willson's nephew Carlton Bown summarizing the letters.