(CIVIL WAR NEW YORK) [White] Amasa A pair of long and subst

Sale 2344 - Lot 100

Price Realized: $ 1,750

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

Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400

(CIVIL WAR--NEW YORK.) [White], Amasa. A pair of long and substantial letters from a regimental musician in South Carolina. Autograph Letters Signed to wife Henrietta Titus White, 14 and 4 manuscript pages, 8vo and folio; minor wear. With typed transcripts of both letters. Port Royal, SC, 4-6 November 1861 and 3 January 1862

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Amasa Bemis White (1836-1921) was a newly wed cabinet-maker from Millport, NY when he enlisted in the 48th New York Infantry. The first letter describes the contested Union landing at Port Royal on 6 November 1861: "At 1/4 to 3 oclock this afternoon the Rebels gave up, and the Stars and Stripes once more wave in South Carolina. . . . Well, who would have thought when the Stars & Stripes were pulled down off of Fort Sumpter that I should see the first one raised on the soil of South Carolina, but such is the fact."
The second letter gives an account of the capture of Port Royal Ferry, and the Union looting afterward: "They burnt up a couple of large houses & a no. of smaller ones. It looked hard to think that they had got to go, but such is war, destroy anything and everything that you can get to." He also describes the countless refugees who had escaped from fleeing plantation owners: "The niggers are all willing to do what they can to help the cause of the U.S., which shows that they do not love their masters. . . . I was talking with one & he said that they could not be used any worse than they had been, and they were willing to try us."