Apr 13, 2023 - Sale 2633

Sale 2633 - Lot 72

Price Realized: $ 1,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(CIVIL WAR--PENNSYLVANIA.) Group of Civil War diaries and letters by various Pennsylvania soldiers. 11 items in one box, various sizes and conditions. Various places, 1861-1864 and circa 1900

Additional Details

Diary of Mason Bevington of Beaver County in the 10th Pennsylvania Infantry. [53] manuscript pages. 8vo, original limp calf; disbound. Enlists in Pittsburgh, then in camp at Tennallytown, MD and Camp Pierpont, VA. 3 June to 21 November 1861.

Diary of David M. Niswander (1842-1924). [365] manuscript pages. 16mo, original limp cloth, worn, lacking from wrapper; some leaves detached or lacking. The author was from Welsh Run in south-central Pennsylvania near Chambersburg. He enlisted with the 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery in 1862 (which grew to be the largest regiment in the Union army), and was promoted to corporal in February 1863. The regiment spent 1863 building forts and protecting the Washington capitol region. He describes visits to the Smithsonian Institution and Patent Office (3 January). He later served as a lieutenant in the 2nd Pennsylvania Provisional Heavy Artillery, and was captured at Cold Harbor, but survived the war. January-December 1863.

Diary attributed tentatively to George Harrison Brinley (1840-1896). [74] manuscript pages. 16mo, original limp calf; moderate wear, lacking preliminary leaves. He served in the 128th Pennsylvania Infantry, a 9-month regiment. Was not at Second Bull Run, but heard the cannons going off in the distance. Diary covers the first 35 days of service in a 9-month regiment, stopping just before the regiment's participation in Antietam. In the rear are accounts with George R. Brinley, most likely the soldier's uncle George Ross Brinley (1816-1882). 8 August to 12 September 1862.

Letters of David Gaverich. 7 Autograph Letters Signed (22 pages) to his wife from Annapolis, Camp Stoneman, near Harrington and Camp Tyler. He served in the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry. His letters reassure his wife that he is well; he was killed in August 1864 at the Battle of Malvern Hill. With a 1867 form from the Treasury Department about money due his survivors and a printed copy of "How Close This Cruel War" by Mrs. George P. Hardwick on stationery with colored picture heading. 1863-1864

Later transcript of a diary by an unidentified member of Schooley's Independent Battery, Battery M of the 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery from Pittston (between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre). [99] manuscript pages including notes. 8vo, top-bound notebook with no binding; acidic circa 1900 paper, a few leaves detached or torn, handwriting difficult. 5 August 1862 to 6 November 1863.