Sep 17, 2015 - Sale 2391

Sale 2391 - Lot 132

Price Realized: $ 1,105
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(CIVIL WAR--VERMONT.) Official papers of Addison W. Preston, an officer in the 1st Vermont Cavalry. 49 items in one folder, including: 15 letters to Preston; 3 undated and unsigned draft letters apparently in Preston's hand; 21 certificates regarding lost supplies, 1862; 7 clothing and ordnance returns and receipts; and 3 other documents; condition generally strong. (MRS) Vp, 1862-64
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Additional Details

Addison Webster Preston (1831-1864) of Danville, VT began the war as a captain in the 1st Vermont Cavalry, and was appointed as the regiment's colonel just before he was killed at Cold Harbor in June 1864. No less an authority than General Custer said over his body, "There lies the best fighting colonel in the Cavalry Corps."
This collection includes an apparently unpublished two-page record in Preston's hand of the regiment's actions in pursuit of the Confederates after Gettysburg, 5 to 13 July 1863. It begins: "Having march all night I enterd Lightersvill Md with 200 men and captured 125 rebels." The next day in Hagertown, "I was ordered to act as rear guard while our forces retired. In so doing, we were obliged to confront greatly superior numbers whose repeated assaults only terminated with darkness." Other highlights include a Company D payroll signed by enlisted men, June 1862 an undated inventory of 57 horses, each with a description, soldier's name, and valuation and 4 Autograph Letters Signed from Vermont's adjutant general Peter Washburn (later the governor). Provenance: sold by the Autograph Alcove to the consignor, 14 April 1982.