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Lot of Illinois Civil War Letters Sell for $25,000 at Nate D. Sanders

TO RECEIVE YOUR FREE APPRAISAL of your Illinois Civil War letters, please write [email protected], call (310) 440-2982 or go to http://www.NateDSanders.com.  We’re an auction house in Los Angeles specializing in Civil War letters, including Illinois Civil War letters.

Please let us know if you have Illinois Civil War Letters for sale. Top dollar obtained for your Illinois Civil War Letters.

Illinois Civil War Letters

In 2017, we at Nate D. Sanders Auctions (http://www.NateDSanders.com), just sold this lot of Illinois Civil War letters for $25,000.  Please see the description below:

200+ Letter Lot by Soldier in the 76th Illinois Infantry — With Battle Content From Vicksburg, Jackson & Fort Blakely: “…it Seems Like A hard thing to Shoot A Man But when you Are Shot At All you think of is to Shoot. Well i Shot Sixty four times during the Battle…when we were Retreating there was one officer that was urging on his Men And Some of our Boys Caled to Me Shoot him. Well i Stoped turned And fired And he went head formost out of his Saddle…”

Large lot of 201 letters by Henry B. Ingalls of the 76th Illinois Infantry, Co. B, who served from 1862-1865, diligently reporting the war to his wife and children back home. Stationed with General Grant for the latter part of 1862 and 1863, Ingalls writes most notably of skimishes throughout Mississippi, culminating in the Siege of Vicksburg, as well as fighting with Sherman’s army in the latter half of 1863-64. The 76th Illinois also fought heavily in one of the last battles of the Civil War, just days before the armistice, at the Battle of Fort Blakeley, where they lost over 50 men in killed and wounded. Uncorrected for minor spelling errors, letters read as follows.

Ingalls gets his first taste of fighting in November 1862, detailed in his letter dated 22 November about a skirmish against the Confederate General Sterling Price: “…had to March for Holly Springs [Mississippi] wel we had one hard days March when we were halted our Advance having come up to the Enemy. We were drawn up in line of Battle. Our Advance had A Skirmish with prices [Price’s] out posts And we captured one hundred prisoners…” On 9 December Ingalls writes to his wife from Camp Cowan, Mississippi about General Grant. “Mary the News is glorious from grant [General Grant]. He is the Man to push things. He has gave Brag [General Bragg] what he needed A good thrashing. They think the Rebs will Come here And try to take this place Again…well let them come they will Receive A warm Reception here for the Boys Are highly Elated with the Success of their old Commander And they will first just As well As if he was here…we All think that grant is the Right Man in the Right place And if they will let him Alone he will Soon finish the Job…” Other excerpts from this time period include “…[General] Price is Completely Cleaned out. They whipped him At Corinth And he Started to Retreat this way And general hurlbert left this place And Met him And whipped him Again. And general Rosecrans is After him yet. And we got news this Morning that he had taken Eight thousand More prisoners. We have About Seven hundred of them here And looking for More this Evening…we Are whiping them on Every Side And Because they have not Much to Eat…” Ingalls also writes of his intention after the war to seek revenge on officers who have wronged him: “…what i do now they Might have drafted Me But i never would have went of My own Acord But then the thing is done And it Cant Bee helped. But Mary it is A Shame the way we Are treated By our officers. But we will Remember them when we get home. Some of them May want Some favor And then we will See who has Command…”

Quickly, the 76th was moving on Vicksburg, of which Ingalls writes on 17 May 1863, “…We had a fine view of our gun Boats Shelling the City last knight. We had A Bought trip down the river the first knight. We had to Anchor out in the River on Acount of the fog And the next knight we were the hind Most Boat And were Running very nice when we Run Close to Shore And the first thing we knew we were fired into By the Rebs on Shore. Well Mary you had Better Believe the Balls flew thick i was laying on the upper deck i had My gun By Me And i went to Shooting But i Could not See only when the Rebels would fire AT us…our Boat unshiped her ruder And then we Could not do Any thing with her So we had to Signal of distress And it was not long till one of the gunboats came to our Relief…” On 8 July 1863, Ingalls writes to his wife Mary about the successful end to the Siege at Vicksburg: “…We have Been forty seven days in front of this place And we have Been toiling incesantly day And knight. At knight we would Advance our lines And dig new Rifle pits And through the day it would Bee death to the Reb that would Show his head And we Advanced in that way till we got So Close that we could throw over in to their forts…So on the third they Sent out A flag of truce to General grant And wanted to Surrender on Conditions But general grant told them that it Must Bee An unconditional Surrender And gave them till 9 o Clock the fourth to give up the place…At 9 o Clock the white flags went up And their flag Came down And then Mary Sick Shouts As Rent the Air And the glorious fourth…” A week later Ingalls writes of the desperation of the Confederate prisoners in their camp. “…Thousands of the prisoners here Say they will never fight Against the old flag Again And i think they Ment what they Said. Why Mary they Acted like hogs After they surendred. They Came to our Camp And Just to See them go Round And gather up ole Crackers that we had thrown Away And Eat them. They Said it was A luxury to get officers Bread for they Said that was the kind of Bread their officers get. The Bread they had was Made of Beans And Rice ground together…”

In two letters dated 5-7 March 1864, Ingalls describes his regiment’s destruction of towns, skirmishing, and a sad scene of the execution of a woman, killed in front of her children, “…We have Marched About four hundred Miles Since we left And destroyed About Sixty Miles of Railroad Besides Burning About ten or twelve towns…[O]ne of the Sadest things of the trip hapened the Rebs got Behind A house And there was A woman And Six Children in the house. They kept Shooting out from Behind the house And of Course we kept firing Back And just At this time the woman opened the door And She was Shot dead in the door And it was A Sad Sight to See her laying there And her Little Children Around her…”

In a series of letters from July 1864, Ingalls writes of intense skirmishing at Jackson, Mississippi, where the 76th Illinois lost 40 in killed and wounded on 7 July, and where Ingalls coolly kills a Rebel soldier: “…in the hot Sun…we got to Clinton on the Evening of the fourth and Commenced Skirmishing But it did not Amount to Much for the Rebs Soon fell Back. The next Morning there was Another Slight Skirmish they did not trouble us Any More till in the next After noon when they gave us Some More trouble But we got to Jackson that Evening. We Staid there till the next Evening and Started Back And got About three Miles from Jackson when the Rebs Came out in force And we were pushed A head to Support A Batery. Well we Lay under fire for About two hours till darkness put a Stop to the fighting…the next Morning we Are Brought out in Line Again And Are pushed to the front And kept there for five hours And then we had to Retreat. Our Regiment was Left with out Any Support And had to hold three times our number So As to Save our train And we did it But oh My god what a Storm of Balls And Shells we had to face Mary…thank god we Are Safe…The Loss in the Regiment is 105 kiled wounded And Missing…” Dated 20 July, Ingalls writes, “…Mary it Seems Like A hard thing to Shoot A Man But when you Are Shot At All you think of is to Shoot. Well i Shot Sixty four times during the Battle And i Emtied one Saddle for when we were Retreating there was one officer that was urging on his Men And Some of our Boys Caled to Me Shoot him. Well i Stoped turned And fired And he went head formost out of his Saddle…”

In one of the last battles of the war, the 76th was unfortunate enough to lose over 50 men in killed and wounded at the Battle of Fort Blakely from 2-9 April 1865. On 5 April, Ingalls writes to Mary, “…My dear here we Are in the Midst of death Sieging this place. The Shells and Balls Are flying As think As hale But thank god there has none of our Company Been hirt yet. We have Been here four days we drove the Rebs in to their forts the first day And now we have got to Siege them out. This is one of the Main defenses to Mobile…And we have them Surrounded only on the River Side And our fleet is coming…” Soon after the Battle, the regiment moved to Galveston, Texas, and were ultimately mustered out in August 1865. Two letters from Galveston are included in the lot.

Other interesting content in Ingalls’ letters includes his views on slaves, and the suspicions of a traitor in camp at the highest levels. On 17 September 1862, Ingalls writes to his wife about the degradation of working in front of idle blacks and of runaway slaves: “…There is About nine hundred negroes in this place And more coming in Every day. And i tell you what it is they have. A great deal More privilege than we do for they Can Come And go when And where they please. And if one of the Soldiers is Caught down town without A pass he is put in the guard house. And that is not the worst for our Men Are detailed Every day to do fateague duty which is to go to the river And unload Boats And the negroes Stand And look on. It is degrading in the Extreme…” In a 22 April 1863 letter, Ingalls writes about suspicions that General Elias Dennis was a Southern sympathizer: “…You need not Bee Surprised if you hear of our All Being taken prisoners Some of these Mornings for i Believe the Man that has Command of this part is A Rebel At hart And i will tell you why i think So. He Lets the Rebs Come in here to Buy provisions. Why Mary there will Bee As Many As A hundred Men And women Come in of A day And not only that But he Lets Rebel officers Come in under A flag of truce. He takes them to his head quarters And they have high times i Believe they would Come in with out A flag of truce if they were not Afraid of the pickets But he has not got them under his thumb. He make the Men take them too and fro Across the River in A Boat…There is A Store here where they trade At And the Boys went to him And told him if he did not quit Selling to the Rebels they would tear his house down But he paid no Attention…So the other knight there was About one thousand of them went over And cleaned him out. The guards tried Stop them But they Could not do any thing with them And then they told general dennis if he did not Stop the Rebs from Coming over here they would hang him…”

Lot is accompanied by a post-war kepi and shot bag, with Ingalls’ initials “H I” stitched in the lining of the kepi. Letters are very legible with most running 3-4 pages, and with covers for approximately half. Overall in very good condition. A fascinating lot, with an unusually prodigious number of Illinois Civil War Letters covering Ingalls’ entire service in the war.

Illinois Civil War Letters

Illinois Civil War Letters Archive.  Click image to enlarge.

Sold for $25,000.

TO RECEIVE YOUR FREE APPRAISAL of your Illinois Civil War letters, please write [email protected], call (310) 440-2982 or go to http://www.NateDSanders.com.  We’re an auction house in Los Angeles specializing in Civil War letters, including Illinois Civil War letters. FREE ESTIMATE for Illinois Civil War Letters.

Please let us know if you have Illinois Civil War Letters for sale. Top dollar procured for your Illinois Civil War Letters.

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