May 2015 Auction Ends Thursday, May 28th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/28/2015
Excellent lot of 5 Civil War letters by George A. Huron, Quartermaster Sergeant of the 7th Indiana Infantry, Co. I. Letters have strong battle content from several of the regiment's most high-profile engagements, including Gettysburg, the second battle of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Fort Republic and Front Royal. Huron was a school teacher before mustering into the 7th and his letters are eloquent and full of concise detail regarding battle strategy. The Gettysburg letter was written two days after the July 1-3 battle and he describes the heavy carnage and death of various generals. Letter is datelined, ''Near Westminster, Maryland July 5th, 1863'' and reads: ''Dearest May...My last letter was written near 'Saint Mary's College,' the school which Washington attended. It is beautifully located amid mountain scenery...Slavery is hardly known in the neighborhood, the best farms I have seen are cultivated by free labor, and from what I can see slavery is not the petted institution here which it is in Virginia...The army met the Rebels July 1st and we had a terrible battle which lasted three days. There was no firing yesterday and the most reliable news received was that the enemy was in full retreat. The fighting was at Gettysburg Pennsylvania, twenty five miles from here...The carnage is said to have been terrible. Our loss is heavy. Several Generals are killed and wounded, among them General J.J. Reynolds, commanding our Corps. He was killed in the commencement of the engagement, while superintending in person the planting of a battery by a Minnie ball from the gun of a rebel sharpshooter in a tree...I think we can almost totally annihilate the Rebel Army here. Their supplies are cut off and we can keep them so busy that they cannot get supplies from the country. We have sent about five thousand prisoners to Washington, forty thousand cavalry are in the rear of the enemy. At Cumberland Camp a letter from Lee to Davis was captured a few days ago stating that he was in a 'precarious situation and if not reinforced within a few days his army would be lost.' Another dispatch from President Davis to Genl. Lee said immediately to its defense, 'The prisoners represent provisions scarce and supplies of ammunition short. If we can hold all the advantages gained our victory will be complete.'' Earlier that year, Huron describes the fallout of the second battle of Fredericksburg and the battle of Chancellorsville. Headlined, ''Qr. Masters Office 7th Ind. / May 11th 1863'', battle content reads: ''My last was written while the battle here was in progress and as it is over for the present at least. Some of the results can be given. Doubtless the northern traitors will preach a defect and try to make capital of Hasker's partial failure, but there is not a soldier with who I have conversed who things we were whipped. Through the cowardice of one corps, the 11th, the general plan was so broken that it would not have been prudent to have followed up our successes. Early in the engagement the 11th Corps took a panic and retreated in the utmost confusion, throwing away guns, accouterments, provisions & clothing, and leaving the 3rd, 5th and 12th Corps without support and their flanks exposed. The consequence was they were badly cut to pieces before reenforcements could reach them. The 1st Corps, the one the 7th is in was moved from the left to fill the gap left by the 11th Corps and this left Sedgwick's left flank unprotected and when he stormed the fortifications on the nights, the Rebels came between his left flank and the river attacked him in the rear. This placed the whole Corps in a perilous position and they had cut their way out. Genl. Sedgwick masked his batteries and posted his troops so that he did the Rebels great injury. All who have spoken in my hearing estimate the loss of the enemy as twice as great as ours. They for once were not previously informed of our move and had all the troops performed the part allotted to them. Our victory would have been complete. As it is the greater portion of the army is in good condition and we don't expect to remain idle long. The loss in the 7th has one killed & three wounded.'' A year prior, he describes the aftermath of the Battle of Port Republic. Datelined ''Front Royal Va. / June 14th 1862'', letter reads: ''We have had but one mail since we left Fredericksburg. Shields' Division is now at Luray 27 miles from here...We have no later news from the fight at Fort Republic. Conflicting rumors but nothing reliable. Loss on both sides very great. The 'Louisiana Tigers' and three other regiments fought the 7th at one time. The Tigers have fought in all Jackson's battles and boast of having never been whipped but some of them we took prisoners say when they met the Seventh Ind. They knew nothing about fighting. They had charged bayonets on every regiment they ever fought and never repulsed until the gallant Seventh repulsed them, which it did repeatedly, mowing them down like grass. Those taken say their regiment is cut to pieces. Sixty two prisoners were sent from here today. We had a good many taken prisoner and many are missing. Stragglers are still coming in, nine who made their escape after being surrounded came in today. They swam the Shenandoah River and came in that way. They report that over three hundred dead were left on the field. A great many have returned since the battle who were at first not accounted for. Col. Buckley, 29th Ohio, brought near two hundred into camp. Most of the wounded who are able are going home on furlough...Commanding has been hard toward Luray this afternoon. If Jackson is advancing here there will be more bloody fighting. Shields Division cannot meet him alone with chance of victory. But McDowell, Banks and Ord are in supporting distance and may come to the rescue in time to turn the seale. It is reported that Jackson has at least fifty thousand men.'' In a 24 June 1862 letter, he describes the refusal of Congress to confirm General Shields as Major General leading up to the Second Battle of Bull Run that August of 1862: ''...Congress refused two days ago to confirm Genl. Shields as Major General; his division has been given to Genl. Reynolds, and it is said he will resign. He is much blamed, by some, for the third and fourth Brigades being so badly cut to pieces at Port Republic...I think it is well that our friends are so far away from the seat of war. The suspense would be unbearable were you in hearing of the cannon's roar and the rattle of musketry. Eleven of Co. J are missing, among them Thos. Gossett and John King. It is thought King is a prisoner but we fear Gossett was killed. He has not been heard of since the first day's fighting. We heard today that Jackson entered Front Royal yesterday and Ranks was shelling him from the opposite side of Shenandoah. It is hard to acknowledge defeat after such buoyant hopes for victory...'' In the final letter, dated 22 March 1863, he interestingly discusses a conflict with his Captain in his Quartermaster's Clerk promotion. Each letter is written to his wife and is signed ''George''. The March 1863 letter is split in two at horizontal fold. Expected toning and folds to each. Very good overall.
Letter Lot From the 7th Indiana Infantry With Gettysburg & Chancellorsville Content -- ''...met the Rebels July 1st and we had a terrible battle...The carnage is said to have been terrible...''
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