April 2014 Auction Ends Tuesday, April 29th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/29/2014
Exceptional archive of Civil War letters by the earliest known black graduate of Yale, Dr. Richard H. Greene of Bennington, Vermont. This vast archive comprises 18 war-dated letters signed by Dr. Greene, a Yale College class of 1857 alumnus and graduate of Dartmouth Medical School. Greene enlisted as Asst. Surgeon and served the majority of his time as Ship's Surgeon on the USS State of Georgia steamship. One letter is written on Christmas to his mother, and the rest are addressed to his fiancee ''Lottie'' (Charlotte), whom he marries halfway through and subsequently addresses as ''Wife''. On 3 November 1863 Greene begins his Civil War journey: ''...I am ordered on board the US ship Ohio to await my commission from Washington and orders...'' A letter datelined Beaufort, North Carolina, 10 January 1964 reads, ''...We have not been able to communicate with the shore for its smallpox has been on board. There's a large part of the crew are sick. We have been ordered home and expect soon in NY...I hope I have not taken the disease and that I may be spared to see you again...'' By 19 January 1864 he announces, ''...I have got all my smallpox patients safely out of the ship and most all my other patients have recovered. I have had thus far a terrible time. Smallpox in its most malignant form in the ship and 25 others on their backs with serious bronchial symptoms. The ship in quarantine and no medicine to be got...'' After ridding the vessel of the epidemic Dr. Greene reports on 6 March 1864, ''On the blockade off Wilmington, NC'', writing, ''...While we were at Beaufort a report came that the 'Rebs' were advancing again and the men of war were ordered to remain to defend Morehead. Some of the lighter ones sailed up the little bay at the head of which to town is situated to sweep the railroad track with their guns. The enemy, however, were not near we learned, after a while and our ship left and we are here once more...I have now three down with the measles...'' The next week, on 15 March he reports, ''Yesterday we had a regular battle with the forts, a blockade runner got aground in the night under the guns of several batteries. Our vessel and another went in to try and destroy her with shell. Just about 6 pm we got within range for our rifled guns and opened fire. We carry a gun on our bows that throw a shell weighing 100 pounds. With this we kept up a constant fire...After our firing a few shot the enemy began to make signals all along the beach and presently they opened with the greatest rapidity and the shells flew around us thickly. One exploded under our bow, a good many struck around our stern and some went screaming over us. You would not believe that shell could fall so thickly about us and not hit for we did not have a man hurt...they fired at one of our vessels some time ago and the first shot struck on deck and killed three men...The fight lasted an hour and can judge of the feelings of a surgeon waiting to receive the ghastly bodies of the wounded...'' On 20 April 1864 he writes, ''In the Opera House, sentinels with muskets pace up and down the aisle. All the young men have gone out of the place with the Confederates and a kind of gloom hangs over the city. A good many of the secesh ladies remain -- they turn their heads when they meet any of our officers. Most of them are in black. Though there are many troops & northerners in the streets, the city looks desolate. The pastors of some of the churches are put out & chaplains of our regiments officiate in their stead; few of the inhabitants attend the churches which are mostly occupied officers, officers' wives & northerners. I really cannot conceive that we shall ever be a united people; words can hardly express the bitterness of the southerners towards the north...Just before we left the blockage we had a severe action of one hour with the batteries on shore. A blockade runner got on shore right under the batteries and the Cap. After waiting until the Rebs had got nearly everything out of her got very drunk and without orders swore he would run in and destroy the vessel. He came on board from one of the others ships where he had been on a drunken spree ordered steam and the ship cleared for action. We ran in and began at them and the fort & batteries for a mile along the beach opened on us. The shells flew over us and on all sides but we were not damaged though one exploded under the bows and one under the stern...The Cap[tain] has been sober but little of the time. He is on shore on a spree now, in fact he has been drunk ever since he has been here...'' One month later, 21 May, more action, ''...We have had exciting times on the blockade this time, the Rams have been out and fired at the fleet and were peppered away at them, on the first day one struck on the bar and fell to pieces under the guns of Fort Fisher and the other is aground in the river...One of our gunboats up the James River has been blown to atoms and all on board by a torpedo and Rams have been out on the sounds sunk some of our vessels and raised the fury. I cannot conceive what the Gov. can be about in not sending iron vessels down here suited to cope with such powerful enemies...The slaughter in the late battles was beyond your conception...'' On 16 July 1864 he writes, ''...the Rebs began a formidable advance on this place. We were the only heavy vessel here and were posted to defend the Navy Yard...'' The doctor recalls a tragic patient on 26 July 1964 from the Gosport Navy Yard, ''...I had a very interesting visit to the hospital of Portsmouth interesting indeed to me as a surgeon but sad, as the fellow I noticed lying pale but composed and cheerful - he looked better than most I saw - I asked him what was the matter - he pointed to his right thigh and raised the dressing, there was the wound of a minie ball through the hip joint coming out on the inner part of the thigh...there was no hope. The next day I learned he sank and died...'' Dr. Greene (sometimes spelled Green by others) was reassigned to the USS Seneca. He survived the war and resigned on 18 May 1865. Lot is accompanied by two war-dated letters to Dr. Greene from friends CH Bissell and JB Brooks, a signed receipt for his subscription to the New York Medical Journal, a war-dated Treasury Department claim document, war-dated telegraph document and nearly a dozen other receipts and documents from Greene's estate. Most letters run 2-6pp. Near fine.
Civil War Archive From Yale's First Known Black Graduate & Navy Surgeon, Dr. Richard Greene -- ''...The slaughter in the late battles was beyond your conception...''
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