June 2012 Auction Ends Thursday, June 28th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/28/2012
Ten Civil War letters from Private Josiah Dunlap of the 134th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H. Dunlap, who mustered in on 21 August 1862, was trained at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg. Letters to his cousin-girlfriend Nancy J. Moore date from 22 October 1861 to 5 September 1862. Dunlap was discharged on a surgeon's certificate on 20 September 1862. On 22 October 1861, Dunlap writes, ''...we are making up a company and the Company poot me in first Lew tenant. We are going to drill next Saturday after noon. We make quite a show when we get on our uniforms...'' He also tells ''Nan'' that a neighbor died of ''Smalls spoks'' at Camp Curtin. Dunlap courts Nancy in his letters, asking in this one, ''...do you rember the time that we parted last. I do rember it...'' and ending with a romantic poem. Letter of 11 January 1862 reads in part, ''...We are to train nect Saturdy and I am the Caption. We hav a nice meadow to train in...'' In his 15 July 1862 letter, before going off to war, Dunlap sweet talks Nan and then proposes, ''...I bet you are the best looking girl in the crowd...Say wheather you will marry me or not. Tell me in your next and if you say yes in some futer day we will get the not tide...'' Letter of 7 August 1862 expresses Dunlap's disappointment at not being able to volunteer. It reads in part, ''...I wrote to you that I was going to war. We made up a company...elected our officers and had the time set when we was to start and they sent us a dispatch from Harrisburg and said that they did not want us...they had as many men as they wanted...I wont go again until they draft me...'' However, the 20 August letter came from Dunlap in the 134th Regiment in Washington, ''...We had quite a time comeing down hear...We are seven miles out of Washington...They say that General Jackson is in six miles of this capitul. If they come we will hav to stand up to it...We crost the potomac river...You must pray for the sucess of the 134 regiment and to protect us in the battle field...'' On August 30, the 134th marched towards Manassas, arriving after the Second Battle of Bull Run. The men returned to camp and were put in the defenses. Dunlap's next [undated] letter reads in part, ''...I can see one house that is tenn miles from hear. It is within tenn miles of Bulls Run...I like camp life very well...We hav to get up at four oclock and drill one hour before breakfast...Their is about to thousan in camp...'' Letter of 31 August 1862 from a camp near Alexandria reads in part, ''...We was in camp. They called it Camp Casey. It was seven miles from Washington..we was eatting our supper & the word come for us to martch in twenty five minutes...we started out on our trip & we went seven miles in two hours & the road very ruff & it was darke as pitch & we went through a swomp about one half mile in water up to the weast half of the time. We went on double quick & we hav to cary sixty pounes & that makes the boys fag. Their is five thousan of us that gows together...we stoped their to dayes & then we had to start & we went five miles to stop Jackson. We are in six miles from him and their is nothing but a roaring of the canon all day & nite & to day I can hear the gones plain now...If he comes we will giv him a warm exception for their is forty thousan of us in this camp...We hav got orders to martch this morning. It is word from General...They say that we are going down South from hear...We was to go down to Port Royl. Their was a ship at anker ready for us...'' His last letter, dated 5 September 1862, reads in part, ''...Nancy would you marry this solgier if he returns...You will go with me wherever I gow wheather on land or see...I think that our regiment will gard the citty of Washington is what our Colonel sayes....our boys are out maken in trenchments to day. Their is three hundred & fifty of them. The intrenchment is two miles long. That is for us to get behind if we get in to a fite...'' Lot also includes thirteen miscellaneous letters from years around Civil War, concerning domestic matters, and envelopes with various postmarks. Very good condition.
Ten Civil War Letters From Soldier in 134th Pennsylvania -- ''...we went five miles to stop Jackson. We are in six miles from him and their is nothing but roaring of the canon all day & nite...''
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