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Civil War Letters From Brigadier General William Nelson Green, Jr., Mortally Wounded at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana.. ...
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Description
Civil War Letters From Brigadier General William Nelson Green, Jr., Mortally Wounded at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana.Excellent archive consisting of four war-date letters from Green (1862), one letter from Green dated 1860, and a carved heart-shaped bone charm from Libby Prison. Including: 1) A one page, 5 x 8-inch letter, Andover, January 30, 1860 from a 16-year-old Green to his grandfather thanking him for his "kind and affectionate" letter and apprising him of the local weather. 2) A four-page letter on integral folded leaf, 3 ¾ x 6-inches, Fort Greble, April 27, 1862, to his grandfather requesting that his grandparents "...step for a few moments into Adams Photographic Gallery and get a photograph of each of you separately taken for me..." offering to pay the expense. 3) A two-page letter, 4 x 5 ¼-inches, Fort Greble, May 19, 1862, to his grandfather writing that he anticipates a "...march soon for Acquia Creek...". 4) Lt. Green moved with his regiment south into Dixie sometime in May. On August 9, 1862, his regiment met Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Cedar Mountain where Green was captured. May Pike, his cousin, wrote a poignant five-page letter to Green's father William, Sr. on August 20, 1862. She wrote in part: "When I wrote my last letter to you so long ago we little thought that the next one would be written at such a time as this. The miseries of our country have become vital & personal to us, & I fear also to you, for I think Lieut. W. N. Green whose name is among the prisoners taken at Cedar Mountain must be your son. My dear brother who was aide to Gen. Prince...mentioned having found a new cousin in the 102 N.Y....We have heard nothing from my brother since that gallant but dreadful battle [Cedar Creek] & the information leads us to believe he was with Gen. Prince at the time he was taken prisoner... Of the agonies we have endured I say nothing, for if I am correct in my surmise, your family has endured the same." 5) Green spent the next 46 days in Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. Included in the archive is a small ½ x ¾-inch carved bone heart charm incised "Lt. Col. William N. Green Aug. 9th 62 Libbie [sic] Prison". The edge of the heart is decorated in crude floral designs. 6) By November 3, 1862, he was in Annapolis, Maryland, waiting to be exchanged. He writes his grandfather a brief one-page letter, in part: "I go every day to the Library at the State House and read, am reading "History of the French Revolution"... it is very interesting...I don't have one word covering my exchange but hope soon to get back to my Regt."
William Nelson Green, Jr. was a resident of Worcester, Massachusetts. On September 16, 1861, at the age of 18 years old he enlisted as a private. That same day he mustered into "K" Company of the Massachusetts 25th Infantry. On March 7, 1862 he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant into "A" Company of the New York 102nd Infantry. On August 8, 1963 he was commissioned into Field and Staff of the New York 173rd Infantry. He rapidly rose up the ranks. He was listed as a POW on August 8,1862 at Cedar Mountain, Virginia and confined to Libby Prison for 46 days. He was severely wounded at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, resulting in the amputation of his left arm, and died May 13, 1864. He was breveted Brigadier General from the date of his wounding.
Condition: Very good.
Auction Info
2023 June 19 Arms & Armor, Civil War & Militaria Signature® Auction #6271 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2023
19th
Monday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 1
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
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