Berdan's Sharpshooter Letter Regarding 1864 Presidential Election....

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Berdan's Sharpshooter Letter Regarding 1864 Presidential Election. Autograph Letter Signed, "Edwin Aldritt", four pages, 8" x 5", Petersburg, Virginia, October 24, 1864, to Joseph Aldritt, Excelsior, Minnesota. Aldritt, of Co. "A", 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, writes here to his parents, the letter reading in part: "...we lose some men every day, most in our Brigade killed or wounded by stray bullets or shell coming into camp...McClellin's (sic) stock is low here, honest Abraham Lincoln will get a large majority of the soldiers votes...the boys are going to stand by old Abe. Our regiment about all voted for Abe Lincoln. There was three or four voted for McClellin and they did not know anything...could be bought for a drink of whiskey...The McClellin men get it rough. The boys are all the time at them running down Mc and praising Lincoln and calling them copper heads...McClellin has got but very few friends among the soldiers and gets less every day...I will send in your letter a memoranda of one month...". The "memoranda" survives with the letter and is a seven-page manuscript document, also 8" x 5", in which the month of August 1864 is recounted with brief daily entries. Always starting with the weather, each day is a cycle of incoming artillery and picket activity. The lot is complete with the original postal cover. All items are clean, crisp and in fine condition. Altogether this small grouping has wonderful associations and content. Edwin Aldritt served in Col. Hiram Berdan's celebrated regiment for nearly the entire war. Enlisting as a private on October 5, 1861, Aldritt was transferred to the 1st Minnesota in January 1865 after Berdan's regiment was dissolved.