Two Autograph Letters Signed by Chaplain William L. Hyde of the 112th New York Infantry on the Battle of Cold Harbor. ...

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"How sad to think of the carnage and slaughter of that evening, but it was inevitable... You see that Richmond must be taken and if it costs every man in the army now, others must rush in to fill their places. The great cause is what should shine above the life or any pleasure of personal ambition."

Two Autograph Letters Signed by Chaplain William L. Hyde of the 112th New York Infantry on the Battle of Cold Harbor. Includes: 1) Six pages of bifolia, 4.875" x 8", White House Landing, Virginia; June 3, 1864. In pencil. 2) Four pages of a bifolium, 4.5" x 7", White House Landing, Pamunkey River, Virginia; June 4, 1864. Chaplain William H. Hyde of the 112th New York Infantry mustered into service with the regiment on September 11, 1862. While in Virginia in summer 1864, the 112th took part in the Battle of Cold Harbor, a series of brutal and costly assaults that proved devastating to the Union forces. These two letters were penned to his wife, Elizabeth, during the heaviest days of the fight. Hyde describes the casualties, the death of Colonel Jeremiah C. Drake and Hyde's dangerous journey to White House Landing to secure the services of an embalmer. They read, in part:

"[June 3]: I have just time this morning to write you a hasty line. The telegram has already informed you that we have been in a desperate battle and that Col. Drake is killed. We marched day before yesterday from New Castle 12 miles... and were immediately thrown forward to the front and the brigade was ordered to carry the Enemy's works which they did with fearful loss. I was at the beginning of the fight near the regiment and immediately went to the field Hospital with our Doctors to make ready for the wounded. They soon began to come in. The fight began about 4 O'clock and continued till near dark indeed there was skirmishing all night. They kept coming in all night and I had with others all we could do in taking care of our own dear boys. Col. Drake was brought in about 6 O'clock. He had shown the most desperate valor. At every part of the line when there was the lest wavering in the charge he was present waving his sword and cheering his men on. While doing this the fatal bullet hit him and he fell. The wound was through the abdomen & of course mortal. He felt it so from the first. 'Chaplain' he said as I met him, 'I am going to die. Take these things' giving me his watch and field glass. 'I want my body send home. Give my love to my wife. Tell my friends & tell the world that I died a brave man. I die at peace with all men and at peace I trust with my God...He soon passed away. We then tenderly arranged his form and dress and finding I could get no ambulance I determined to take him to White House on the same mule cart wh. bore Lt. Col. Carpenter. It was rather a hazardous journey but the task must not be thought of, for him who have perished and lost his life for his country...I can't begin to tell you the trouble we had, but suffice to say that after a toil of 2 hours we found an embalmer, got the bodies over a path thought impossible and before I slept Col. Drake looked as natural as you ever saw him in life... The Col. died surrounded with the wreath of his own splendid command."

"[June 4] I wrote you yesterday the reason for my being at this place. I came here with the body of Col. Drake which I had embalmed... I long to be back to do what good I can to the men. I shall have a large no. of letters to send to friends of soldiers. How sad to think of the carnage and slaughter of that evening, but it was inevitable. The capture of those works was essential to the movements made since which have been eminently successful. You see that Richmond must be taken and if it costs every man in the army now, others must rush in to fill their places. The great cause is what should shine above the life or any pleasure of personal ambition."

This letter was published in Jim Quinlan's Armed Only with Faith, a compilation of Chaplain Hyde's correspondence and journals.

Condition: Smoothed folds.

More Information: William Lyman Hyde (1819-1896) was born in Bath, Sagadahoc County, Maine, to Henry and Maria (Hyde) Hyde (third cousin to Henry). After attending public schools in Bath, Hyde taught for three years at a military and classical school in Ellsworth, Maine, before entering a program of theological study at Bangor Seminary, graduating in 1848. The following year, Hyde began a seven-year tenure as a minister at Gardner, Maine, and later was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Dunkirk, New York, for a number of years. On May 4, 1852 he wed Elizabeth Rice, daughter of Warren and Mary Webster of Wiscasset, Maine. Hyde resigned his ministry in 1862 to serve as Chaplain of the 112th New York Infantry, a position he held until the end of the Civil War. The regiment was organized at Jamestown, New York, and mustered in for three years-service on September 11, 1862. They participated in sixteen battles, including Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Chaffin's Farm, Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road, Fort Fisher, and the Carolinas Campaign. The 112th New York Infantry mustered out of service June 13, 1865. After the war, Hyde served as a pastor in Ripley and in Sherman, New York, until 1874, when he became principal of the Ovid (New York) Academy and Union School. In 1884, Hyde moved to Jamestown, New York, where he was associated with the Jamestown Journal, of which his son was an editor. In 1866, Hyde published a book, History of the One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment N.Y. Volunteers which remains the only regimental history concerning the 112th Infantry. Jim Quinlan edited and published a collection of his correspondence and journals in 2015 in Armed Only with Faith.