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The Battle of Balls Bluff - a graphic Confederate account. Written by Neil A. Baker, Co. G, 17th Miss. infantry. "We kill lots...
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Description
The Battle of Balls Bluff - a graphic Confederate account. Written by Neil A. Baker, Co. G, 17th Miss. infantry. "We kill lots and a great many drown themselves in the river."The battle of Balls Bluff in Loudoun County, Virginia was fought on October 31st, 1861 and was a humiliating defeat for Union General George B. McClellan. Neil A. Baker a Private in Company G of the 17th Mississippi Infantry had fought the battle of Manassas on July 21st and now gives a great description of the regiments 2nd battle, that of Balls Bluff. The letter is headed, "Camp at Goose Creek Loudoun County, Va., Nov. 10th, 1861". Writing his daughter he gives her these details:
"On the 21st of Oct. we fought the Yankees on the Potomac and gave them a complete thrashing. It was a greater victory according to numbers than the Bull Run Battle of the 21st of July."
"We were marching & countermarching and double-quicking for about a week before the Battle, but we tired not or rather we did not suffer our ardor to flag. We fought I suppose about 3 to 1."
"We killed lots and a great many drowned themselves in the River & took between 7 & 800 prisoners. We had only 3 regiments engaged in the fight. Viz. the 8th Va. & 18th & 17th Miss."
"We lost very few men. My Company (Co. G) lost 1 killed & 3 wounded. Col. Burt of the 18th wounded & has since died of his wounds. I only got one shot of the Hessians because I did not see anymore to shoot at."
"I got on the Battlefield a good overcoat, a first-rate gentleman's shawl, hat, haversack, canteen, etc. We captured 3 or 4 cannon & lots of small arms, pistols, swords & some horses."
"It is quite amusing to see our Officers & men since the Battle with Yankee overcoats on and other Yankee fixings. We hardly look like the same set of men."
"The 17th Regiment did not get into the fight until about an hour before sunset or perhaps later. When we came to the assistant of the two other Regts., we soon ended the conflict. We made the last charge about dark."
"After the Army left the Battlefield to camp, I volunteered to go back & look after the dead & wounded & plunder. I stayed down there until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning."
"The ground was strewn with dead & wounded Yankees & occasionally one of our men. The first few dead & wounded that I saw made one feel a kind of sickening horror that I cannot well explain, but I soon got over it and did not mind it any more than if they had been so many hogs."
"But I have glory & honor enough, if there is any such thing to be driven from being a soldier or in war. I have faced powder & ball twice and escaped and now I am satisfied. But if the Yankees are not, I am willing to meet them as often as they choose to engage us or until they acknowledge our Independence for I am not fighting for myself alone, but for my Country and for you and for others that are dear"
"if I fall in the din of Battle, I feel that I shall fall in defense of the South, in defense of the Daughters of the South, in defense of all our rights which a Blinded Fanaticism North has sought to destroy, subjugate & makes equal with Negroes"
" I feel and know that I am still in the hands & care of Our heavenly Father and that he can preserve me upon the Battlefield as well as anywhere else. Consequently, the dread of war is lessened by the reflections."
"We are some 8 or 10 miles from Leesburg. Our Mail Boy goes there every day except Sundays.... The Mississippi Ladies has not forgotten us. They have been busy all summer in preparing for us for winter. They are sending us socks, shirts, drawers, coats & in abundance, one man received 30 pair of socks & 7 or 8 pair pants & several shirts for himself and for distribution among those that had not."
The letter is 3 pages in length written on beautiful blue Confederate stationery. A fantastic Confederate letter.. From the Calvin Packard Civil War Battlefield Letter Collection.
Auction Info
2020 December 6 Arms & Armor, Civil War & Militaria Signature Auction - Dallas #6229 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2020
6th
Sunday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 13
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