LOT #47182 |
Sold on Sep 21, 2023 for: Not Sold
Civil War Soldier's Letters by Alfred A. Thayer, 96th Ohio Infantry. ...
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Description
Civil War Soldier's Letters by Alfred A. Thayer, 96th Ohio Infantry. An archive of forty-eight letters, of which forty-six are war dated August 26, 1862 to March 24, 1864, one is dated as "November 11" with no year, and one letter dated July 15, 1877. Three war-dated letters are on patriotic stationery. Accompanied by forty-five original transmittal covers. Letters are written in pencil and ink and measure from 4.75" x 2.5" to 7" x 9". On August 18, 1862, Thayer mustered into Company B of the 96th Ohio Infantry and mustered out on July 7, 1865.During Thayer's time with the 96th Ohio, the regiment was attached to the Army of Kentucky, the Department of the Tennessee, and the Army of the Gulf. The soldiers were initially assigned guard duty in Kentucky for the first four months of their service before being assigned to Sherman's Yazoo Expedition. From there, they fought in multiple battles of the Vicksburg Campaign including Chickasaw Bayou and Chickasaw Bluff as well as the capture of Fort Hindman. For the remainder of the war, the 96th served in Texas and Louisiana until the soldiers were discharged in July 1865.
The letters here offer a comprehensive look into Thayer's experiences throughout the Civil War. Early letters written shortly after enlisting reflect the enthusiasm of a new recruit. On August 26, 1862, he wrote, "[T]here is a great bustle hear [sic] - we are going to leave here - for Columbus - Kentucky. The boys enjoy themselves the best we can. Hope you coming up and I will come home as soon as I can. We have not drawn our money yet and don't know when - I stood guard Sunday and - fetched three men up a standing [sic] at the point of the bayonet. They could not fool me. I stood on the opposite side of the river. We put a few in the guard house. We [are] enjoying ourselves the best kind - tell Mr. Davis I like the service if there was not so much swearing and card playing - I can git [sic] along without - I take no part in that."
Thayer's excitement continued while on guard duty in Kentucky. On September 15, 1862, he wrote, "[W]e are in camp fore [sic] miles from Covington. The camp is not named that-we have to go 8 miles for water to the river. There was a man drowned there, was found the next morning [he was] from the 45 reg. India. We have crackers made of flour and river water [as] hard as it can get-we haven't had any attack yet but expect one there. There is fort in site part done and there [sic] are putting it as fast as they can. We can stand here and see fore [sic] regiment. The rebels will have a hard time getting here if they try. The woods is cut so that that they will have to come the rode [sic]. We'll watch-the rode [sic] runs rite [sic] down a large gulf-we have entrenchments on the hills on both sides-fore [sic] miles from here-I haven't stood gard [sic] but three times. I keep in with the officers."
As the soldiers waited for a fight, tensions grew at camp. On November 2, 1862, Thayer described the brutal murder of one of his comrades. He wrote, "I feel to thank the lord for his kindness towards me. We had preaching this fore noon by our chaplain. His name is Ketchum. He is a very nice man-there was a man killed in the 108th Illinois. He was laying in his bunk. He was an orderly sergeant & this man had a grudge against him & was drunk-he got a hatchet, went in & struck him in the head killing him almost instantly so he will get shot..."
Finally, in the spring of 1863, the 96th Regiment joined the Battle of Port Hudson. Thayer described the aftermath in a letter written May 9, 1863: [T]here is been 6 or 7 hundred prisoners taken-some of them have been taken to Columbus, Ohio. I wish it had been our lot to go there [sic]-the report is that one of our brigade-I hope that it isn't so. There [sic] loss was larger than ours but our [loss] was large enough. There was a grate [sic] many of our men wounded-they [rebels] are a getting badly scared-the prisoners say-some think that the war will be over against the year is out."
A year and a half later, Thayer found himself in Arkansas shortly after his regiment left Morganza, Louisiana. As soon as the Union troops left, rebels raided the city. On November 27, 1864, he wrote, "[S]ince we left Morganza the rebels has made a dash in [and] killed one lieutenant & several men & taken several prisoners, then went to the slaughter yard and took all the beefs..."
The following spring, the 96th Ohio remained in the Deep South. On March 24, 1865, Thayer wrote of their recent march to cut Confederate troops off from Mobile, Alabama: "[W]e have had a very tedious trip since we left Fort Morgan-making 7 days-distance about fifty miles-we have been marching on a peninsula all the way threw the pine woods-it has been very heavy rains so it was impossible for anybody to get threw only sogers [sic] -we had to wade water a good deal of the way-one wagon went in so the fore end of the bed was in the mud, not much but quick sand-there is nothing but sand here-they had to take the mules off & we had the wagons to pull-it was all they could do to get the mules threw without any thing. One place we had to pull the whole train threw water hip deep, over one hundred wagons. We had to wade one stream-our division has made corduroy bridge half of the way. Whenever General Granger wants anything done he call for the 96. He is our corps commander. One day our regt was making roads & the general's train [got] stuck in the mud & he sent for our regt to help them out. The brigade commander sent back that we were on detail. The general sent orders for us to be relieved so we started back for the wagons train. Only a little while till we had them up-the general told our colonel he had the flour of the army-we are hard to beat-General Steele has cut off 3 or 4 thousand from Mobile. If so they are between Steele & us. I hope it [is so] for we can pick them up easier than if they were in Mobile. We have seen some citizens that think that they won't stand a fight at Mobile but it will be better if they do-if they leave they will go out of the way of the gunboats."
Thayer and his fellow soldiers had slogged through the mud and the rain to participate in the Siege of Mobile. Throughout the spring of 1865, Union forces led by Major General E.R.S. Canby slowly moved east towards the city, pushing Confederate troops back into the defenses around Mobile Bay. On March 27, Canby besieged Spanish Fort, one of the two main garrisons used by Rebel troops. On April 8, the fort fell and the following day, Union troops took Fort Blakely. Four days later, Mobile surrendered.
Condition: All letters creased along folds. Intermittent toning, staining, and foxing, occasionally affecting text.
Auction Info
2023 September 21 Historical Manuscripts Signature® Auction #6272 (go to Auction Home page)
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