LOT #47121 |
Reserve Amount: $3,800
Civil War Soldier's Letter Archive by William J. Dinsmore of the Massachusetts 1st Infantry....
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Description
Civil War Soldier's Letter Archive by William J. Dinsmore of the Massachusetts 1st Infantry. Comprises 51 letters by William J. Dinsmore, a soldier of Company H of the Massachusetts 1st Infantry, documenting his service from the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861 until his death on September 3, 1862, following wounds sustained at the Second Battle of Bull Run. One of the Union Army's most heavily engaged regiments, the 1st Massachusetts fought in many of the war's earliest and bloodiest campaigns. Dinsmore's correspondence covers combat at Bull Run, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks (Seven Pines), the Seven Days Battles, and Malvern Hill, among others. Also included are two daguerreotypes in their original cases of Dinsmore and his wife, as well as a pressed butterfly specimen enclosed with Dinsmore's letter dated September 30, 1861.Dinsmore, a ship joiner by trade, enlisted in the Union Army on May 22, 1861, at the age of twenty-seven. After only brief training, his regiment was thrust into the war's first major engagement at Bull Run, Virginia, on July 19, 1861. Writing in the battle's immediate aftermath, Dinsmore recounts the ferocity of the fighting:
"I take this opportunity to write these few lines to you to let you know that I am still alive and well after one of the hardest fought Battles on record our regiment led the van and we was the first comp engaged we charged on the enemy right up to the mouth of their battery our comp is a good deal cut up but thank god I was not hurt but still survive to avenge some of my comrades..." At the conclusion, he adds a list of the dead and wounded, noting whose injuries were likely fatal.
Following Bull Run, the regiment remained on duty in Maryland and Virginia, engaging primarily in skirmishes and minor actions. Writing from Camp Hooker on February 20, 1862, Dinsmore describes having his daguerreotype taken and sending it home to his wife:
"We had a visit from 8 men from North Chelsea last night they stopped in Camp all night with us they start for home this forenoon so I had my Daguerreotype taken and I send it with one of them who is going to give it to you."
In April 1862, the regiment was ordered to Yorktown, driving Confederate forces toward Williamsburg. On May 5, Union troops clashed with General Longstreet's command at the Battle of Williamsburg, resulting in heavy casualties. Writing from the battlefield on May 6, 1862, Dinsmore reports:
"The Battle is over and we remain in possession of the field the fight commenced yesterday morning at six oclock and continued all day without interruption until after dark what the loss in killed and wounded is I do not know...we opened the fight in the morning but our company was lucky this time as there was not one of our company killed or wounded...the battle field is a horrid looking place the rebels are in full retreat from here with our Cavelry and artilery in pursuit."
In a subsequent letter from Williamsburg dated May 13, 1862, Dinsmore recounts a narrow escape from serious injury during the fighting:
"About that shot that came so close that you heard of it it only went through my clothes right at the side of my left kidney but did not touch my skin. And I had so many clothes on and was running so that it knocked me down but I did not lay long. I thought I was hit it felt just so for about a minute but I was lucky then and have been so in the Battle since although seeing some very horid sight..."
The regiment had little time to recover before meeting Confederate forces again at Fair Oaks. Writing from Poplar Hill on June 1, 1862, Dinsmore describes nearby combat and a harrowing night spent on guard during a violent lightning storm:
"Two of the brigades in our division were in a fight today it was a very hard one we were not in it but expected to be every minute...I was on guard in a piece of woods and the lightning was so strong I had to take my Bayonet of[f] my gun every flash would light up so you could see all through the woods which would be followed by darkness of the darkest hue. The lightning would play along up and down the gun barrel in flashes...This morning Gen Hooker took the other two Brigades of this division...and went up on the other road a little ways from here...we heard the roar of musketry which continued and was kept up steadily for over two hours when our folks drove them our loss is reported heavy..."
Later, during the Seven Days Battles, Dinsmore provides a detailed account of the hard-fought Battle of Oak Grove in a letter dated June 26, 1862. He describes advancing through wooded terrain under fire and driving Confederate forces from the field:
"We had a hard fight yesterday...We found the rest of the Brigade we then proceeded to the Edge of the wood where the New Jersey Brigade was on pickett they drew in their picketts and we were ordered to advance through the woods in line of Battle...the Enemies pickets opened on us and retreated before us we followed them up as fast as the nature of the ground would admit...on our right flank the 2nd New Hampshire was immediately ordered to our right to protect us which they done in good stile pouring in volley after volley into the Enemy which caused them to fall Back to an open field across which we drove them with great slaughter...The loss of the enemy is large we also suffered some mostly wounded..."
Dinsmore was ill and did not participate in the Battle of Malvern Hill on July 1, though he did write home with news of the campaign. In his final surviving letter, dated August 4, 1862, he writes of missing home and asks after his family. Shortly thereafter, the regiment moved from Fort Monroe to Centreville, engaging Confederate forces at Bristoe Station and Auburn before entering the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 29, 1862. Dinsmore was mortally wounded in that engagement and died a week later.
The archive concludes with an official document from the Massachusetts Adjutant General's Office, confirming that "William J. Dinsmore...died on the 3d day of Sept 1862 of wounds received at Manasses Va Aug 29th 1862."
Condition: Generally good with expected mailing folds, as well as toning and minor wear commensurate with age. Both daguerreotype cases with some wear, including light scuffs and minor chips; upper cover of Dinsmore's daguerreotype case detached at hinge. Butterfly specimen largely intact but very fragile.
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2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction #6328 (go to Auction Home page)
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