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Civil War Soldier's Archive of Letters and Related Items of Lansing Bristol of the 147th New York Infantry. ...
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147th New York soldier's archive containing twenty letters written during the Siege of Petersburg and an account of the Battle of the Crater
Civil War Soldier's Archive of Letters and Related Items of
Lansing Bristol of the 147th New York Infantry. Approximately
seventy letters dated from September 30, 1862 to January 28, 1865,
days before he was killed in action. Bristol writes home to various
family members during the entire course of his service. The letters
vary in length, though most are two pages in length. About half of
the letters are written in pencil. The archive includes Lansing's
copy of Infantry Tactics by Brigadier General Silas Casey
(Vol II, 1862), a carte de visite album containing
approximately 30 CDVs of family members, a few related military
documents, and additional letters by family members both war and
post war dated. There are approximately fifteen transmittal covers
including one containing a pen and ink drawing incorporating the
name of the recipient in the design possibly done by Bristol.The 147th New York Infantry, also known as the Oswego Regiment, mustered in for a three-year service on September 22, 1862. The 147th NY participated in numerous battles and campaigns playing a significant role in several key engagements including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Bristoe Campaign, and the Siege of Petersburg - during which Bristol was killed in action.
Lansing Bristol was mustered into Company D of the 147th New York Infantry as a sergeant on September 23, 1862. He was promoted to second lieutenant on April 28, 1864 and became a first lieutenant on November 19, 1864. He was killed in action during the final months of the war on February 6, 1865 at Hatcher's Run, Virginia.
Bristol writes home regularly and his early letters focus mainly on his daily life as a soldier, with good detail given to the adjustments he is having to make in the army. While camped in the D.C. area, Lansing writes on November 2, 1862 of the unexpected death of a fellow soldier and seeing Abraham Lincoln: "... A D Fuller was as well apparently as any of us. About 12 he was taken sick. We heard him all night. He was in great distress until eleven today when he died. They thought he had the billious cholick. This afternoon the Drs. opened him. They said that his inwards were tied into a knot so that he could not be helped. This morn we called the Co. up and raised over $70 to pay for his embalming & sending his body home... Tonight we were out on dress parade whilst there a carriage drove up with 3 men on it. One was Old Abe & the other was Secty Seward. They stopped & Old Abe stood up in his wagon, then he drove along the whole line... He did not look hardly as I had expected. He looks younger than supposed. Mr. King says that he is the smartest looking man that he ever saw... You cannot imagine anything of the warfare that is going on, we are on the road from Wash. to Harper's Ferry. Troops are almost constantly going that way. There are hundreds of horses going that way..."
In a letter dated December 31, 1862 written from Falmouth, he makes mention of the Battle of Fredericksburg and comments that "It does not seem to have amounted to a great deal." In an earlier part of the letter he notes the troops' feelings about the war, "Here there is a great want of confidence in the way it is carried on, many of the old Soldiers are disheartened & say that they have seen enough." The Union loss at Fredericksburg was deeply felt even by the troops that did not participate.
The Battle of Chancellorsville was one of the earliest engagements that the 147th fought in. Bristol writes a seven-page letter (in pencil) to his father written in the midst of it. In part, "In the woods 6 miles above Fred-burg - May 4th [1863]... I wrote you thursday. We were there below F --- formed in line of battle & expected to go in immediately. But we had a order to throwing up entrenchments which we did for 5 miles - before we got them done the Rebs began to shell us. Our Regt had 2 badly wounded probably mortally. They threw shells back & forth and hour or 2. After dark we finished our pits. We lay low all night ready to in in any minute. The next day there was not a gun fired. Saturday morn they commenced shelling again & kept up smart fore for 2 couple of hours. Soon there was something ahead. We were run out of the pits bent over so as to be seen. The most of the force was taken back the way we came. Our Regt. & others of the Brig were on the right. & followed the pit to the end & then put for the shore of the river which was covered by a high bank. The 6th Corps was along the shore & bank as we came along we came up a mile & crossed over on their bridge. Our Corps was then got together & put on a forced march up the river 6 or 8 miles above F---burg. That night we stopped a mile from the crossing at 9 in the morn we were routed at 2 o'clock & crossed over where Old Joe was fighting. We were marched to the front & relieved a Corps that had been n for certain. It was a very hard march... I saw a man from the front said that our Boys were in line & the night that they were fighting... We are along a road & have a heavy pit thrown up across the road & if they cross there will be a pit of dead bodies in this vicinity. We have lots of cannon here. You can have a ... of them & then multiply by a 100. It is being a very hard fight but it is allowed that we are scooping them. If we get out which we hope to of course, I shall have writing material enough for a long letter at least... The Rebs fight desperate but we got them so that they have to come out & take us more on our ground than ever before..."
Bristol's letters always make mention of his picket duties and drilling exercises, and although there are no letters dating from the Battle of Gettysburg, there are two letters both dated June 23rd [1863] that make reference to marching and drilling. He adds at the end of one of the letters that it is Wednesday morning and that they have received marching orders at 5:30, and at noon writes again that they did not go and were out drilling instead. In the second letter written that same day, but to his sister, he writes that that the cavalry had been in a fight: "Day before yesterday there was a fight between the Cavalry men here. Such fights generally have artillery & Infantry with them. We could hear the Cannon all day. It is said that we drove them."
Writing from "Camp near Culpepper" on September 23, 1863, Bristol describes the rapid changes to his brigade and notes that they will soon be on the move: "Yesterday we had 139 Conscripts come & expect more. None of our officers come with them. Yesterday afternoon we had a Brigade drill. There are 6 Regts. in our Brigade..." He adds to this letter on September 25 sharing that the bugle was sounded at noon, ordering them to pack, "in 2 hours the whole Corps was in motion, We started 7 fore to the left for about 6 miles... we are only a short distance from the Rappadan [Rapidan River]. The 12th Corps lay near here but went on before we came. This forenoon we had 80 more Conscripts... we got 7 & 10 the other day." He adds that there have been executions for desertion in recent days, one in the 2nd Division and "5 shot in one day in the 5th Corps."
Writing from Rappahannock Station on November 12, 1863, he describes a successful operation against Confederate soldiers that had encamped for the winter: "We are a Special guard to the road, in case of a Cavalry dash - there is a line on each side of the road. This move seems to have been a complete surprise & route to the Rebs. On this side of the river they had fortified but our men made a charge driving & taking prisoners making it a complete success. As they recrossed the river they fired the pontoon bridge, but our men put out the fire & fixed it up by adding some of our boats, making the bride. The Rebs had put up nice houses on the other side of the rive & got every thing rized up for winter quarters..." Bristol writes seven letters during the Mine Run Campaign giving a good account of troop movements. Writing on December 13, adding to a letter started the previous day, he gives an account of the troops progress: "We are all armed this A.M. The Boys are rather old & stiff we have marched a 100 miles torn up 15 miles of RR track destroyed a good deal of grain, eat some sweet potatoes as freshment - burned up a great many long houses & c..."
The 147th NY was involved in the prolonged siege operations around Petersburg, and the archive includes approximately twenty letters written during this period with content about their movements and engagements. On June 4, 1864 he writes from Chickahominy Swamp, "laying flat on the ground wishing that we could lay a little flatter... we have not had a great deal of fighting in our Brig - of late yet we have a good deal of bushwhacking & skirmish. Our Regt. has had 27 wounded & one killed within the last four days..." he lists all of the Divisions and Corps positions in the area and reports that one of the men under his charge had been shot in the leg. The rest of the letter describes an encounter with a Reb regiment and injuries suffered by two men in the brigade.
On July 30, 1864 he writes to his father describing the Battle of the Crater which had occurred earlier that day: "There were a large body of troops massed & a great attack anticipated. At 5 o'clock all was ready & the mine touched of which was a signal & in an instant the Artillery was roaring with a vengeance - which was answered by the Rebs very quickly. The fort was demolished in an instant & I think that a good share of its occupants never knew what hit them. In an instant there was a force of infantry thrown in the... & there was an awful cannonading for a few hours when things became more quick & we returned to our old camp. since we came back the Rebs have retaken the contested ground & a no. of prisoners. I don't know how many. I am afraid that our days work is worse than useless..."
In the only letter referencing Blacks, Bristol makes his feelings known about the Black troops and their participation at the Battle of the Crater: "Aug 9th [1864]... You spoke of the Col'd troops. I have no doubt but that they will fight as well perhaps as any - but the Officers are the main thing in any Regt - if the Officers run the men will. I have seen enough of that to know for at the commencement of the campaign we had just all we could do to keep our Col's in shape in a ... of places. & if the officers had of run. There is a good deal of blame attached to the N*** on the 30th. A great many say damn the N**** if there had been a white Div in there we would have held the hill. I don't know but it is so but I hear it sinted that their Officers run like sheep..."
Included in the archive is a letter from Bristol dated January 28, 1865 asking for a leave of absence for fifteen days to return home to take care of personal business. The letter has multiple endorsements on the verso, and his leave was approved on January 29. Bristol never took his leave as he was killed in action days later at Hatcher's Run on February 6. A letter from H. H. Hubbard dated February 12, 1864 (but really 1865) to Bristol's father describes his death: "... I should have written before if I could but have been marching & working etc. every day... We started from camp last Sunday morning & marched all day & found no enemy and thought should go back to camp but here we were mistaken & Monday we marched to Hatches Run and stayed there about 4 hours & then advanced on the enemy & had a terrible fight of about 3 or 4 hours when we were driven back. Lansing as shot in about an hour after entering the fight. He was standing about six feet from me & I heard the bullet when it hit him & looked around & saw him fall. I went up to him but saw that he was killed...I sent 4 men off with him & they took his body out & our Quarter Master had it embalmed..." A second letter notifying Bristol's father of his death is dated February 9 and is referenced in Hubbard's letter.
Alex King, another soldier in Bristol's company also writes to his family about his death in a letter dated February 14. He says that he was twelve feet from him and sent men from his company to carry him from the field. King gives an account of the ensuing fight and says that Bristol was buried and then despite their exhaustion from battle, his men carried his body "some ten miles by hand."
Condition: Approximately seven of Bristol's letters have loss of paper affecting the text. Most have light soiling and about 20 have foxing. The carte de visite album has a few torn pages and the clasp is not present. Infantry Tactics has foxing throughout, more so on the endpapers; cloth covered boards have wear and bumped corners. Transmittal covers have soiling and many have had the stamps removed.
Auction Info
2024 April 5 Historical Manuscripts Signature® Auction #6285 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
April, 2024
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