875

A RECENTLY RELEASED CONFEDERATE P.O.W. DESCRIBES RICHMOND JUST PRIOR TO ITS EVACUATION IN 1865.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Militaria Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 700.00 USD
A RECENTLY RELEASED CONFEDERATE P.O.W. DESCRIBES RICHMOND JUST PRIOR TO ITS EVACUATION IN 1865.
"They find baskets necessary to carry the money required…"

Fine content war date A.L.S. "W.S.W." 3pp. 4to., Richmond, Va., March 29, 1865. Identified in pencil as William S. Wall, the correspondent was a recently released Confederate P.O.W. who provides a good account of his return from captivity as well as a superb and unusual account of life in the Confederate capital just before the evacuation of the city. Wall writes two days after his release, in part: "…Richmond is a gay place, and except in the high price of every thing, I can see but little difference between it and other cities. Every thing is plenty. The stores can furnish any article called for, and the streets are full of gaily dressed ladies. For gold, or silver, a man can live cheaper here than in New York, but for Confed. money it requires a small fortune a day. It used to be, that persons carried baskets to market to bring home their purchases, but now they find baskets necessary to carry the money required. I have, but a few minutes since, had a plate of very fine ice-cream in as fine and well furnished saloon, as can be found in Cincinnati, or Louisville. The bill was only $5.00 (cheap). There is no fighting, particularly going on, along our lines, now, nothing more serious than an occasional skirmish. In the little affair near Petersburg the other day, we trounced the Yankees finely… I have seen none of the dejection, and scare, among the citizens of Richmond, which Northern accounts led me to expect- on the contrary, business is just as brisk, and the people just as lively, as if Grant's Army was a hundred miles away. If there is any intention to evacuate Richmond, it requires some one better posted than I am, to see any of the indications. I can't see anything that looks like it. I thought I had seen fortifications and buns before, but I must acknowledge that until I came here, I had seen but little. There are guns enough to fence in half of Harrison County … Of my trip from Prison … but as my last letter had to pass through the hands of an Inspector couldn't say much more than that we were well treated … The guards it is true did treat us, or rather those of us who had a little money, better than we expected. The officer (a little, excitable Dutch lieutenant…) put us to all the discomfort he dared - closed car doors and windows when wherever we stopped at a station, would not allow us to speak to citizens, and drove off all the pedlers &c. that came near us - frequently refused to allow us to have water, when the men were almost suffocating with thirst … It was almost as bad as remaining in Prison. The Yankees would not generally allow us to buy bread & pies &c. from the pedlers, but would buy it themselves, an let us have it, at double, or treble cost. At night, when we would lie down in the heat to sleep, they would steal the boys hats & blankest &c. and many poor boys came around bare headed… " Some toning along folds, else very good.

Estimate: $500 - 700.

Download Our Current PDF Auction Catalog

Part I: Lots 1-979 - September 27th, 2012

Part II: Lots 980-1845 - September 28th, 2012