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ARCHIVE OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM H. MICKLE, 134TH NEW YORK.

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ARCHIVE OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM H. MICKLE, 134TH NEW YORK.
ARCHIVE OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM H. MICKLE, 134TH NEW YORK. William H. Mickle Papers, 134th New York Infantry and AAQM Artillery XI AC 143 letters from Mickle, 7 other war-date letters; 113 post-war letters; 28 legal documents, 4 diaries; 2 cartes de visite and other photos; ca.100p. of lecture notes and speeches. William H. Mickle (1839-1922) from Marianville, Schenectady County, N.Y., was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 134th New York Infantry, serving in Virginia, but was promoted to Assistant Adjutant General on the staff of the Chief of Artillery for XI Corps when it took part in the campaigns in Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas. After the war, Mickle was awarded a brevet promotion to Captain for faithful and distinguished services" and for "gallantry and devotion." An educated man, a Methodist Episcopal minister after the war, Mickle wrote home regularly to his fiancTe, Oleavia Ploss, and several family members, including a Copperhead father and uncle. His letters are written in a graceful and fluid style that reflects his intellect and insight and, as the war went on, his increasing commitment to the Union cause and to the President. Arriving in Virginia just after the battle of Fredericksburg, his first experience in combat was at Chancellorsville (described in a fine 6p. letter), and by the time of Gettysburg, he had attracted the attention of his superiors for his abilities as a soldier. Three letters provide details of his experiences at Gettysburg, in which the 134th lost 63% of their effectives on Cemetery Hill. Mickle wrote that the regiment "went into the battle against terrible odds as we had not troops sufficient at that hour to cope with the enemy & were sadly cut to pieces," losing about 350 men. Among the more remarkable stories was his friend, Nelson Young, who "had a ball put through his hat crown & on through his pants the first day & the second was blown up about two feet with a shell. I saw him when the shell exploded. It killed one & wounded four, but did not hurt Nelson Much. He is promoted to Sergeant Major now, & I hope some day may get a commission as an Officer." A few days later, Mickle informed Oleavia that he had not only survived, but been promoted to AAQM on the staff of the Chief of Artillery for XI Corps: "We have crowded the Rebs until we have them in close quarters. One wing of their forces resting on Antietam Creek & the other on the Potomac. If we whop them here (which I think we shall do) they will be entirely demoralized. O! that they would yield without more bloodshed!!.. We have been moving for a month & have accomplished more in that time than ever before since the Rebellion. Our Cavalry & Flying Artillery have been harassing the flank & rear of the Rebs ever since the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., & have captured many prisoners & wagon trains & Artillery. I understand that the enemy have a good quantity of Infantry ammunition but not much Artillery. If so we can play on them from a distance with our heavy guns & scatter death & terror through their thinned ranks.... The day of peace begins to dawn"Recovering from illness in August 1863, brought through by the ministrations of kind southern woman, Mickle wrote home in characteristic fashion: "Sometimes I am quite taken up with their style of living, that is cherishing home as the most sacred spot on earth & concentrating all affection in their families. But when I see the direful effects of Slavery even here, I turn away from it with disgust. O! ha! ha! ha! I've got a Darkey for a waiter, or probably it would not grate so harshly if I'd say hired man! His name is Ned, one of the offspring of that famous individual 'Uncle Ned, who died long ago,' &c. How I wish you could see his elegant features... for a comparison he'd be compelled to go to Uncle Samie's & get an awful big pear. His eyes - well now my pen can't describe them. You have seen the full moon when little flakes of clouds were dotted o'er its surface? Well that's no comparison. His lips are of the true African style & teeth like so many pearls. I'll not make any further remarks about my Ned, or Frank & Jennie will surely fall in love with him." In November 1863, XI Corps was dispatched to join Sherman's army, under command of Joe Hooker to assist at Chattanooga. At Mission Ridge, Mickle again witnessed a major battle: "Our troops moved from Bridgeport, Ala., last week to this place, but after they had driven the Rebs from the valley & had all quietly lain down to sleep, about 12 O'clock at night, they came down from the mountain & pounced upon us evidently with the intent to annihilate us, but our gallant boys 'couldn't see it in that light' as they say, so they jumped up amid the leaden showed, seized their guns & went into the Johnies like a dose of salts (figuratively speaking). The fight last till about 3 in the morning when our boys charged up the heights & drove them in confusion from the field, killed & wounding many & capturing a goodly number of prisoners. They do not molest us any more now, save the throwing of those shell into camp & among our wagon trains occasionally, about 50 to 100 a day. But the boys do not mind that kind of fighting any more, as we lay down at night & sleep as soundly as you do in your own feathered nests. It is a waste of ammunition for them as they do not kill enough to make it pay: They have killed but one Darkey & wounded a few soldiers, while their shell cost them $50 a piece!" During the Atlanta Campaign, Mickle's position provided him with time enough to write very long, enjoyable letters describing the progress of the war. Perhaps a third of the collection was written between May and September 1864, some very long and wonderfully detailed. Surprisingly for such a pious man, Mickle worshipped the notorious Joe Hooker, "terror of the gray backs," whom he felt "would soon have their army annihilated" if let loose, though he added "these western Genls are afraid of the reputation Hooker would gain by letter him work, consequently they keep him in the background." One of the best letters, written July 23, 1864, describes the battle of Peach Tree Creek: "suddenly like an avalanche the Gray Backs were upon us, firing volleys into our line before we were aware of their approach - But "Hooker's Iron Clads," as the boys call themselves, were not to be duped though they were unexpectedly fired into, but found their lines quickly under that galling fire & met the Johnies with such determination and poured such an unnerving fire unto their massed columns that they (the Rebs) were compelled to retire - But they had no sooner broken their first line when another came in with their fiendish yell but to meet a worse fate than the former one - thus they mad four severe charges on our line - took us a little by surprise but were most gloriously beaten back at every onset... one of our Divisions captured (7) seven stands of colors - buried (195) one hundred & ninety five dead Johnies in rear of this line (I mean in rear of the main line the Division occupied after countercharging them) took nearly (200) two hundred wounded Rebs & captured over 100 well ones... I had some narrow escapes to day from the bullet & feel sadly because one of our Orderlies was mortally wounded this P.M. while riding out with us. The General was riding between the line of battle & skirmish line (as usual) reconnoitering the position & suddenly came to an open space where the line crossed the road into the city of Atlanta, & knowing that the Rebel Sharpshooters had close range of that point, I told Col. Perkins, the AAG that the General's life was in danger & that he ought to notify him of the fact, The Col. didn't see the danger, but knowing the full extent of it I told him again that some one of us would get shot there when all at once the Orderly riding a few feet behind us said 'I am shot through the body,' & got off his horse & lay down. The General was sad indeed & said why didn't you tell me there was danger so near," when I replied that I had asked Col. Perkins to inform him of it...." In an outstanding eight-page letter in September 6, 1864, he describes the events from Resaca, New Hope Church, Snake Creek Gap, Pine Mountain (where they drove the Rebels back into works constructed by "Darkies & Militia so that the troops wouldn't have to work so hard") up to the fall of Atlanta. The letter ends with Mickle in Atlanta: "Last night I saw Genl Sherman and he was very much please with the success of our campaign and said he thought Hood got about as much as he bargained for. Now we are to remain here for a full month recuperating our forces, get pay & prepare for a fine winter campaign, so says Sherman's order! One thing looks hard on the citizens here & that is they are all to be sent away, either North or South just as they like but go they must... Sherman's reason for so doing is that he can't supply any more than his own army & thus gives them the privilege of going which way they choose! It is a military necessity with us, but it looks hard." After giving away the "sub rosa" information that Sherman intended to head eastward, probably toward Savannah or Charleston, Mickle falls silent during the March to the Sea until December, when a series of 13 letters describes the famous maneuver. On December 17, 1864, in his first letter home in weeks (and perhaps anticipating the reaction of his copperhead relatives), he wrote "I presume you must fancy us desparadoes by this time but I was not much affected in that line till I saw how the Rebels abused our prisoners & then I came to the conclusion that we ought to crush them if they don't yield without. Our prisoners of Millan were turned onto a large field surrounded by a stockage about 15 feet high & were not allowed tools nor timber to build their quarters but were compelled to dig holes & burrow in the ground like rabbits exposed to all the inclement weather. The hospital for then sick prisoners was on the edge of stagnant marsh into which ran the nuisance of all the prisoners from the Stockade which was a few rods above. In22 days, out of about 12,000 men confined there, over 700 of them died & we saw their graves..." A few days later, his letter begins "Three cheers for our victorious army." After the March through the Carolina's, Mickle's letters offer eloquent testimony to the sense of relief accompanying the end of the war and the tragedy of the assassination of Lincoln. His letters upon taking Raleigh, the capitol of North Carolina, his elation over the surrender of Joe Johnston's forces are written in counterpoint to the remarkable 8p. reaction to the death of Lincoln: "The crushing intelligence of the assassination of our once noble & revered President (Abraham Lincoln) has just reached us. We have not been officially notified but fear it is too true (would God it were not). So soon after the death & overthrow of Hell's mad career upon the earth - viz Secession, & after he had guided the helm of our gallant old ship of State just through those terrible breakers & the beautiful land of paece & sunshine have in view he was so brutally murdered!!... Never in the history of my experience have I felt so fearful a blow as this, tis our country's sad calamity, a misfortune that has ever had a paralell with us. We feel a sickness down deep in the soul & an undercurrent of sorrow that cannot be expressed in words nor tears, tis almost unendurable. I fear for the result when an official announcement of the fact is read to our Army. We shall have to command all our ingenuity and discretion to keep them from destroying & laying waste everything that ever had connection with the Confederacy. There will be bitterness of enmity toward the South ten thousand times greater than ever existed before & now instead of our being conservative & lenient toward them as we all were disposed to be we shall be radical & exacting: Oh! These civil wars, how bloody, how terrible!!... Many in our own North -- untouched by the cruel hand of war, will triumph in their hearts with other traitors of the darkest & most damning dye -- Shame to those or any who as far forget their duty to their country, to humanity, & succeeding generations as to exult over this lamentable calamity. I am glad that the fortunes of war keep me here, just now, for I should never allow friend nor foe to insult the dignity of the American cause, were I at home, & if I know myself, were I at my father's or James' house, to day, & they make light of this thing & chuckle at the death of our hero -- our nation's friend -- it would be a sufficient cause for me to never visit them again!" The letter goes on to discuss communications between Sherman and Johnston, the official notification of the assassination, reaction to Andrew Johnson assuming the presidency, and more. Two of the diaries offer a second view of Mickle's experiences. One diary, begun in earnest in May 1864, includes accounts of the Atlanta Campaign beginning with Rocky Face Ridge and ending near Atlanta on July 7, providing an excellent sense of Mickle's movement around the front and participation in weeks of hard combat. The second, and even more valuable diary includes entries of somewhat greater length, documenting the March through the Carolinas, beginning January 19 as they left Savannah. Among many fine passages, he describes the hours leading up to the torching of Columbia, S.C. Just after the city surrendered, Mickle joined Sherman and O.O. Howard and entered: "The citizens received us with little demonstration & on the part of some much coolness was shown - a few seemed glad & the escaped prisoners were wild with delight - the Negroes were vociferous in their idea of freedom & shouted for Sherman & his army. We rode through the different streets & found much cotton strewed in the center of the Sts. preparatory to being burned, which had been ordered by Beauregard prior to evacuating... Many of our troops were intoxicated by the spirits captured in the place or given them by the citizens & by night fall hundreds were drunken & anticipated trouble by fires as that is the prevailing tendency of Sherman's men..." The diary continues through the major engagements of the March (e.g. Goldsboro) through the surrender of Johnston and final march to Washington. The post-war letters provide information on the subsequent long lives of William and Oleavia Mickle, and the collection includes a number of miscellaneous items of note. At the top of the list is a fabulous Confederate letter -- probably captured mail -- written on June 7, 1863, from War Trace, Tenn., giving an unusually optimistic assessment of the war in the west: "Now I am detached to a Band. We hav got a fine Brass Band as fine a one as thare is in the survis. I am not permitted to go into a fight now, the Col Sens out to the hosptal to wate on the Wounded which is an awful hard task having to hold the pore Fellows armes and Legs for Amputation it is very disagreeable. We hav not had a battle here since Last December we whipt the yanks badly at Murfreesbor Tenn and tha hav been shy of ous ever Since. Bragg has tride to tale them out from thare Brest Warks at Nashville but Gran raskells will not Come out... [Grant has attacked Vicksburg, but Pemberton so far successful] tha put 1500 negroes in Front of thare lines and made a charge and tha war all killed But 75, I guess tha will soon learn that nigs cant fight... Velandingham of Ohio Came here A few days ago from the yanks, he had been making speaches in Ohio and had said something that did not sute them the yanks - and tha taken him up and sent to Bragg And he says that if the yankes Cant whip that fight at Vicksburg the intend to quit the ware but it wont do Put too much Confidence in what he ays for as for my one Part I dont like the way he Come here. I presume that you have seen some of his Speaches and no the Argument he Put up that he wanted the union restored which is imposable but he is here and we hav to take the men tha Old Lincoln wont have. I am in for not letting no man Come from the North tha hav not been for our all the time I dont think that it is right for men that hav been in the North all the time and have been against ous untell tha hapned to say or do something that dont suit them..." There are, as well, two fine Libby Prison letters from a Lieutenant William E. Rockwell of the 134th NY and D. W. Scott of the 3rd Artillery. Scott writes, "We are all in good health but most desidedly disgusted with our present life. Some have seen enough & 'want to go home.'" After the war, Mickle was active in the Grand Army of the Republic and other veteran's organizations and regularly gave talks and reminiscences about his experiences. More than 100 pages of notes and copies of letters between Sherman and Grant used by Mickle for lectures relating to the Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea, the assault on Mission Ridge, and Gettysburg. Even the scrappiest notes give a sense of Mickle's skills as a writer and lecturer, but there are four more polished works ("Sherman's Bummers," "My first days scouting in South Carolina," "Diedrich the Buffalo of Battery I," and a poem "Sherman's March to the Sea"), valuable extracts from other sources, and fleshed-out outlines and notes from several lectures. Also of note are two cartes de visite of the Capitol building in Washington, one the excellent view my M.P. Rice, the other copy print of an engraving with a back mount of M. B. Brady & Co. National Photographic Portrait Galleries. A great 1p. ALS from William H. Smith, March 18, 1908, of Smith Brothers' Cough Drops, written on the company's famous letterhead. A letter from two young Virginia women trying to entice a visit from Mickle in September, 1863: "It would be perfectly safe for you to come out here, we have not seen or heard of any Rebs since the day those eight of the 'Black Horse' passed here, we think they are afraid to come here knowing we have a Guard, and fearing they will report them. You would not run the slightest risk in coming up..." There are also two (identical) photos of Mickle, ca.1885, and one of a female relative. Collections of this size and literary quality have become increasingly rare in the post-Ken Burns world, and the Mickle letters offer great potential for an excellent publication, offering a fresh and exciting perspective on Sherman's southern campaigns. Condition throughout is generally very good, with very minor insect damage, age toning, and tears. Most letters still retain their covers. PLEASE NOTE: THIS LOT WILL BE SOLD ON EBAY LIVE AUCTIONS BETWEEN 4:00-5:00pm EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME ON MAY 10, 2002. REGISTER NOW TO BID LIVE ONLINE THE DAY OF THE SALE! (EST 4000-5000)
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