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CIVIL WAR ARCHIVE OF MATHEW GOODRICH.

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:90.00 - 1,250.00 USD
CIVIL WAR ARCHIVE OF MATHEW GOODRICH.
CIVIL WAR ARCHIVE OF MATHEW GOODRICH. Matthew Goodrich Papers, 1842-1872. 33 ALsS, AMs, and ADsS (all but 2 war-date), 2 photographs from ca.1900-1905. A young man from Rockton, Ill., Matthew Goodrich enlisted as a private in Co. G of the 44th Illinois Infantry, which served its entire Civil War enlistment in the western theatre. Assigned initially to duty in Missouri and Arkansas, the regiment played an important part at Pea Ridge, and took part in the battles of Perryville. On Christmas, 1862, Goodrich wrote to his father to warn him that they expected a battle any time. Although his spelling is suspect, his meaning was clear: "We have sent a heavy reconnocents expidisn to see how heavy the enemy is in frount of us. The rebles have charged on our picket guards a noumber of times within a weak. They charged on our pickets on the 23rd and they alarmed the whole Camp... they are fighting on picket now." At Stone's River less than a week later, the regiment sustained almost a fifty percent casualty rate. Remaining in Tennessee in 1863, Goodrich was present during a quiet moment in April when the regiment honored their commander, Phil Sheridan, by presenting him with a ceremonial sword: "it was a little the prettier thing that I ever have seen, and I think there was the most gold in it that I ever have seen in one lump. The scabord of the soard was all gold with demons set in it in the shape of Major Generall Sheridan, boonvill, Piriville, and Stone River." The44th Illinois was involved in several of the major engagements in central and eastern part of the state that year, including Chickamauga and Mission Ridge, but Goodrich did not. Taken prisoner, he was sent to Andersonville, where he died in December 1863. The collection includes an early and uncommon patriotic letterhead, "Fremont & Victory," (with a soldier, flag, and eagle motif), accompanied by an equally uncommon three color patriotic cover, "Liberty or death" (with eagle and shield a motif); the 1842 marriage certificate of Goodrich's father, Joshua, and mother, Sarah Lincoln (allegedly a near relative of Abraham Lincoln); genealogical notes on the Goodrich and Lincoln families; and an ALS from 1872 on a fine illustrated letterhead for Bangs Bros., Stoves, Ranges and Furnaces. Condition varies, as does the spelling and punctuation, though the condition is somewhat better. An enjoyable set of letters from a typical western soldier in one of the most active Illinois regiments. PLEASE NOTE: THIS LOT WILL BE SOLD ON EBAY LIVE AUCTIONS BETWEEN 5:00-6:00pm EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME ON MAY 10, 2002. REGISTER NOW TO BID LIVE ONLINE THE DAY OF THE SALE! (EST 90-1250)
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