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Civil War Archive of John Williams, 34th & 36th O.V.I., Piat
Currency:USD
Category:Collectibles / Militaria
Start Price:700.00 USD
Estimated At:1,000.00 - 2,000.00 USD
SOLD
1,200.00USDto floor + buyer's premium (240.00)
This item SOLD at 2009 Apr 29 @ 11:21UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT
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A full invoice should be emailed to the winner by the auctioneer within a day or two.
archive includes a post-war manuscript account, a Model 1816 .69 caliber musket, two tintypes of Williams, and a GAR metal identification tag.
The archive also includes a manuscript account written by John Williams after the war. This account, A Brief History of My Army Life as I Saw it, undated, is written in a 4to ledger book with marbled boards.
While working on a farm near Bantam, Ohio, John Williams learned of the outbreak of the Civil War and together with a one-armed veteran of the Mexican War, he helped raise and outfit a company of volunteers for state service. After the company was refused in the federal service, however, Williams enlisted in the 34th Ohio Infantry (the Piatt Zouaves), one of Fox's 300 Fighting Regiments. The Zouaves did most of their fighting in the comparatively obscure engagements in West Virginia, though they were drawn into the famous struggles in the Shenandoah Valley.
Williams' memoir is part personal narrative, part scrapbook, and may have been written with the intention of reading before his comrades in the Grand Army of the Republic. He wastes little time before diving into a stirring account of his first significant action, the sharp engagement at Chapmansville, W.Va., in Sept. 1861: our advanced guard were attacked by the rebels under command by Colonel Davis the fight now commenced. We were in a gap with high hills on either side, the Johnies were on the hills volley after volley were poured into us. As brave men we returned the fire and drove the rebels who retreated into their breastworks. The Battle now commenced in earnest. The Rebs poured volley after volley into our ranks. We gave them the best we had a charged was ordered. You ought to have heard the yell of the zouaves. We charged the breast works and routed the rebels. The day was ours we were successful in our 1st Battle…
The memories of those months of grueling marches in the Kanawha Valley punctuated by skirmishes remained sharp for Williams, whose writing reveals a strong recollection of events coupled with often colorful writing. In addition to several smaller incidents, he provides an effective view of the painful campaign of May 1862 under J. D. Cox, during which Williams reports the 34th lost 130 men killed and wounded.
In May 1863, the 34th Ohio was converted to Mounted Infantry, and in July, they had their first engagement on horseback during an expedition on Wytheville, Va., where, he reported, after a desperate fight [they] captured the place with all the enemy’s artillery and burned the town. Colonel Toland was killed, the Colonel of the 2nd Va. Col Powell was wounded, Capt Delano was killed. The loss of the 34th in this engagement was 4 killed, 13 wounded, 33 missing. On the day previous to the fight at Wytheville Company C of the 34th which was acting as a rear guard was attacked by guirrillas [sic] losing a number of men, including Capt. Cutter and 15 men who were taken prisoners…
Williams also describes the brutality of the Shenandoah Campaign of 1864: when within 4 miles of Winchester near Stevensons depot on the widow Carter farm we were attacked by the enemy, fought them for some time and drove them from the field… we entered Winchester and fought the enemy for 2 days. The rebels received heavy reinforcements and were commanded by Gen. Jubal Early on the 24th of July we were attacked by Early’s whole force. The fighting was fearful if ever I heard the rebel yell I heard it that day. Our regiment lost heavy. Col. Shaw was killed, owing to superior numbers we were forced to give way. The 34th was the last regt to leave the field which it did under a galling fire… His account continues through the fight at Martinsburg the next day.
Throughout the memoir are passing references to Rutherford B. Hayes (Division Commander), Philip Sheridan, and George Custer, among others, and Williams includes some excerpts of letters written while in the service. At the end, he notes that he was one of the charter members of the Killpatrick Post no. 189 of the GAR in Goshen, Ohio, in 1882, and he includes a list of engagements for the 34th, a Brief sketch of my early life, and an account of Freemasonry.
A marvelous relic of patriotic sentiment, the album was used partly as a scrapbook, with large numbers of American flags and similar patriotic devices pasted in as decoration, along with newspaper clippings. It is further decorated with some GAR-related printed items: two of Williams' Masonic calling cards, a printed announcement of the 23rd annual reunion of the 34th OVVI (1888), and a roster of the 34th OVVI (1902), a flier from the reunion of Chase Macacheek Piatt Zouaves, 1900; and three additional reunion notices. Of special note is a printed letter signed by Capt. Aug. F. Ward, 36th OVVI (the 34th was consolidated with the 36th in January 1865), July 31, 1865, bidding his company (F) farewell and congratulating them on their service.
More unusual still are two lithographs in the scrapbook depicting camp scenes of the Piatt Zouaves, undated, but probably rendered during the war. The first is a handsome lithograph of Barboursville, Nov. 1861, 34th OVI depicting the regiment in town led by commanders on horseback; and a litho of Fayetteville, Sept. 10th 1862, 34th, 37th OVI depicting soldiers in earthwork fortifications overlooking a valley.
A Model 1816 .69 caliber musket, converted from flint to percussion is also included with the archive, along with two cased tintypes, one of a shockingly young-looking John Williams in uniform (not Zouave) and the other of Williams and his two daughters. Both images have glass, mat, and preservers, but are housed in half case. Finally, there is a dog tag reading John Williams, Veteran Co. E, 34 and 36 Regiments OVVI, 1861-1865 and on verso: 8th Corps, Army of Va.
An unusual Civil War collection pertaining to an under-documented part of the conflict.
Condition: Shows the wear and condition issues of many scrapbooks, but on balance very presentable. Stock of musket in fine, original finish with faint inspector's mark, metal with uniform pitting and brown cover, there is remnants of a cartouche.
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Taxes:
| Tax | Rate | Desc. |
| Ohio |
6.5% |
Ohio |
Buyer's Premiums:
| From (Incl.) | To (Excl.) | Premium |
| 0.00 |
200,000.00 |
20% |
| 200,000.00 |
Infinite |
15% |
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