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Civil War Era Correspondence Archive

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:625.00 USD Estimated At:1,250.00 - 1,750.00 USD
Civil War Era Correspondence Archive
<Our item number 122841><B>Civil War Era Correspondence Archive.</B> A group of 15 Civil War period letters &#40;late 1862 to June 1865&#41; in their postmarked envelopes along with one older, without the envelope, to the writer of the larger group.<BR>In the earliest letter, dated Nov. 25, 1858, one &#34;LCM&#34; writes to his friend J.J. Mileham, about LCM&#39;s recent arrival in Keokuk, Iowa to attend medical school. LCM complains to Mileham about annoying queries from the locals, &#34;men in ernest &#40;ask&#41; if we buried our negroes when they died or did we drag them off like we would a dead hog or any other kind of animal or if we did not make them work day & night & Sunday too and if we did not lash them every night and all such fool questions.&#34; He continues &#34;Keokuk is noted for ugly ladies and Black <U>Republicans</U>.&#34;<BR>In the subsequent group of 15 Civil War letters, Mileham writes to Miss Maggie Trotter at Canton, Missouri from various towns such as Cynthiana, Indiana; Camp Point, Illinois and three are postmarked Berry&#39;s Station, Kentucky. Mileham moved around and in a letter of October 26th &#40;1862?&#41;, he asks for her response to be sent to James H. Gibson, and as he&#39;s concerned about the draft, he may have been using an alias. Mileham seems to be a Southern sympathizer from Missouri but left because of the lawlessness and guerilla warfare. He calls Missouri a &#34;hard country…where nothing grows but the rank wickedness of Abolitionism and radicalism.&#34; <BR>An early letter to Maggie declares a &#34;flame of love that burns for you and you alone&#34; though in a later one he fears &#34;that fate has decided that you and I are not to be to each other more than friend.&#34; Yet he hopes &#34;there is a happier time in store…where love…so long deferred may be fully realized.&#34;<BR>In a March 3, 1863 letter from Camps Point, IL, he describes a &#34;highly favored land where Jeff Davis don&#39;t rule&#34; and goes on to say that he will &#34;cheer fully go in defense of the stars and stripes&#34;, yet in Feb. 19, 1865, he changes tune expressing &#34; the <U>blues</U> about the draft, which our<U> glorious</U> and ever to be<U> adored Sovereign</U>, Father Abraham had ordered&#34; and he says &#34;I shall not go to the fight&#34;, as it is not &#34;evidence of bravery to fight where one has no sympathy.&#34; Later he supposes that the &#34;nigger is above fear in Mo now much better than white folks and I shall soon expect to hear of some of the good loyal friends getting divorced from their consorts and taking themselves a mate of the real African stock&#34;. <BR>An April 10, 1865 letter mentions the &#34;Capture of Richmond&#34; saying &#34;the Rebellion it is thought is nearly at a close and we shall soon have the return of peace.&#34; Five days later, he writes again of &#34;the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia with its Commander Gen. Lee&#34; and tells of &#34;men almost frantic with joy. Shouting, singing, firing cannon and exhibiting their pleasure at the downfall of rebellion.&#34; He continues &#34;But joy don&#39;t always come unmixed with sorrow. I have…learned of the death of President Lincoln…Rumor has it that he was assassinated at the theatre last night in Washington City. Some one shooting him through the head.&#34;<BR>The final letter dated July 12, 1865 from Cythiana, Indiana describes returning soldiers &#34;warworn and weatherbeaten…all tired of the war and many are heartily disgusted with what they accomplished, that is the <U>elevation</U> of the nigger, or more properly the degrading of the white man.&#34; A disturbing and fascinating time capsule of one man&#39;s jumbled thoughts during the years of our nation&#39;s greatest upheaval &#40;16 letters&#41;. <BR>Estimated Value &#36;1,250-1,750. <BR><BR>Our item number 122841<BR><IMAGES><P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="http://www.goldbergcoins.net/liveauction/43jpegs/122841.jpg"> </P></IMAGES>