Auction Date:2009 Jun 24 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Location:6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
1862-1865. 29 items, all soldiers' letters, all war date, including:
Orlistes Catey, 1862-1863. 69th Indiana Infantry. 6 letters
Charles Catey, 1862-1865. 99th Indiana Infantry. 12 letters
Wilson Catey, 1863. 48th Indiana Infantry. 4 letters.
E.C. Jennings, 10th Indiana Infantry. 6 letters
H.C. Jeffries, 1863-1864. 30th Indiana Infantry. 3 letters
1 other soldier's letter
Whole towns, communities, and families served together in the Civil War, and the Cateys of Indiana did more than their share, sending at least three brothers and two other relatives into the service.
Orlistes Catey served with the 69th Indiana in the deep south, taking part in the earliest phases of the Vicksburg Campaign. His six letters describe that epic campaign beginning on Jan 14, 1863, with an account of the Capture of Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post: We have had another fight and a glorious victory... they surrendered. Wee took 5000 prisoners at the time and 3000 of their reinforcements who came in to help them...our regiment did not help storm the fort, wee had to support the battery which is a very dangerous position on account of the shell to silence our guns. The fighting was terrific for 3 hours... the cannonaiding beet anything I ever heard. The rebs had 13 guns which was all silanced in about two hours... He goes on to discuss Gen. McClernand, Grant's strategy for taking Vicksburg, and the new monitor he saw in operation in the river.
In January 1863, Orlistes described his regiment in more typical mode, fighting mumps and other diseases while doing grunt work: our troops are diging a canal to turn the river away from Vixburg. I don't know how they will succeed yet. they are working the fresh troops. Our division has been in active service since wee left Memphis and wee are about out through it. It is nothing to see 10 men buryed in one day. Our general says it is easier to dig holes than get discharged and it is so. A man will die before the officers will do anything for them... Under such conditions, it is hardly surprising to learn of one soldier who cut off his own finger to get out of duty, or so the colonel thinks (Orlistes was less sure). That summer, Orlistes fell out sick and was sent to the hospital.
Charles Catey (99th Indiana) also served in the Vicksburg Campaign, also took ill, but he seems a bit more sensitive to his family's foibles. Tired of not hearing from home, he berated them in a good natured way: perhaps you can read what little I do write beaing as the girls has all cuit writing to me. I will have to kick up a corispondence with the old maried women so that I can git some of the news from the North once on a while to know who all is a gitting married and who all is ded... Charles' subsequent letters include descriptions of the 99th's arduous work in the Atlanta Campaign. Just before entering the fray there, he wrote like the seasoned veteran he had become: the talk is here now that we will be put out in front this spring to do they fighting if there is any to be done which I expect there will be plentey of... I have no anxiety for to gow in to a fight at all for I have seen all of that sort of work that I ever want to see but if we have to gow in to it we will give them the best turn there is in the shop... In June 1864, he added: Well I have saw some fighting since this spring campaign has commenced a great deal more than I ever want to see again for I don't like the business well enough to want to see any more of it, but I expect we will get to see plenty of it between here and Atlanty. Charles was hospitalized with chronic diarrhea in July 1864, writing one more letter Sept 1, from the sick bed.
Wilson Catey (48th Indiana) added two letters describing his work guarding railroads in Tennessee and fending off guerrillas they dashed in a little town called German town and kild two of our men and took 19 prisners of ours...
The remainder of the Catey collection consists of fine letters from three soldiers in the 10th Indiana. The best of these is an outstanding 8pp letter from E.C. Jennings describing the Battle of Mission Ridge and its aftermath.
On the morning of the 25th we commenced to move to the left again as if we was going to help Sherman who was engaging them on the left. They saw us going and commenced to move that way to but we did not go very far until we came to the cover of the timber and then we started back to were we was in the morning and formed a line and started for the ridge, but here we found plenty of grey backs waiting for us, but we had started for the top and it was go or die with us. Some one said wipe out Chickamauga and with the charge bayonet we went on, they beating the air almost with their shell grape and canister, but the line pressed steadily on and gained the ridge and drove them from their artillery...here they fought like demons but finaly they broke and run in all directions trowing away their guns and everything that would hinder them in their flight...
Jennings went out on the battlefield the next day to see the unburied dead. Samuel Horner, Jennings' comrade in the 10th Indiana, was no less startled by the ravages of war, describing the devastation he witnessed in Tennessee in May 1863, How dearly have the citizens of Tennessee paid for their whistle of secession, and dearer yet will be their fun. It would surprise you were you to come and see the desolation wrought here by the march of even a peaceful army. Fences, all have fallen in their onward march until not a nail is left to mark the spot where they once existed. To make a long story short, the ruin and destruction is complete and not one stone if left upon another... Another soldier in the 10th, H.C. Jeffries, sent a fascinating letter from a parole camp, noting that he could now walk, though still requiring crutches, idle, waiting: I am tired of laying round doing nothing. I tried to get to go to my Regt. And they would not let me go because I was wounded. I like soldiering verry well in the U.S. But I do not fancy soldiering in the Confederate States especially where Jeff Davis has to board them...
A nice assortment of letters from an extended community of soldiers from the Midwest and including a good mix of battle and camp content.
Condition: Expected aging and wear and tear, else good condition.
Auction Location:
6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
Previewing Details:
Tuesday, June 23, 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday, June 24 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Taxes:
| Tax | Rate | Desc. |
| Ohio |
5.5% |
Ohio State Tax |
Buyer's Premiums:
| From (Incl.) | To (Excl.) | Premium |
| 0.00 |
Infinite |
17.5% |
Additional Fees:
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