58

THE DEATH OF A YANKEE LETTERS

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
THE DEATH OF A YANKEE LETTERS
<b>58. THE DEATH OF A YANKEE </b>A superb grouping of letters which includes the last letter written by Pvt. Benjamin M. Dunham of the 141st. N.Y. Vols. written two days before his death at Chancellorsville, a letter to him written by his mother on the day he died, and a letter from a fellow soldier describing how Dunham died! Dunham's letter, 4pp. 8vo., Stoneman's Switch, Va., Apr. 27 - May 1, 1863, reads, in part: "<i>...the Captain has just been to the tent and has ordered us to be in readiness to march...I will send in this letter 60 dollars which I wish you to buy U.S. bonds with...I hope to be able to send more next time...I send more than I was paid...I have sold three watches two of which I got from J.H. Winslow beside quite a number of tickets and I have a large number of tickets left...Today we lay in front of Fredericksburg ready to cross at any moment...Our corps is the 3rd., and is commanded by Gen. Sickles...our troops are all in the very best of sprits for everyone feels that if we can but get the rebs once fairly defeated and on the run again, the war will soon be ended...I do not like to carry quite so much into battle as the rebs would get too much aid and comfort if anything should happen to me...I with all the rest feel like risking everything for the accomplishment of this object...I wish you mother to distinctly understand that what I have in case anything should happen to me is yours for your support in future and when you are done with it let it be divided between my brothers...</i>". On the day he died, Dunham's mother wrote him from Laporte, Pa. in part "<i>...I am very anxious to hear from you now that you are on the move...I hardly know how I can stand the coming suspense and anxiety...& the dreadful battles that must ensue on your forward march but I trust you in the hands of a overruling Providence. I can do no more. When my dear sons went froth I gave you up to the Lord & my country feeling I had no right to them when my country called and needed them. One of my dear ones has returned disabled...with the loss of an eye...May you all be restored to your friends & home in safety...</i>". Finally, J.T. Brewster describes Dunham's death to Bennie's mother in an A.L.S. 4pp. 8vo., written from a hospital, June 2, 1863. In part: "<i>...when I fell wounded he stopped to enquire whether I was badly hurt or not...I thought it was a pretty hard one. The Col. at that time called upon all to close up in the ranks. The next that I saw of him was when the regt. had retreated. He lay but a short distance from me. He was shot right through the head, the ball entering his forehead. I think he must have been killed instantly...the rebs rifled his pockets of their contents...they would not give me anything but the likeness that I have already sent to you...they took his portfolio and its contents...[they said] the victors were entitled to the spoils. His money they gave into the hands of the Chaplain...That Chaplain was taken prisoner by the rebs...the dead there were all buried, but no headboard marks the resting of anyone...</i>". An incredible grouping in very good to fine condition.<b> $1,500-2,000</b>