Ohio in the Civil War: Lot of Letters from Ohio Regiments

About Auction

Live

American Historical Ephemera & Photography, I...

By Cowan's Auctions

Jun 26, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-06-26 10:00:00 2020-06-26 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American Historical Ephemera & Photography, Including African Americana:Premier Auction https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-historical-ephemera-photography-including-african-americana-premier-auction-5208
Cowan's Auctions is delighted to present the June 26 American Historical Ephemera and Photography Auction, including 55 lots devoted to the African American experience, over 175 lots dating from the Civil War Era, and more than 60 lots documenting life in the American West. Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com

View Full Catalog (383)

• Lot Description
  Ohio in the Civil War: Lot of Letters from Ohio Regiments
  
  Lot of 43 Civil War letters from Ohio infantry and cavalry regiments. Majority written by soldiers with some homefront letters providing interesting context of the political turmoil in Ohio. The archive features rare perspectives of camp life and the war and includes battle details especially of action seen in Georgia on Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.
  
  A unique letter is one penned by William S. Friesner (1838-1918) from Licking, Hocking Co. to his paramour Miss Sophie C. Stineman on June 23, 1862. His lengthy 9 page letter is written in entirely in meter and rhyme. He covers his unit’s travels in Tennessee, politics, and expressions of love for Sophie with sophisticated references to Don Quixote, Greek mythology, current events, and more. He muses on the implication of the war, “The hist’ry of our country’s huge game of Euchre /By political gamesters for Uncle Sam’s lucre /And when Southern sharper’s saw threat not the deal /Would save them from losing they took to cold steel.” Friesner served with distinction in the 58th OVI, mustered in as a 2nd Lieut. On Oct. 9, 1861, promoted several times to lieutenant colonel on May 3, 1865. Notably, he was a survivor of the Sultana explosion and testified as a witness for the prosecution.
  
  Included in this archive is a letter from John W. Cleland of Company F of the 111th OVI and three letters he received from his family in Lost Creek, Miami Co., OH. The letter exchange provocatively displays the tensions between Copperheads and Abolitionists in the area. Cleland’s family are Democrats, with his sister Jennie in particular being a vocal Southern Sympathizer. In a letter written April 19 and 20, 1864, Cleland’s brother James writes about William J. Knight of the 21st and 115th OVI who was awarded the Medal of Honor for action on April 12, 1862 at the Mitchell Raid. “They had a pretty stormy time of it in the evening I guess. It started from something that had been said about Will Knight. When Will came home Farmer made a great fuss over him; firing their cannon and having a big time generally. They paid great attention to him for a few days but he began to let them know that he was a Democrat. Then they began to cry traitor, Copperhead, Butternut and so on. That done no harm till someone wrote a letter down to his Reg’t. that he had committed treason and was a traitor, and to tell the Paymaster to stop his pay, and such stuff as that. I suppose that William Knight is a brave a boy as ever went to war and has suffered as many hardships as anybody else, and it is a shame for anybody to abuse him as the Abolitionists have him. A party that pretends to be loyal and abuses soldiers as they do just because they do not happen to agree with them politically is what I call abolition consistency. But Will Knight is not the only one that is abused for his political views as you have already found out, and maybe you may find out more yet.” In this letter he also includes a sheet with two pro-Copperhead songs, “A New Dixie: We’ll Live and Die for the Union” with six verses and “Things I Love,” with pro-Vallandigham and anti-Lincoln, Governor Tod, and abolition lyrics including, “I love to hate emancipation /Likewise Old Abe’s Proclamation /I love to think of sixty-four /When Abolition will be o’er.” Cleland, who at the time of writing had been promoted to 2nd lieut., responded to his sister on July 13, 1863 with news about the war, an incident of mistaken identity with the Tennessee home guard, and addresses her political sentiments, “In your last letter of the 29th of June, you say the southern solders are more honorable than the northern soldiers; that the southern soldiers are imposed upon. Well I do say you are getting very sympathizing all at once for the poor Southerners and the poor Negroes you spoke about. I suppose you would hardly acknowledge you had a brother in the northern army, they are such a dishonorable set. I think if you had been in the army pretty near eleven months you would think differently."
  
  James M. Stuart of the 94th Ohio wrote a letter to his wife from Camp Chase near Columbus, then serving as a POW camp, on April 17, 1863 describing the arrival of a sex worker who snuck into camp in a soldier’s uniform, “One night this week there was one of those loose characters of women come in to camp with soldier’s clothes on and the boys got around her and stripped everything off her and marched her down past the hospital and she was as naked as she was when she came in to this earth. The next morning she came back on hunt of her soldier’s clothes but she could not find them.”
  
  The Battle of Wauhatchie to reopen the Tennessee River, prefacing the Battle for Chattanooga is described by Didier Gevrez of Co. A of the 36th OVI. He wrote to his father on Nov. 5, 1863, including a vivid description of when they encountered the rebels, “There was none hurt till they got down to the gap in the mountain where we put the bridge across. There was some Reb’s standing picket and the first boat that landed the Reb’s ordered our men to surrender. The hell you say says one of our men and took them prisoners. And by that time the Reb’s that was lying back got up and commenced firing on our men but they was not long getting out of the boats and drove the Reb’s back. Then Gen. Turchin ordered his brigade forward. We was not long in crossing the river; there was five men in each boat, 4 to row and one to steer. We went up on the right hand mountain and Gen. Smith’s Brigade on the left. There was one man wounded in the boat and three after they got on shore, and one killed. There was eight Reb’s killed and some wounded, and some prisoners that I did not see.”
  
  Ohio regiments served in Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign and the experiences of some of those soldiers are expressed in this archive. Henry Raubenstein of Co. A of the 19th OVI wrote in the early days of the campaign on June 4, 1864 to his parents, “Some time ago the Reb’s got on a hell of a spree and thought they could clean out the Yankees. They charged seven different times on our men and were repulsed every time. Some of them were so drunk that they fell down and couldn’t get up any more till the fight was over. Our men killed fourteen or fifteen hundred in a few hours and wounded several thousand. We, that is our division, was not in the fight because we wasn’t need & I expect they won’t make many more charges on our lines for they get hell at every point. We will perhaps soon have them surrounded unless they skedaddle soon.” Daniel J. Prickett of Co. H of the 3rd Ohio Cavalry wrote a long letter to his cousin on June 11, 1864 where he relates the large size of Sherman’s army, guessing that, “Sherman has a very large army perhaps 120,000 men in all.” He adds a quick note on the 14th and the excitement of the battlefront is palpable, “I was in a fight 3rd V.V.C. in a few minutes and CO. 2nd Brigade H was in a very “tight place” 2nd Cav Div but came out right / At the front /P.S. I hear the cars – “the bridge” must be done and the cars certainly run to within a very few miles of the enemy.”

  Condition

  Various with expected creasing, some toning, occasional spotting. 
• Shipping Info

  • Buyers are required to pay for all packing, shipping and insurance charges. Overseas duty charges are the responsibility of the successful Bidder. Be aware that for larger and/or valuable items, shipping charges can be substantial. - If there is no shipping amount on listed your invoice, you will need to make arrangements to pick up or ship your purchase through an alternative shipping company. Our shipping department can be contacted at 513.871.1670 (ext. 219) or email shipping@cowans.com. - Shipping charges include insurance for your order while in transit. If you have private insurance we will adjust your charge to include only packing and shipping. - Please allow 14 – 21 days after payment to package and ship your purchase as carefully as possible.

• Buyer's Premium

  • Hammer Price	Premium (%)
    $0	28.00
    $250,001	23.00
    $3,000,001	15.00