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THBPOW Letters and Covers from Camp Chase, OH and Fort Delaware, DE by Captain Vachel Weldon, 25th Texas Cavalry, Plus
About Seller
6270 Este Ave.
Cincinnati , OH 45232
United States
With offices in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Denver, Cowan’s holds over 40 auctions each year, with annual sales exceeding $16M. We reach buyers around the globe, and take pride in our reputation for integrity, customer service and great results. A full-service house, Cowan’s Auctions specializes in Am...Read more
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About Auction
LiveJun 22, 2018
Cowan’s American History: Premier Auction, scheduled for June 22, 2018 is comprised of early photographs, documents, manuscripts, broadsides, flags, and more dating from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, Late Indian Wars, World War I and II and beyond. Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com
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- Lot Description
Lot featuring 3 POW letters and covers from Camp Chase, OH and Fort Delaware, DE, written by Captain Vachel Weldon, 25th Texas Cavalry, who was captured at Arkansas Post, in January 1863. Plus 2 pre-war letters, one written by Vachel Weldon, from Cape Girardeau, MO, June 20, 1853, the other by William R. Weldon, Elizabeth, AR, July 20, 1849.
Vachel Weldon (1832-1896) was born in Hickman (now Ballard) County, KY. He left home, apparently rather suddenly, according to his earliest letter in this archive, moving around in search of some kind of opportunity. Vachel writes from Cape Girardeau, MO, (date nearly unreadable, but appears to be June 20, 1853). He tells his father that he wrote to his sister from Keokuk (IL), but did not stay long. He decided it was good country for farming but not for jobs (such as blacksmithing). He returned to St. Louis but could not find employment, so he went to Cape Girardeau. Generally there were more jobs with better pay in Illinois, but "...it is so sickly over there that I do not like to go there."
The second pre-war letter in this group is from William Weldon to his father, from Elizabeth, AR, July 20, 1849. He writes of his grief in learning of the death of his mother. "I sometimes fear that she thought hard of me for leaving home in the way I did in fact where I look over the course of my former conduct I see many instances in which I caused her much pain But I hope she forgave me." He goes on to tell his father that he hopes he never remarries because no one can replace his mother.
Vachel Weldon eventually made his way to Texas, settling there in 1854. In 1858 he married Sophia Dodge in LaGrange, TX, where they raised one son and two daughters. In April 1862, a year after the outbreak of war, he enlisted in the 25th Texas Cavalry (Confederate). He was commissioned 1st lieutenant of Company G, although he seems to have occasionally taken command of the entire regiment. The 25th was assigned to the District of Arkansas. They saw some action near Fayetteville in late October 1862 and participated in the Battle of Arkansas Post January 10-11, 1863, where they were taken prisoner after a Union victory. Most were held at Camp Douglas, IL through the summer, then exchanged and consolidated with the 17th, 18th, and 24th TX Cavalries and assigned to the Army of Tennessee where they remained until the end of the war. They were involved in some three dozen actions, including Chickamauga, the siege of Chattanooga, the Atlanta campaign, Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashhville, the Carolinas, and Bentonville.
It is not clear where Vachel Weldon was captured, but it could have been the same battle. Not infrequently officers and their troops were sent to different prisoner of war camps. In a letter to his brother dated February 25, 1863, he was at Camp Chase, OH. A second letter dated March 13, 1863 is addressed to his father, also from Camp Chase. In both letters he expresses hope of an early exchange, in part because he does not like the cold weather in Columbus. In both he also complains that his clothes are wearing out (which is not helping in the cold) and asks both for a small amount of money in case he needs to replace something, having lost most of his clothing along the way. He tells them that he has money at home, but it is not doing much good where he was, and hopes to be able to pay them back.
Although the letters contain very few details, in one of his notes to his father, Weldon alludes to the fact that mail is censored, so there is not much he can say.
By April 1863, he was being held at Fort Delaware. In a short note to his father, from "Fort Delaware, Mouth of Delaware river" he says that he thinks they are going to be paroled and sent South.
Weldon's three POW letters are accompanied by their covers, and the two covers from Camp Chase are marked with manuscript "Exmd. E.L. Webber, Capt. Commg. prisons." Webber was commissioned captain in the 88th Ohio Volunteers in September 1862 and made the rank of lieutenant colonel on July 25, 1863.
Following the war, Weldon moved to Indianola, then, when his holdings were lost in a storm in 1875, he moved to Cuero. In addition to trading, he also studied law after the war, and by 1880, Weldon was representing his new community in the Texas House of Representatives. A large collection of materials related to Vachel Weldon is held at the University of Texas, Austin.
The two letters from Camp Chase are a bit light, almost as if the ink was watered down a bit (to make it last?). But it is readable.Condition
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