2006-06
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/31/2006
Manuscript journal in the hand of Arthur E. Worthen, Band of 3rd Vermont Volunteers, dated April 5, 1889 at beginning and concludes on July 20, 1889, and covers his service from May 6, 1861 to August 20, 1862, and is mostly composed from his letters home, his war date diaries, and letters from friends. It is accompanied by a twenty page folio manuscript which appears to be a speech he delievered in 1909 and covers much of his service during the war. This group contains, as well, a signed photograph by Worthen of him as bandmaster of the 3rd Vermont. The speech which is not nearly as detailed as the journal reads in part: “...The life of a muscian, or a member of a regimental band was different in many ways from the life of a private i nthe ranks, in that they were not required to do guard or picket duty, or to build earthworks or do other hard and laborious work of that nature...we were many times under fire and without arms with which to defend ourselves. Most of the papers that have been read before different societies have been written by men who have had experience in the forefront of battle, or on the lonely picket line guarding the lives of their comrades sleeping in rear of the lines or by men who have suffered the terrible pangs of hunger and privation in the prison pens of the South. Some of these last, as we hear their story of the inhumanity practiced by the enemy upon our soldiers...will at this late day make us feel ashamed to think that men calling themselves Americans, could be guilty of such cruelty, such inhumanity, as to lower themselves below the dumb beasts, even lower than the savages of our frontier or the jungles of Africa...” Much more. VG.
Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).
Click above for larger image.