Raynors HCA 2017-02
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/23/2017
Excellent content 2pp. letter, Camp near Nicholasville, KY, January 12, 1863. Written by Isaac D. Landis, 9th Pennsylvania Calvary (92nd Volunteers) to his parents. Landis served with the 9th Penn. Calvary from October 1861 until July 1865, and was wounded in Georgia in November 1864. The unit had just participated in a daring and successful raid across the mountains of eastern Tennessee returning to Nicholasville in January. Landis' letter offers excellent detail of the Battle at Watauga River, Tenn., in part: "….We got back to camp on the 10th Inst which made just three weeks from the time we started out on that Bridge Burning Expedition. We had a hard time of it but only lost about ten men in killed wounded and missing. We had two pretty brisk skirmishes with the Enemy one at Wantaga Bridge the other at Jonesville at Wantaga. We had 1 man killed & 4 wounded. The enemy fought pretty well until we were ordered in on a charge when they broke & run for the hills. We captured about half of them. We only had two men of our regt wounded. On had to have his leg amputated. The Bushwackers took a great many of our men prisoners and I suppose they killed them. A man was not safe to get away from the regiment or he would be sure to be picked up. We suffered a great deal for want of prisoners as we only could take 10 days rations with us but we got some of the rebels flour at Unionville Te (Tennessee) where we burnt the first bridge. We destroyed 15 tons of salt and a lot of splendid flour. The hardest time we had was crossing the mountains. We crossed the Pine mountains the Cumberland and two or three other small ones. We had to walk up and down the mountains. We did not bring back half of the horses that we took when we started….we took all the good horses along the road and left the broken down horses in place of them. When we were coming back over the mountains every hundred yards we could see horse that had tumbled down and could not be got up again and the men would have to go on and leave horse saddle blankets & everything. We passed as many as a dozen horses a day some would fall over dead and others could not get along any further….". Landis continues to speak of getting new horses before they can go out again, and that he passed Christmas while on the march.
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