Raynors HCA 2017-12
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/7/2017
War-date Confederate Autograph Letter Signed “C. Holst” 2pp. oblong octavo, Chester, South Carolina, December 15, 1861, and reads in part: “...Although you have many friends in Charleston, none could think of writing you on account in their excitement of the great conflagration of Thursday night last...By this time you may likely have heard of it, but this will tell you its dreadful march of destruction. Your mother is safe, so is Mr. Mc but I fear Mrs. Pen Vorsid is burnt of ashes, poor woman....It is truly dreadful at this particular time. Involved in war and trouble to meet this calamity, the whole country is very much distressed about it, and help from the country would have come, but we are in trouble ourselves. ...Our town is run down with preachers...When the news of the fire came by telegraph, a number of the preachers who had families in Charleston took the R.R....” Fine condition. On the evening of December 11, 1861, as a cold front bearing high winds swept into Charleston from the northeast, a fire started near the intersection of East Bay and Hasell Streets. The origin is not for certain, but many accounts attribute it to some slave refugees who had started either a cooking fire or an outside open fire for warmth. The fire burned over 540 acres, 575 homes, numerous businesses, and five churches. The cost in property was estimated to be between $5 million and $8 million
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