Raynors HCA 2017-12
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/7/2017
War-date Union soldier’s Autograph Letter Signed by Corporal Clarkson Fogg, Co. E, 4th West Virginia Infantry, 3pp. quarto, March 1, 1863, Camp near Vicksburg, and reads in part: “...It seems to be a pretty well established fact that Vicksburg is not to be, and cannot be taken by a direct attack; their works are very strong and almost unapproachable on account of the bayous and swamps....I can see with the aid of a glass, the city and its defenses. The place seems to be uninhabited, and no one can be seen except the Rebel soldiery. The most conspicious building is the Court House, which seems to be used as a signal station, and flags, Rebel officers, etc. are visible about the cupola at almost any time....The ‘Yankee ditch,’ as the Rebels call it, progresses slowly on account of the high water and wet weather. It will be rendered comparatively useless in my opinion from this fact: that the enemy have some of their heaviest guns planted so as to command the mouth of the canal, five or six miles below the city. There is a large force...trying to effect a passage, by the way of the ‘Yazoo Pass’...The object is to gain the rear of Vicksburg, and necesssitate an evacuation by the Rebels. Disaster has attneded our naval operations between here and Port Hudson, and on Red River. The Ram ‘Queen of the West’ which ran the blockade some time since, and destroyed 7 or 10 Rebel boats, with their cargoes, was captured by the Rebels, a few days since, on Red River...They were on the look-out for Rebel transports taking supplies dow to Port Hudson when a masked battery opened on them, and in their endeavors to avoid the battery, run on a bar and , and were unable to get off until a shot bursted a steam pipe, and they were compelled to abandon her...About this time the gunboat ‘Indianola’ ran the blockade, and Gen. Grant in an order , states that deserters from the Rebels give information to the effect that the ‘Indianola’ had been sunk by the ‘Queen of the West’ near the mouth of the Red River, or that the gunboat had been struck five times, and was in a sinking condition...” More. Fine condition...Fine oval albumen photograph of the Vicksburg, Mississippi State House in 1863, with Union soldiers standing guard on its front steps. 8”x6” on period mount. Fine condition.
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