Raynors HCA 2018-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/15/2018
RICKETTS, Robert Bruce (1839-1918) distinguished himself as an artillery officer in the American Civil War. He is best known for his battery's defense against a Confederate attack on Cemetery Hill on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. War-date Union officer Autograph Letter Signed “R. Bruce Ricketts Capt. 1st Pa, Lt. Arty, Comdg Bty F” 1pp quarto, Hd. Qrs Bty F., 1st Pa, Lt. Artillery P.V.C., 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, July 25, 1864, addressed to General George D. Ramsay, and reads in part: “...I have the honor to state that while one section of my Battery was engaged on the Orange C.H. Plank Road at the Battle of the Wilderness, May 5th, 1864, 3 inch gun No. 42 marked “T.T.S.L. - P.I. Co” burst about (24) twenty-four inches from the muzzle. It was loaded with a shekel percussion shell which was supposed to have burst in the bore of the gun. I can give no other cause of it bursting. About thirteen hundred (1300) rounds had been fired from it. It was buried near Todd’s Tavern Va. by order of Col. Tidball...& gun No. 54 captured from the enemy at Spotsylvania mounted in its stead...” Fine condition.
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