Raynors HCA 2020-02
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/27/2020
A great Union soldier's war-date expedition/battle letter, 10pp. 8vo., written by Pvt. William N. Cluxton, Co. E, 112th New York Vols., [n. p., but Suffolk, Virginia], Nov. 21, 1862, to his wife Julia Cluxton concerning their first taste of battle (at Franklin, Virginia) while on an expedition to attack as part of General Wessells' attack the rebel army stationed near Suffolk, in very small part: "I am quiet out of patience this morning…I will tell you what is the matter with me. Last Monday morning I went to work on the fort and worked till noon then the colonel sent for the 112 Rig. to report in half an hour…then we went on the double quick. When we got to camp…we was told to get three days rations and be ready to march in one hour…we had to march all night…got whare the rebels was about 8 o'clock [in the morning, Nov. 18, 1862]…our men fired with their cannons…for about one hour…they stopped and the general sent the cavalry across the river…we was drawn up in line of battle and stood there until the cavalry went across the river to see how many rebels was over there…they come back…said the rebels had about seven thousand and we had only three thousand. The rebels…had their place picked to fight…our general thought that they would not fight…then we started it back…it was good luck for us…for if we had stayed half an hour longer we should been taken prisoners or the most of us would have been killed for when the rebels found out that we had not more than half as many men as they did then the rebels tried to get around on the back side of us…when we was coming back the rebels fired into us and our men returned the fire. As soon as the cannon got range of them they stopped firing and then we was drawn up in line on the edge of the woods and we lay down on our bellies so the rebels could not see us. I was so tired I went to sleep. When the cannons was bellowing…we was ordered to move forward…we moved forward about one mile. When we was marching the rebs tried to shell us. Some of the shells come close to…one of the boys…the wind took his hat off and after that when we heard a shell coming we would fall down on our bellies…the shells flew like fun…we did not get close enough to them to had a chance at the rebs…the cavalry said that they see part of a body of a reb…they thought that one of our cannon balls hit him in the belly…one of the boys got off from his horse and searched his pockets and found some secesh money and found some hair that was tied up in a red ribbon. I don't know how many that was killed on the rebs side, only that one. We didn't halve any killed but four tired out and fell out…the rebs picked them up. They belonged to an old regiment. Then we started for home…lay down in a cornfield…the boys was very lame and sore for it was new business for them and we had to carry about sixty or seventy lbs…when we was marching and most tired out and then we could not ride, but we would see the captain's waiters. These buck negroes would be riding on a horse and we had to got afoot and…I did not have any supper only some raw pork…when we got back to camp…I thought that we would have a little rest but the next morning old General Peck ordered the boys out to dig on the fort on [the] Nansemond [River]…most of the boys went to the doctors and got excuse. Some of the boys feet was all spend out and they could not walk…the worst of all was when we had been to work…and it rained harder than you ever see it…it is no use for a soldier to say he wont do what they tell him…for if they do he will get it worst…William Cluxton…". Also included is the original stamped "Liberty and Union" patriotic cover. Both overall VG
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