Raynors HCA 2017-02
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/23/2017
A great collection of four (4) antebellum Southern gentleman's letters (one incomplete) written from New Orleans during 1858 and 59. Written by Benjamin D. Wall, to his soon to be Confederate officer brother William Wesley Wall, these letters give a small snippet into life in pre-war New Orleans including a rare account of witnessing Seminole Chief "Billy Bowlegs" as he passed through the Crescent City in 1858 on his way to the Indian Territory in Arkansas after being forced to surrender near Fort Myers, Florida earlier that year. "…[New Orleans, May 19, 1858]…how is Miss. Hilose does she carry out her city manners and airs in the little town of Clinton [La.] or did she drop them. It is a great pity Sam Butler's Theatre broke down. I say a great pity for her as she became accustomed to going to them and the operas every night…well Wesley the great Seminole chief "BIlly Bowlegs" so called…is in New Orleans…Bowlegs is a great chief and has cost Uncle Sam upward of sixty millions of dollars. They have been trying to catch him for some time but never could do it. After he got tired of fighting he sent some of his tribe to tell the palefaces that if they would send him over to the Choctaw Nation and give him plenty of hunting grounds he would leave of hunting the pale faces and scalping them so he is on his way there now and has been on a…[ends here. Next, April 21, 1859]…I suppose you have read in the papers about the hugh water on the Crevass. Well I went to see the one opposite the city…it is a terrible sight to look at. Just think of the whole Mississippi pressing against the bank trying to empty itself while the country back is all overflowed like a lake…I went to the Union celebration of the Sunday schools and was very much pleased…there was one little fellow there who sung on the stage, kept warbling back & forth all the time. He was singing as if [he] belong[ed] to the performance. He was not much bigger than Tommy Jones…[March 13, 1859]…I wish you could have been here-Marde Gras-day. You would have seen a great deal to amuse and interest you…[June 18, 1859]…there is a man here in the city who can tell you how many inches there is in any given amount of miles in less time than [it] would take you to write it…he will tell you how many weeks-day, hours, minutes, seconds you have lived just as fast as he can write or print for he writes in a printing style…and he commences writing forward not backwards as you would…pro fellow he is not fit for anything at all and can hardly make a living. He stands about on the streets selling charts of personages for 50c…". Overall minor toning, else VG
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