2008-09
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2008
War-date Union soldier Autograph Letter Signed, “E.P. Oakes Co. B 83rd R.P.V. 3d Brigade, Porters Divs. Washington, D.C.” 3p. octavo, West Over, August 1, 1862, with cover addressed to Mr Francis War in Pennsylvania, and reads in part: “...I cannot give you much inforamtion in regard to James he was not in the same Co. taht I am in. I was well acquainted with him I inquired of serveral of the boys and one of his lieut about him, he was wounded in the breast very bad but not dangerous. When our Reg. fell back he was with them. He went a piece and began to get weak from the loss of blood, he sat down and said he could go no farther and that was the last that was seen of him. He is in Richmond I suppose, he was a good soldier and fought like a man. I had 2 cousins in the same co. one was wounded adn the other no one knows where he is. It was on the 27th of June that James was wounded we had a rough time our Colonel and Major was killed. We had 3 captains and 5 or 6 lieut wounded out of 1,040 that we crossed the river with last fall. We cannot muster 150 men for duty, it may seem hard to a white but a soldier don’t mind it much if his own hide is safe. I received a slight wound in the forehead jsut enough to mark me it is well again. We was waked last night by the report of artillery, the rebs came up on the opposite side of the river and planted their batteries and began to shell our camps it lasted about one half hour , the shells flew thick and fast for a while but when the gun boats and battries got the range on them and secesh thought they would slope. We had 14 men killed none in our regiment...” Fine. The Eighty-third encountered more fighting and lost more men in battle than any other Pennsylvania regiment; in fact, its loss in action was exceeded by only one other in the entire Union army. None of its losses were caused by blunders, none occurred in disastrous routs; its dead always lay with their faces to the enemy. With its "twin regiment," the Forty-fourth New York, it was assigned to Butterfield's Brigade, Morell's Division, Fifth Corps. Colonel McLane was killed at Gaines's Mill, and Vincent fell at Gettysburg while in command of the brigade. At Gaines's Mill, the regiment lost 46 killed, 51 wounded, and 99 missing; four days later, at Malvern Hill, it lost 33 killed, 115 wounded, and 18 missing--a total of 362, out of the 554 present at Gaines's Mill. At Manassas, under Lieutenant-Colonel McCoy, it lost 14 killed, 72 wounded, and 11 missing, out of 224 officially reported by McCoy as present and engaged. It had the honor, at Gettysburg, of participating in the brilliant manoeuvre of its brigade--Vincent's--in seizing Little Round Top at a critical moment, helping materially to save the fortunes of the day. At Spotsylvania, its casualties amounted to 21 killed, 119 wounded, and 24 missing; total, 164. General McClellan once publicly pronounced the Eighty-third "one of the very best regiments in the army."
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