On Contraband Servants and Lager Beer

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2008

War-date Union officer's letter written by 1st Lt. Selwyn E. Bickford, 6th Massachusetts Infantry, 4p. quarto, Suffolk, Virginia, October 7, 1862, and reads in part: "…on the morning that I left Camp Wilson…Almost every man among the Sixth seemed to have some particular friend or friends to bid him farewell and God speed, but there was not a single soul up there that could care a cuss about me, I am not generally very sensitive upon such a point, but at that time, I felt it keenly; I was very thankful that my duties absorbed so much of my time…We turned off our boys we took from Lowell, some time ago, and sent them home, and in their place, the Captain has a contraband from North Carolina, as black as coal, Lieut. [Alfred H.] Pulsifer and myself rejoice in the possession of a yellow boy, who is quite a smart fellow… [Continues with a lengthy description of his tent, including 'a long table, made of planks that I got out of a Secesh individuals barn]…We shall see something or other this way soon, for the troops are pouring in here fast. Two New York Regiments came in last night, and Brig. Gen. Spinola with them. They were a gay looking set of Dutchman. I do not know what they will do here without Lager Bier. I wrote…yesterday and detailed at some length a tramp that the Regiment made out into the Country towards Blackwater…No doubt was entertained by us, that we should have to fight, for so heavy a force was out, and the report was, that they were getting used up, that we supposed that the enemy were in force & did not know but they were making an onward movement upon Suffolk…I do not know what they wished to send the 6th out for that night. All the men in camp went in the afternoon, and the four hundred who went in the night, had been at work all day, either shoveling or chopping logs, and tired and hungry they were marched 15 miles with the prospect of one or two days fighting. Very poor account of themselves I think they would have given, had they 'gone in.' I felt sort of desperate, and did not care what happened…I think that we were all disappointed that we did not have a brush…I have been appointed Acting Quartermaster of this Regiment. Lieut. Wise having advanced to Brigade Q.M. It brings me $18 dolls. more a month,…" VG.

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