2008-09
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2008
A rare war-date Union cavalryman's letter written by Corp. George T. Crawford, Co. C. 5th U. S. Regular Cavalry, Camp at Harrison's Bar, James River, Va." 2p. quarto, August 3, 1862, and reads in part: "…On the 31st of July about 12 o'clock at night the Rebels came down on the opposite side of the River, and commenced throwing shell in our camp, and all the men left, taking the horses with them, and I…stayed in my tent in bed, the shell fell so near my tent as to throw mud all over it. One solid six pound shot, buried itself between my tent and the tent next to me. I have the 'creature' now…I wish I could send it home. It seems a miracle that one did not light in my tent, but I escaped without seeing one until next morning. I went to sleep during the fire and said to myself if a shell happens to drop in my tent I think it will wake me up. I slept until some of our big guns got in position, and then I had to wake for they make such a noise, it would waken 'Lamen.' …" VG. Crawford served throughout the war in the 5th and was killed during a bitter skirmish with rebel cavalry at Manassas Gap on July 21, 1863.
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