2008-09
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2008
Partly-printed Document Signed "Walter T. Chester, Capt" 94th New York Infantry, and "E.F. Davies Capt. Comdg. Co.” who was wounded at Spotsylvania and taken POW at Weldon Railroad and escaped with Colonel Tilden the next day, 1p. quarto, June 5, 1865, Arlington Heights, Virginia, where "Otis F. Mitchell a Private of Captain Edward F. Davies, Company (C) 16th Regiment of Maine Infantry Volunteers…" is discharged. With nice “Paid in Full” paymasters stamp. VG. The 16th Maine had fourteen killed, fifty-six wounded and one hundred and six taken prisoner at Gettysburg. The 16th Maine fought bitterly for approximately three hours in the fields north of the Chambersburg Pike; but by mid-afternoon, it was evident that, even with the addition of the rest of the 1st Corps and the entire 11th Corps, the position of the Union forces could not be held. They began to fall back toward the town of Gettysburg. The 16th Maine was then ordered to withdraw to a new position to the east of where they had been fighting. "Take that position and hold it at any cost!" was the command. This meant that those of the 275 officers and men of the Regiment who had not already become casualties had to sacrifice themselves to allow some 16, 000 other men to retreat. This they valiantly did, but they were soon overwhelmed and forced to surrender to the Confederates. Historians say the 16th Maine fought valiantly, but its soldiers turned their attention to saving their beloved flags when they realized that defeat was inevitable. As the Southern troops bore down upon them, the men of the 16th Maine spontaneously began to tear up into little pieces their "Colors." Like other Union regiments, the 16th Maine carried an American flag and a regimental flag, known collectively as "the colors." "For a few last moments our little regiment defended angrily its hopeless challenge, but it was useless to fight longer," Abner Small of the 16th Maine wrote after the battle. "We looked at our colors, and our faces burned. We must not surrender those symbols of our pride and our faith." The regiment's color bearers "appealed to the colonel," Small wrote, "and with his consent they tore the flags from the staves and ripped the silk into shreds; and our officers and men that were near took each a shred." Each man hid his fragment of the flags inside his shirt or in a pocket. The Confederates were thus deprived of the chance to capture the flags as battle trophies.
Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).
Click above for larger image.