Raynors HCA 2017-02
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/23/2017
Union letter written and signed by “Henry” S. Butler, who on 8/5/1861 he mustered into Band MA 16th Infantry and was discharged on 8/9/1862. The 5pp letter is dateline Harrison Landing, July 9th (1862) In part, “ ... resting after the damned hard times we have had for a week ... twas march all night and fight day for a week ... Our Colonel was killed at the fight at Charles City Court House. I helped carry him off the field. ... If the lead didn’t fly on top of that hill then I am no judge of snakes ... One fellow that was helping me carry him had his knapsack on and a ball hit that and went most through it ... I was going up to the front with a stretcher and a rebel sharpshooter who was up in a tree fired at me and put a hole in the stretcher ... threw shell over our heads as we laid down and they let it rip ... The cursed thing was so close to me that I could hear the fuse burning before it burst ... The sharpshooters in the trees thought I was an officer seeing me on horseback and three shots were fired at me before I got out .. A week ago Sunday I saw a fellow have both legs and one arm taken off by a shell. He screamed a few times when the shot first hit him but died in a few minutes. I have seen any quantity of legs and arms cut off by doctors ...”
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