The James Biddle Collection of Thirty-Four Letters.

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/7/2023

Each of the Thirty-Four letters are written by James Cornell Biddle, to his wife Gertrude, scattered dates from January 8, 1863 through May 27, 1865. The letters are datelined from various points in the East. Nearly each letter has its original cover. All letters have transcriptions.James Cornell Biddle was a Civil war Union Army Officer. He was mustered in as a Private in Company A, 17th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on April 25, 1861, and served until he was mustered out on August 2, 1861. On November 1, 1861 he was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in Company C, 27th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Promoted to Captain and commander of Company H on November 1, 1862. He was soon tabbed to serve on the staff of Major General George Gordon Meade, performing that duty from May 1863 through the July 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, and through the end of the war. On November 5, 1863 he was discharged from the 27th Pennsylvania, and was promoted to Major and Aide-De-Camp, US Volunteers. He was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel, US Volunteers on August 1, 1864, for "faithful and meritorious services in the field" and Colonel, US Volunteers on April 9, 1865 for "gallant and meritorious services during the recent operations resulting the fall of Richmond and the surrender of the insurgent army under General R.E. Lee". He was once taken prisoner by the Confederates.We will show brief excerpts from this voluminous collection;(4/19/63) "The men have orders to prepare with eight days rations ... I heard from the Cavalry yesterday they crossed the river and had a skirmish in which they took about forty prisoners ... The Rebels seem to be falling back in their attack upon Suffolk and Williamsburg. .. This is a good place to fight them as any & if we defeat them we have a chance to follow them up. ..." (5/26/63) "I do not understand their allowing Hooker to move without knowing where he was going ... Hooker is an ambitious man, did not want anyone but himself to have credit for the victory. ... Meade is considered by everyone I see as the abelest General in this army ... He has to prove himself capable of handling so many men. ... I hear Couch, Stoneman & Slocum have expressed their unwillingness to serve longer under Hooker ..." (6/24/63) "They have been sent in charge of an armed force, as Mosby infests the road between here and Fairfax Court House. I can not bear to think we did not gobble him the other night ... Lee does not appear to have developed any plan as yet ...We must whip this wicked rebellion ...."(8/6/1863)"A circular went out stating that leaves, absences & resignations are not now entertained ... We may have trouble with small bands of guerillas for some time ... Pemberton has given a leave of absence of 30 days to his commands, a very good thing, he had no men left. He calls upon them to reassemble at Demopolis Ala at the end of that time ..." (9/2/63) "I thought we should have news today from Charleston & from Tennessee. I trust before long we may again have Tennessee in the Union and then North Carolina will come back ... We must in the end secure the whole country under one flag. It is impossible now for it to be otherwise and Davis and his followers must see there is no hope for them. ..." (9/6/63) "The Rebels remain in the same position and I do not think they intend to do anything. ... Gen'l Meade said 'if lee will assure me he does not intend on doing anything, I will grant leaves of absence' ... " (9/9/63) "Genl. Meade has just read to us a dispatch he received a few minutes ago from the President announcing the surrender of Morris Island or rather the evacuation by the Rebels. ... I wonder what was the meaning of their firing on the steamer apparently bearing a flag of truce. It must have been seized by deserters of their Army. This seems confirmed by our finding knapsacks floating in the water marked as belonging to Arkansas troops. It shows their army is in bad condition. ..." (9/12/63) "The news from Tennessee is very good. I do not understand Johnston's movements. There are rumors the Rebels are withdrawing from our front. It is said Longstreet has gone to North Carolina ... I wonder why the Rebels surrendered Cumberland Gap without a fight. ... I have not heard any firing yet. I presume they are getting ready to start. I wish it was the whole Army and that we were going to smash Lee's Army ..." (9/23/63) "We are strong enough to defeat Lee if we can only get to him. That is trouble, the line of the Rapidan is a very strong one, and if we can turn it, Lee will fall back gradually into defense of Richmond. ...." (10/17/63) "We are four in a tent and only were allowed to take with us those things we could not dispence with. ... I feel confident of our ability to whip them. The trouble is to get them to fight. ..." (10/220/630 "It was a mistake that Mr. Stanton had been here. Gen'l Meade was sent for and went back to Washington. ..I suppose they wanted to consult with him as to what is best to do with this army. Lee has gone out of sight. He has most effectively destroyed the railroad ... Burnside is advancing on Lynchburg with 35,000 men ..." (2/4/64) "The order appointing me Commandant of Camp I send to you to put away in your collection. ... Lee's order ... called upon the people to live on half rations and send the balance to the to the soldiers ..." (2/16/64) "I was very glad to see .. the escape of 130 of our officers from Libby prison and the safe arrival of Col. Streight and 17 other officers inside our lines. I hope that they may all get in safely. ..." (2/23/64) "Sherman is cut off from his base and must subsist on the country. The destruction of that railroad alone is a very severe affair for the Rebels. ... Jeff Davis must i think feel very uncomfortable. He must see with the number of troops we are receiving daily, there is no hope for him left and that the rebellion has got to succumb ..." (2/24/64) "I see the House has passed a bill creating a Lieut. General and requesting the President to appoint Gen. Grant. I suppose it will pass the Senate. ... Genl Lee has appealed to the patriotism of the men, asking them to be contented with the rations they have now received ...." (3/29/64) "There is nothing in the papers except the attack on Paducah and the mystery to me how Forrest got there. I should think we ought to capture him ... He captured our forces at Union City ...." (4/9/64) "I was surprised to see that Stone's Commission as Brigadier General had been taken away from him. There is altogether something very strange about his case. They must, I think, trumped up something new against him...." (9/21/64) "My servant ran away yesterday afternoon without notifying me. Servants in the Army are the tanalizing things imaginable. They are lazy and good for nothing ..." (12/13/64) "General Sherman attacked Savannah and expected to capture the place. Thomas has sent a force to the rear of Hood's Army, which force was at Chickasaw. .. If Sherman gets Savannah and Weitzel takes Wilmington, Richmond can taken ..." (12/16/64) "Genl Grant sent us this morning a dispatch he had received from the telegraph operator at Nashville announcing Thomas's success capturing 17 guns and 1,500 prisoners. ..." (4/22/65) "The leaders of this rebellion have no right demanding anything from this government. ... I am sorry to hear Sherman will not grant the same terms to Johnston, Grant did to Lee. .. The Rebels only wanted a pretense to lay down their arms ..." (5/27/65) "I have read the letter of Genl. Sherman to Col. Bowman making war on Secty Stanton. I was very sorry to see that I do not think Sherman can hurt Stanton as everyone was surprised at the agreement he made with Johnston, thinking he made a great mistake. ..."

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