The Draft Is Put Off For Lincoln's Election

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

A nice pair of war-date letters from a Union soldier and his mother. The soldier's letter is, 4pp. 8vo., written in ink by Musician [Osborn] Frank Richardson, Co. F, 16th Maine Vols., before Petersburg, Va., July 19, 1864. In part: "…I am getting $75 per month. I am afraid they will put off the draft so that I shall be obliged to come before it comes off. The Presidential election is going to have an influence one way or the other with regard to it. It is thought here that there will be no draft till after election, but 'I can't see it' they say that it will endanger Lincoln's election. I think that it will hurt his election if it is put off. Lincoln ought to have called 500,000 last May and now had them ready when we most needed them...I send you the picture of the 5th Corps. which our Brig is in. Maj. Gen. Warren…is in the fort most every day. He was here yesterday with Gen. Hancock Com, of the 2nd Corps. Warren is considered one of the best Generals in the army...I send you Grant he does not show well in a picture and finally when you see him it is all the same…PLUS; a letter from mother, 4pp. 8vo., ink, Mt. Vernon, July 10, 1864. In part: "…I don't hear anything about a draft and the papers say nothing about it. But I fear there may be one...I see by the papers that Lee is in Penn but the Republicans say that is what Grant wants but it seems rather queer to me. I can't see through it, can you? Capt. John Carson is reported missing...I hear that there is something going on at Augusta and people think they are drafting privately so that the men can't run away…". The soldier's letter is s igned Frank Richardson while research definitively proves that our soldier is Osborn Richardson who served throughout the war in the 16th Maine fighting at Antietam, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness. VG.

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$The Draft Is Put Off For Lincoln\'s Election$