2024-07 Raynors Historical Collectible Auctions
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/13/2024
The 4-page letter is ID'd only as John. Dayelined; Near Petersburg Va., August 2, 1864, to his wife. In part, "Everything is going on here today the same as before the battle of Saturday. Yesterday morning a flag of truce was accepted and our regiment went out to bury the dead. Such a sight I hope I will never see again. They had been lying in the hot sun from Saturday till Monday and were in frightful condition when we went to bury them. The negroes were buried by their own men, while we buried the white soldiers. It would have been impossible to tell white from black except for the hair. All ere as black as ink and the bodies a complete swarm of maggots ... the only way we could recognize our comrades was by some part of the clothing or something in their pockets, but most of those near the rebel line had had their pockets cut-out and robbed by the rebels ... I am sorry to say, many of our own men will rob our own dead ... we found very few of our men alive ...."
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