2005-11
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/31/2005
Autograph Letter Signed of Reverend John Henry Ducachet Wingfield, 2p. octavo, Portsmouth, Virginia, October 8, 1863, and reads in part: “...The last letter I recd from your brother Edward, was sometime in March 1862. He was then in Richmond, engaged in the noble work of superintending & ministering to the necessities of the sick at one [of] the Military Hospitals. He joined an artillery company in Augusta, but the surgeon pronounced him of two feeble constitutino to endure the labor & fatigue of a soldier. Since the Evacuation of this place by our Army, I have been cut off from all my relatives & friends feeling it my duty to remain here with that portion of my congregation which could not fly before the accursed fiends & cut throat hirilings of Lincoln & therefore have i heard nothing from your borther...I thank you kindly for your pressing invitation to visit you & also to become the Pastor of the flock where you are now living. But you know the oath is thrust at you if you ask for a pass, like a negro, to go anywhere beyond the lines. This will prevent my accepting your invitation to visit you, while the prayer for ‘health & prosperity of Lincoln’ shall never ascend from my lips, much more my heart. I can’t be a hypocrite. I have thought of going North as I am now on the brink of starvation but that Oath & that prayer could choke me to death. I may as well ‘die of the ague as the fever’ yes two times rather...” VG. Reverend Wingfield (1833-1898) descendant of Edward Maria Wingfield the first elected president of Jamestown colony. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1853. Wingfield served as assistant rector to the Trinity Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, Virginia for several years before and during the Civil War. The day after the battle of the Monitor and Merrimac he held a religious service on board the Merrimac for the officers and crew. The account of the service is recorded in the Southern Historical Society Papers, vol XIX, pp 249-250 and titled, "A Thanksgiving Service on the Virginia, March 10, 1862., a copy of which is present. It was said that many of crew had tears rolling down their faces. When the Union forces occupied the city and converted the church into a hospital to serve Black soldiers Wingfield refused to take any oath with the occupying army. Wingfield was subjected to sweep the streets for punishment by the occupying Union Army. After leaving Portsmouth for pastoral work elsewhere Wingfield's charisma led him upward to the appointment as Missionary Bishop of Northern California.
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.