Description:

ARCHIVE OF BVT. BRIG. GEN. WILLIAM N. GREEN, JR. - P.O.W., LATER MORTALLY WOUNDED
Excellent war-date archive consisting of four war-date letters from Green (1862), one letter from Green from 1860, and a poignant carved bone heart-shaped charm from Libby Prison. William Green, Jr. was a young man of eighteen when he enlisted in the Federal army five months after the beginning of the Civil War in the 25th Mass. Infantry on Sep. 16, 1861. He was promoted to second lieutenant on Mar. 7, 1862, and transferred to the 102nd N.Y. Infantry. His regiment was stationed at Fort Greble on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. on Apr. 27, 1862, when he wrote to his grandfather asking him and his grandmother to "...step for a few moments into 'Adams Photographic Gallery' and get a photograph of each of you separate for me..," offering to "...pay the expense of it, for $2 or $3." He was still near Washington the following month, but wrote that he anticipates a "...march soon for Aquia Creek..." Lt. Green moved with his regiment south into Dixie sometime in May. On Aug. 9, 1862, his regiment met Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Cedar Mountain and Green was captured. May Pike, his cousin, wrote to Green's father on Aug. 20, 1862 regarding the capture of her brother and William's son: "When I wrote my last letter to you so long ago we little thought that the next one would be written as such a time as this. The miseries of our country have become vital & personal to us, & I fear also to you, for I think Lieut. W. N. Green whose name is among the prisoners taken at Cedar Mountain must be your son. My dear brother who was aid to Gen. Prince...mentioned having found a new cousin in the 102 N.Y...We have heard nothing from my brother since that gallant but dreadful battle [Cedar Mountain] & the information that we have received leads us to believe he was with Gen. Prince at the time he was taken prisoner...Of the agonies we have endured I say nothing, for if I am correct in my surmise, your family has endured the same." Of the battle, she incorrectly observes that: "It was a great deed accomplished to foil the wily [Gen. Stonewall] Jackson & turn him back..." Cedar Mountain was a Confederate victory. Green spent the next forty-six days in Libby Prison in Richmond. Included in the archive is a memento, a heart-shaped charm made of bone, approximately 1" x 3/4", bearing an inscription: "Lt. Col. Wm. N. Green Aug. 9th 62 Libbie Prison 1862." Floral decoration is found down each side. By November 3, he was in Annapolis, Maryland, waiting to be exchanged. He wrote quickly to his grandfather: "I go every day to the Library at the State House and read, am reading the 'History of the French Revolution'...it is very interesting...I don't have one word covering my exchange but hope soon to get back to my Regt." Green was exchanged and returned to active duty. He received a promotion and transfer on June 13, 1863. Now a lieutenant colonel, he was placed on the field staff of the 173rd New York Infantry serving duty in Louisiana. On April 9, 1864, he was wounded at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, and had his left arm amputated. He received brevet promotions to colonel and brigadier general dating from his wounding. He lived another five weeks before dying of his wounds in New Orleans at the age of twenty-one. Overall very good to fine. Five pcs.

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February 19, 2014 11:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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