Description:

War-date A.L.S. in pencil, 4pp. 8vo., Williamsburg, May 8, 1862, from Eldridge Franklin of the 5th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, Company "C", to his father, John. Franklin describes the aftermath of the recently-completed Battle of Williamsburg on May 5th, in small part: "...Co 'C' is not the Co it once was, some of our best men fell on the battle field. Several others will never return to the Co but will be discharged in consequence of their wounds. By the death of Capt. Trowbridge we can, according to army rules, no longer carry the Colors. The position of Co C as Color Co was only held by reason of the Seniority of Capt Trowbridge... It came very hard on us indeed to resign these colors to Co E but it could not be avoided & we have the consolation of knowing that it was through no fault of ours that they were taken from us, & that we safely brought them through A severe battle the hardest battle that this Regt will ever see & may be the only one... Having brought them safely through the action we felt proud of them, the more so as 'Williamsburg' is to be inscribed on them & we thought that 'Seniority of Captains' and 'army rules' might be overlooked & we be allowed to still retain them. Alas! Poor Co C, she had no officers to assert her rights & use their efforts to have her retain her place as color guard..." Franklin signs at the conclusion. Also present is Franklin's subsequent A.L.S. to his father, 4pp. 8vo., "near Bottoms Bridge", May 29, 1862, in which Franklin describes their arrival at their camp just outside of Richmond, the sounds of sporadic rifle fire, their constant preparedness to march, and his difficulty finding paper for his letters. Both letters show original mailing folds and slight foxing and toning, with a small tear to the second letter repaired with archival tape, and are also accompanied by the transmittal envelope for the second letter, very good overall. Two pieces.

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July 31, 2019 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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