p.

JOHN WAITE RARE BOOKS

FINE BOOKS MANUSCRIPTS, AND EPHEMERA
BOUGHT, SOLD, AND APPRAISED

Soldier narrative of the "Lewinsville skirmish" in which the
2^nd & 3^rd Vermont Regiments first taste combat

(CIVIL WAR - LETTER) Four page holograph letter, not signed, to "My
Dear Friend" from Camp Advance near Washington D. C. dated October
5, 1861.

Single cream sheet with pictorial figure; folded once vertically to make four pages;
written in ink recto and verso; small hole at upper left with loss of one word; else near
fine.

An unknown Vermont soldier writes to a friend about early action in the war: "You must
excuse me for not writing before for when I had have time & hant had postage till the
other day. We was paid off Sept. 27th. I got $27.30 was paid up from the 20th of June up
to the 1st of Sept. Got $15.00 in U. S. Bills or Treasurer's Noats [sic] & $10.00 in gold &
the rest in Silver. I shall send it most all home. I got a letter from Charles Oct. 2nd. The
same day that I got yours we left Camp Lyon Sept. 3rd crost [sic[ the river in to Virginia
where we now remain. We built a Fort & it is name Fort Masey. They built another one
on the hill south of us it is Fort Ethan Allen. It is a big one. We marched up to
Lewinsville Sept. 11th with 2 or 3 other Regts. & some cavalry with 5 or 6 pieces of
Artillery in order to survey the grounds. After this we got our Forces together & just
started as the rebels at the right with 3 guns threw shells in ahead in order to cut off our
march so to charge on us in the rear but we marched on to Camp there [sic] shells having
but little efect [sic] as they went over. One [struck] in Co. O [?] killing 2 men and 6 men
slightly wounded but our batteries come... on them. One piece was a 32 pounder brass
piece. That done the business. It threw one shell or Ball that dismounted one of the rebels
guns & silenced there [sic] battery I gess [sic] for they picked there [sic] guns & left and
throwing 2 or 3 shells into the approaching Cavalry and the commander of them left.
Then we kept on to Camp meeting reinforcements. You have seen an account of this in
the papers & suppose our forces loss was small while that of the rebels was quite a
number." The continues with the beginning of an account of another engagement,
but the second sheet is lost. The 2^nd & 3^rd Vermont Regiments moved from Camp Lyon

to Camp Advance on the date supplied in the narrative above. The Lewsville skirmish
(as it became known) represented the first "baptism by fire" for both Vermont regiments -
- one of which, presumably, the unknown writer must have belonged. $200.00

MEMBER ABAA

P. O. BOX 6, ROUTE 5, ASCUTNEY, VT 05030
PHONE & FAX (802) 674-2665 . E-MAIL: jwrb@comcastinet

JOHN WAITE RARE BOOKS

FINE BOOKS MANUSCRIPTS, AND EPHEMERA
BOUGHT, SOLD, AND APPRAISED

Soldier narrative of the "Lewinsville skirmish" in which the
2^nd & 3^rd Vermont Regiments first taste combat

(CIVIL WAR - LETTER) Four page holograph letter, not signed, to "My
Dear Friend" from Camp Advance near Washington D. C. dated October
5, 1861.

Single cream sheet with pictorial figure; folded once vertically to make four pages;
written in ink recto and verso; small hole at upper left with loss of one word; else near
fine.

An unknown Vermont soldier writes to a friend about early action in the war: "You must
excuse me for not writing before for when I had have time & hant had postage till the
other day. We was paid off Sept. 27th. I got $27.30 was paid up from the 20th of June up
to the 1st of Sept. Got $15.00 in U. S. Bills or Treasurer's Noats [sic] & $10.00 in gold &
the rest in Silver. I shall send it most all home. I got a letter from Charles Oct. 2nd. The
same day that I got yours we left Camp Lyon Sept. 3rd crost [sic[ the river in to Virginia
where we now remain. We built a Fort & it is name Fort Masey. They built another one
on the hill south of us it is Fort Ethan Allen. It is a big one. We marched up to
Lewinsville Sept. 11th with 2 or 3 other Regts. & some cavalry with 5 or 6 pieces of
Artillery in order to survey the grounds. After this we got our Forces together & just
started as the rebels at the right with 3 guns threw shells in ahead in order to cut off our
march so to charge on us in the rear but we marched on to Camp there [sic] shells having
but little efect [sic] as they went over. One [struck] in Co. O [?] killing 2 men and 6 men
slightly wounded but our batteries come... on them. One piece was a 32 pounder brass
piece. That done the business. It threw one shell or Ball that dismounted one of the rebels
guns & silenced there [sic] battery I gess [sic] for they picked there [sic] guns & left and
throwing 2 or 3 shells into the approaching Cavalry and the commander of them left.
Then we kept on to Camp meeting reinforcements. You have seen an account of this in
the papers & suppose our forces loss was small while that of the rebels was quite a
number." The continues with the beginning of an account of another engagement,
but the second sheet is lost. The 2^nd & 3^rd Vermont Regiments moved from Camp Lyon

to Camp Advance on the date supplied in the narrative above. The Lewsville skirmish
(as it became known) represented the first "baptism by fire" for both Vermont regiments -
- one of which, presumably, the unknown writer must have belonged. $200.00

MEMBER ABAA

P. O. BOX 6, ROUTE 5, ASCUTNEY, VT 05030
PHONE & FAX (802) 674-2665 . E-MAIL: jwrb@comcastinet