US Civil War 5th New Hampshire Inf'y, Letter & Envelope Archive, Petersburg Assault, June 16 1864
This item is listed for historical interest only. It was listed on our site previously but has been sold and is no longer available for purchase.
Sold for: $395.00

Original period manufacture. A really wonderful little ephemeral archive of Civil War letters and envelopes, written by Lt. George L. Hersum to his wife and sister, 1863-1864. All of the items were purchased in the same envelope from a local estate several years ago, and include, CDV of Abraham Lincolon, letter to his sister Feb. 1863, letter to his wife May '63 with battle content, letter to his wife Jan. 64 Rebel Prisoner content, and finally a letter to his wife dated June 19th 1864 where he goes into the June 16tth assault on the Confederate positions around Petersburg. Lastly the envelopes for the letters, and a Voucher  for an Officer in the 37th Massachusetts  The letter of June 19th 1864 has some outstanding content, and I will provide the entire letter's content below..."On the Battlefield near Petersburg Va. June 19th 1864.  My own dear Wife. I take this this opportunity to write a few lines to you to let you know that I am well and I hope this will find you the same. We have had considerable fighting since we joined the army, but I have come out all right so far. We have made 3 charges on the 3rd and one on the 16th and one on the 17th. We gained ground on the Rebs on the 16th & 17th, on the 17th we we forced them to leave their entrenchments and fall back about 1 mile. We have lost about 300 men since we joined the army. Our Colonel was wounded on the 16th and Lieut. George D. Shapleigh was killed. Little Joseph XXXXX was wounded yesterday in the left arm. I received a letter from you last night in one of them was a few lines for James Hubbard (?) from his mother. I am sorry to say that James is wounded and a prisoner. One of my men saw him fall inside of the Rebels works and by what he says I am afraid he was severely  if not mortally wounded. He says he was hit in or near the bowels. William Kimball we have no tidings from, I think hes is a prisoner. Of the rest of the Milton Boys is all right, I cannot write more at present. God Bless You. George L. Hersum.      George L. Hersum enlisted in the 5th New Hampshire in September 1861, and was mustered out as a Lieutenant Colonel in July 1864. Wounded in the arm at Antietam, he fought in all the battles of the 5th NH during his near 3 years of service. The 5th New Hampshire suffered the highest battle losses of any other regiment in the Union Army; 18 officers, and 277 enlisted men, killed or mortally wounded.