Lot 184
Collection of Civil War-Date Letters and Documents. A collection of approximately 60 letters and documents that belonged to the family of Robert P. Wilson, who served with the 16th New York Infantry and the 121st N.Y. Volunteers during the Civil War. Twenty-six are war date and are addressed to Wilson, as are two post-war letters. The documents include a circular letter written July 4, 1863 at Gettysburg by order of General Meade ordering Corps Commanders to send in "a field return of officers and enlisted men present for duty. Also a return numerically first and subsequently nominally of the killed wounded & missing." They also include a scouting report describing the area around Mechanicsville, receipts for supplies and clothing, a surgeon's report, a pass, etc. (List available upon request).
A notebook of approximately 35 letters and documents contain family lore about an earlier Robert Wilson (grandfather of the Civil War Wilson) who was the youngest commissioned officer in the Continental Army and who accepted the British standards at Yorktown; a 30-page notebook contains interesting information about the Wilsons coming over from Ireland on the same ship as the DeWitt and Clinton families (all of them cousins), a story of a Wilson widow being made a commissary general by George Washington, and more. Six letters to Wilson pertain to the Society of the Cincinnati, of which Wilson was a hereditary member; one is an ALS from Hamilton Fish and five AlsS are from John Schuyler, secretary of the New York Society of the Cincinnati. One other letters regard the Centennial celebration of the surrender at Yorktown. Condition is overall Very Good to Fine. A very interesting family collection.
Estimated Value $400 - 600.
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| Realized $391 |
