Lot 325
Gilmore, Quincy Adams (1825-1888) Union general. Autograph letter signed ("Q.A. Gilmore"), 4 pages, 8 x 5 in., Folly Island, S.C., Dec. 14, 1863, to Gen. G.W. Cullum, Chief of Staff, Hd. Qrs. of the Army. In part: "I think nothing will be done by the Monitor in Charleston Harbor. Four new monitors have been waited for since the 1st of September. They were expected to bring 10 more guns. The conditions of the problem have altogether changed within three months….The enemy…have lined the shores of the inner harbor with batteries. The city wharves are also covered with guns….I want no more troops. All I ask is authority to act as my judgement dictates….The work that can be done here, without any augmentation of force is First. The recovery of the State of Florida, thus cutting off a rich source of supply to the enemy. or, Second. The capture of Savannah, by surprising the enemy's batteries on St. Augustine Creek….I desire to consolidate certain fragments of colored regiments in the 3d S.C. 4 S.C. 5 S.C….I want to put them all into one regiment under Littlefield, & call it a U.S. colored regt. with an appropriate number…."
Together with an autograph letter signed ("Q.A. Gilmore"), 3 pages, on Headquarters, 10th Army Corps letterhead, near Bermuda Hundred, Va., May 30, 1864. To Maj. Gen. Hallek, asking if troops can be spared from the Dept of the South. "I know of five brigades of Beauregard's men that have come here & deserters from regiments recently from James Island, say that very few troops are left there….No one is more mortified than myself at the unsuccesful result of operations here. With a force of three men to the enemy's two we have not only failed to retain an offensive attitude at all, but are now on the defensive, with an enemy fortified on our front between us and the rail-road. I am deeply chagrined at the tone the public press has adopted toward General Butler….The battle of Drury's Bluff was a disaster to us….Erroneous reports of movements of the enemy elsewhere, was the cause of the retreat at the time when there seemed to be no necessity for it. What I most regret is my loss in men (3927 since we landed here.) without adequate compensation. the 18th corps have lost about 2000 more, I am told, nearly 6000 in all…There is a long story to be told of operations here but I cannot act the part of historian now."
Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,500.
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| Realized $300 |
