An interesting June 1862 letter written by Lieutenant Peter C. Doyle of the 21st New York Volunteers , a regiment that had been rushed to the Shenandoah Valley to help contain Stonewall Jackson s Confederates, who had been defeating Union armies up and down the Valley. Doyle describes the regiments journey from Fredericksburg to Catletts Station to Manassas Junction to Front Royal. Shields, Banks & Fremont & Ord are after him, Doyle wrote.
Within days of writing this letter, Jackson would earn additional Rebel victories at Cross Keys and Port Republic, and within two weeks the Confederates were marching east to join the Rebel forces gathering outside Richmond to force McClellans army off the Peninsula. Haymarket Va June 4 1862. Last Thursday we left camp at Massaponax Valley, 8 miles south of Fredericksburg, with the understanding that we were to go to Strasburg & try & capture Jacksons forces. We commenced our march back for Catletts which place we arrived at last Saturday morning & took the cars via Manassas Junction and went to Front Royal. Arriving there Sunday afternoon, found that Genl Shields had shelled his rear guard out of there and that there was force enough there.
Shields, Banks & Fremont & Ord are after him. I dont know when we shall leave here.
It has rained since last Saturday continually, awfully, and is still raining hard. The letter was written on one side of of a stationery sheet measuring about 7 1/2 x 9 3/4. It is in very good condition with minor foxing and toning, as well as remnants of previous album mounting on the reverse.
Please see my other items for more interesting Civil War letters, documents, and images. The item "June 1862 Civil War Letter 21st NY Chasing Stonewall Through the Valley" is in sale since Wednesday, March 27, 2019.
This item is in the category "Collectibles\Militaria\Civil War (1861-65)\Original Period Items\Correspondence, Mail". The seller is "iron-horse-sales" and is located in Champaign, Illinois. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Dominican republic, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, El salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Bangladesh, Uruguay.