CIVIL WAR 11TH VERMONT SOLDIER LETTER FORT STEVENS 1863 HUMOR & GUNSHOT WOUND

Description

The  11th Vermont Infantry began the War as an artillery unit before being transferred to infantry with heavy losses in the assaults on Spottsylvania Court House,  Cold Harbor,  the Weldon Railroad Fight , Petersburg, Opequan and Cedar Creek, Virginia. An Original Civil War Letter from Private George W Willey of Woodbury, Vermont, written at Fort Stevens, Washington, May 1, 1863  who reports  "the boys are all in running order" despite picket duty with the 143rd Pennsylvania, epidemics of measles and mumps, gives his regards to General Rives, jokes that they "are doing duty in the "Army of the Lord,  "Fret not thy gizzard and let not thy guts trouble thee", warns the reader to not let Sarah read this. The letter is full of humor and low satire incl nasty comments on contrabands who he claims are always hungry or drunk and will gnaw the hoops off a swill barrel. He also reports a comrade in C Company shot his thumb off while on picket duty another man shot his left arm, another nervous picket, reloading after firing on one of our own fired again and shot his  ramrod through his hand own hand. 7pp in 2 parts, complete. Comes w a complete transcript.
Age, edge wear, faint in spots but legible and an interesting take on an infantryman's biases and low sense of humor. Comes w service info: Willey served 3 years, was wounded at Cedar Creek and ended the War a Corporal.
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