Civil War Letter & Envelope to Sister - 11/23/1864 - Fort Hazlett - VGC

Description

This letter is addressed to "Miss Lizzie Tillotson", Madison County NY from her brother Earl? who was stationed at Fort Hazlett near Portsmouth Va.. Very oddly, Earl spelled Hazlett differently (Haslett) in two places in the letter. I could not find any reference to a fort Hazlett until I looked up the name Hazelett. Charles Hazlett, a graduate of the military academy from Ohio, was a first lieutenant in charge of Battery D 5th US Artillery when he was killed on the second day of the battle at Gettysburg. He had previously fought at both battles at Bull Run and the battles of Antietam, Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville. Three months after his death, the army named a redoubt near Portsmouth after him  - thus "Fort Hazlett"
. The letter is very interesting - Earl has been left in charge of the "fort" while his company is out on a raid. He describes his coming Thanksgiving Day meal to his sister and tells of a letter he has received from their father. All in all, a nice and interesting slice of life from the times. The script is really beautiful and clear for the most part, except when it gets too flowery. The envelope has been torn open on the back, but the front is excellent. Thanks for looking - if you have a few minutes, I have some passes given for travel from various military installations during the Civil War - these are listed in my Ebay store. (LR3/R2 - 1022)