27 ALsS 15th Ohio Infantry/Signal Corps - Signed

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Exceptional 27 Civil War letters lot from Samuel Bachtell of the 15th Ohio Infantry and U.S. Army Signal Corps. Composed from June 1861 to June 1865, Bachtell writes in vivid detail of his wartime experiences including the battles of Murfreesboro and Chattanooga, the capture of Savannah, and the grand review in Washington D.C. Bachtell was with Sherman in his march to the sea, and in the campaigns of the Carolinas, witnessing the surrender of Johnson's army. Excerpts: Philippe, Virginia, 29 June 1861, ''...A story came into camp and had a good round concerning the village of Buchanan was taken by a rebel force of 4500...Genl Morris is coming into camp, at least two regiments of infantry and four companies of artillery went out to receive him. Perhaps he has come in order to order us forward...'' Burlington, Virginia, 15 July 1861, ''...The evening left our boys pursued overtook them, captured much, killed some; 4 were killed of the 14th Regt. have been gone since Friday are now at Grafton we will join them soon and perhaps get home in a few weeks...'' Atlanta, Georgia, 26 September 1861, ''...more than several trains of our R.R. were destroyed by the enemy...the enemy captured the mail from between and Chattanooga...'' 19 March, 1862, ''...Have you heard of the hard fought battle in Arkansas? In it the rebels acknowledge 2000 killed among which were many valuable officers to them...'' Battlefield of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 3 January 1863, ''...was in the terrible battle of the 31st and acted as Aide de Camp to Genrl Thomas - Wm Garvis is possibly captured - John Helper wounded...the enemy drove us at first like sheep we then repulsed them and drove them back a little had a battle last evening drove the enemy before us - killing three of them to one of ours...'' Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 23 January 1863, ''...a great many citizens have been down since the battle...From them I learned many things in regard to how times are at the North generally...'' 30 January 1863, ''...Some of our boys were killed, wounded and captured...The 102 regiment...were in the engagement and suffered severely...John Kerr...was killed very early in the action judging from the place he laid upon the field...our men were not more than 200 yards apart back to back and the enemy in front of them firing with both musketry and artillery...'' 21 June 1863, ''...Lees army is again stirring up the people of the North. Old Pennsylvania is all in spasms again. Well for every such raid the enemy makes our army will grow stronger by enlistments...'' Chattanooga, Tennessee, 4 December 1863, ''...You did not seem to know anything of our great affair known as the battle. Most certainly your joys would have been much heightened had you known of our brilliant sweep and then of my safety also...'' Near Kennesaw Mountain, 22 June 1864, ''...During the past ten days we (the signal corps) have had our hands full and busily engaged in making observations and keeping up communication with the different parts of the army all of which we have succeeded in doing very well I think...we have fought them...back steadily and have pressed over 18 miles in some 20 days. They put up good works in which we find them and push near and fortify shell and fight them...the affair of course could be decided maybe by a ground assault on their works but a better way is to save the lives of as many of our men as possible by doing as we are doing now...'' Savannah, Georgia 27 December 1864, ''...our campaign was a highly successful one came through pleasantly and easily...A demand for the surrender of the city had been sent in but was refused and in a day more the enemy had evacuated and the same morning the army moved into the city and around the city...This is the only place I ever saw w the people seemed to be friendly to us, they look right, act right and many welcome us to the city, the ladies look cheerful and walk the streets just as if no soldiers were ..these people had their fill of Secession and now are trying to do better...'' Washington D.C., 25 Ma... read more

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