1861 CIVIL WAR ERA LETTER WILLIAMSPORT MARYLAND CHAS MANNING 13th MASS VOLS

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

1861 CIVIL WAR ERA LETTER WILLIAMSPORT MARYLAND CHAS MANNING 13th MASS VOLS:
$111.38

Up for sale is a vintage Civil War Era soldier\'s letter datelined Williamsport, MD, October 31, 1861 and a continuation dated November 1. Letter was written by Charles Manning, Company B, 13th Massachusetts Volunteers. Lettersheets are two different sizes. I had the letter transcribed by jkpaper27305 and it reads as follows:Williamsport, Md., Oct. 31st/61Dear Brother, I have waited & waited for the letter which you promised to write to me when you sent the package of papers, but have not received it until this morning, so you may be sure that I was much pleased to hear from you once more, for I had almost given up all hopes of ever hearing from you again. If it has not been that I expected a letter every day, I should have wrote to you when we first got here to Williamsport, but as it is, I will try now and give a little account of our last march from Darnestown here. It seems that you had heard of our Co. being detached to goas Provost Guard at Darnestown, so I will not say anything about that; only that we had enough to do in keeping the Prisoners (about 30 in all) straight, for we had some of the hardest looking cusses that I ever saw. We had been on this duty about a fortnight, and on the 10th we were orderedto pack up & start, the Devil only knewwhere, but we took the direction of Frederick & marched 15 miles to a place called Hyattstown, & there we turned into a wood, spread our blankets & laid down for a little sleep, which we felt the need of considerable, but before we did, we had to build up the brush over where we slept to protect us from the rain, which now began to fall pretty fast, but altho it continued to rain all night, I slept as sound as a log. By light, the next morning, we were ordered to fall in & in a few minutes we were on the march again & continued to march until about 5 o\'clock at night, when we reached Frederick. This day\'s march was about 16 miles. We marched into the Fair Grounds, there stacked arms & waited for further orders. About 9 o\'clock they told us to spread out blankets & lay down beside the stack of arms, but we had not laid there long before it began to rain again, & as there was a long row of sheds, or hog pens, as I called them, we thought we had better turn in to them & get out of the rain, if possible, so John, I can say that I have slept in a hog pen once in my life, and slept well. The next day was very pleasant, but we did not start until about 1 o\'clock, but we took some of Fred Clark\'s 18 inch steps, & by 4 o\'clock we found ourselves in Middletown, a distance of 8 miles. Here we did not stop, but kept on in the direction of Boonsboro, which we reached at 9 o\'clock at night, foot sore & tired, for it was 8 miles from Middletown to Boonsboro, making in all 16 miles from Frederick to where we stopped, & you may believe that we were ready to lay down, where we slept sound as usual, altho it was mighty cold. The next morning was Sunday & a beautiful morning it was too. The cooks made up some hot coffee, & that, together with some Salt Horse & hard bread, made us quite a breakfast. By 8 o\'clock we were on the go again, being told now that we were going to Williamsport, 12 miles farther. We got here at 1 o\'clock that day & soon had our tents up & a plenty of straw to keep u warm at night. We did not stay long with the Regt., not more than 3 days, for the Col. detailed our Company to come down into town & Guard the Prisoners that they bring here & also the Rum Shops that are here. I tell you John that we have got the best of them this time, for we have got 2 stone buildings to quarter ni & we have got bunks built & things fixed up so that we are living like pigs in clover. We have to go on Guard every other day on account of there not being but one Company, but we donot mind that, for we can sit down in day time, being posted in Hotels, stores, &c. The Camp is only 1/2 mile from town. It is a very pretty little town, with paved sidewalks & several nice buildings, & besides, there is a lot of good looking Girls. Co. C, J & K, that have been at Harpers Ferry so long, were ordered the other day to join the Regt., & this afternoon they came upon the canal. You must remember that Co. C did a good partof the fighting when they had that brush at the Ferry a few days ago, but I suppose that you have read the account of it ere this, so I will not day any more about it. You spokein your letter about Bemis, the one that deserted from our Company. He deserted when we were in Darnestown,& scouting parties were sent out to scour the woods, but no Bemis did they find, & the next thing that we heard from him was that he had killed himself. He was a good looking little fellow & a good hearted fellow, & nobody would have thought of his deserting. You also spoke in your letter about lining my woolen blankets. It is a first rate idea, but we have been promised the regular U.S. Blanket, which weigh 5 pounds, & if we get them, we shall not need to do any thing to the blankets we have now, and the clothing that you said you could send me, I do not think that I shall need anything of the kind at present, but if I get in need of anything, I will send to you for it. We expect to be paid off next week for two months, which will not come amiss if we are lucky enough to get it. November 1st/61It had got to be so late last night that I had to shut off before I could say all that I wanted to, so I will commence again today. It is quite warm here today, & I am on Guard at one of the Stores. All is quiet & everything going on lovely. The boys in the three Companies that arrived here last night are feeling first rate to find themselves once more with the Regt. Our Col. is acting Brig\'d General over all the troops here in this place at present. You wrote in your letter, John,that Marcus had got settled up at last. I should think that it was about time, altho such business cannot be finished up in a minute. You said that Col. Stevenson & a part of his Regt. were goingdown to Fort Warren to guard Prisoners. If they never get farther than that, it will not astonish me much, for there has been too much blow about them fellows altogether. You wanted me to let you know when I wrote how Low &Kimball were getting along. They are both tough & hearty & both send you their best respects. Low gets his mad up once in a while, but he has to get it down pretty quick or get into the Guard House. I think John, that that Gander in the scrap of paper that you sent me will take the rag off of anything I ever heard of. I think he must be a (right smart) Gander, as the Maryland folks have it. I received a letter from Lewis the other day, & he sent me his picture, together with his mess mates, standing in front of his tent, & I think that it [is] a very pretty picture indeed. I had a few moments to spare today, & so I went & got my profile taken, which I will send to you. Please give my love to Lizzie, Hittie & your & tell them that I should like to se them all. I think John that I have beat you in writing a long letter & hope that you can read some of it. I am in first rate health & enjoying myself well, & I hope this will find you the same. Good Night. Yours Truly, C.W. Manning(write soon) Comes with what\'s left of the transmittal cover...Papers have foldline and edge staining...
........paper has edge/corner wear, age staining and has yellowed/toned from time...

$2.00 covers shipping in the USA. Item will be shipped in a rigid cardboard photo mailer or bubble envelope, unless otherwise noted or requested.. $8.00 covers shipping outside the USA ….. International shipping will be in a standard envelope via International First

Class. Other shipping options available, but more expensive. MULTIPLE sale WINNERS: Please wait for me to send an invoice to make sure the shipping charges are correct. . PayPal accepted. Payment must be made in US Dollars and for those who are unsure, Euros are NOT US Dollars. REGULAR ENVELOPE SHIPPING IS AVAILABLE FOR $1.30, for shipping within the USA. Envelopes are shipped with a backing board to help prevent bending from Postal machinery. LARGER AND PERHAPS BETTER QUALITY PICTURES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. JUST EMAIL AND ASK, BUT PLEASE DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST DAY. I do combine shipping