CIVIL WAR - SOLDIER LETTER FROM BELLE PLAIN VA - ENGINEER BRIGADE - MAY 21 1864

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CIVIL WAR - SOLDIER LETTER FROM BELLE PLAIN VA - ENGINEER BRIGADE - MAY 21 1864 :
$27.00

CIVIL WARLETTER FROM A SOLDIER IN THE ENGINEER BRIGADE, HQ ARMY OF THE JAMES, WRITTEN FROM BELLE PLAIN, VA., MAY 21, 1864.

3 pg. letter, approx. 4-1/2\" x 7\", dated at \"Head Qrs., Eng. Brigade, Belle Plain Landing, Va., May 21st, 1864, from\"H.A.K.\" (possibly \"H.A.R.\"), to his friend, \"M.H.\"

The Engineer Brigade consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 15th & 50th Regiments N.Y. Engineers, and played an important roleGrant\'s plans for his Overland Campaign which commenced in May, 1864. Belle Plain Landing was Grant\'s main supply base, where vessels brought in supplies and troops for the campaign. He also used Aquia Creek Landing, approx. 6 miles away, which the writer of this letter mentions as his rumored next destination.

Includes (spelling corrected):

\"I have just rec\'d your letter ofthe fifteenth inst....It has been adrift since we left Washington for this place, and there has been some talk of Hd. Qrs. going back there again, which will suit us better than to remain here, it being a low place & very muddy. We are some ten miles from Fredericksburg. The 50th [50th Regiment N.Y. Engineers]is there, or a portion of it, & some of it is at the front....

Perhaps it willbe well to mention that my writing desk is my knapsack...Did you receive a ten dollar note in your last letter? I put one in it and you did not mention of receiving the like, and I make the inquiry of the rumor that some letters are openedvery nicely & the money taken out & then sealed up again before they get to the General P.O. at Washington. The mail to these Hd. Qrs. does notcome regular. I have some more money that I will send you as soon as we get located more permanently and Mail gets going regular.

There are some indications of our moving from here soon to some place. I wish you would mention in your letter where you get notes, so if mail matters prove uncertain, I will Express to Corning....

There is rumor that we are going to Aquia Creek. I hear ittalked of in Camp...Commissaries are being loaded on the barges, &c....\"

Very Fine.

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