c1860s HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT LETTER BY A UNION SOLDIER TO HIS FATHER REVEALING HIS MOST RECENT CIVIL WARS ENCOUNTERS AND EXPERIENCES

CIVIL WAR - VIRGINIA holograph letter written by Union solider from New Market, VA., 4 pages, unsigned so possibly incomplete but interesting content. To his father; "...I said I did not know whether I should ride my horse or get sent through by rail as far as Winchester / I saddled my horse and rode out about two miles / went to captain to see if I would be sent my rail - he said no because bridge was gone / railroad bridge at the ferry across the Potomac was washed away by heavy rain / must ride my horse or stay behind / packed my duds & mounted my horse in a drizling rain / passed through Charlestown where John Brown was tried and hung 8 miles from the Ferry & stopped about 4 miles from Berryville / took quarters in old deserted tavern with Marve / started for Woodstock where regiment was / orders - no women companions / took off my overcoat and rolled it and strapped my saber and pitol, haversack & canteen to saddle, this lightened my load / we did not pass near enough to the field of battle this side of Winchester to get sight of it though I saw where the skirmishing commenced on the road & our men drove them back onto the hill about a mile and a half before they made a stand behind the stone wall / some trees by the road were all picked up by rebel bullets and they probably sheltered some of our men and an old house was burnet down by a shell from our guns that sheltered them." Very good decscriptive letter.