Winter Associates, Inc.

Civil War Ephemera - $300-400

Lot 110: EPHEMERA: Large collection of Civil War correspondence (50+ letters) written by Union soldiers William Addison Hosford (1837-1912) (Connecticut 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment) and B. Frank Hosford to mother Sophia A. Hosford (Cummington, MA) and sister Harriet Hallock (New Hartford, CT) from 1853 to 1865 but mostly during 1861-1865, letters composed in New Haven, Annapolis, Baltimore, Washington, Alexandria, Manassas, Massachusetts, New York, and many other locations, letters feature stationary and original envelopes with patriotic symbols like the American flag, Columbia, and the five-pointed star, material stored in plastic sleeves, lot also includes five cartes de visite including portrait believed to be of Addison in regimental uniform as well as photocopy of photo of original Hosford Homestead in New Hartford, CT. [Memorable excerpts relating to themes of patriotism, anti-Southern sentiment, and incompetence of military leadership include: 1 April 1861: "Why in the name of Abe Lincoln, President of these (dis) United States, don't you write a fellow?"; 5 June 1861: "It certainly is a lazy business to be in war without any chance of fighting. Our boys are all healthy, and itching to have a scrape with the Southern devils"; 9 September 1862: "…we…took a Government transport bound for Dixie…why the men f{rom} the sixth and nineteenth corps, which are up in the Shenandoah Valley were brought away up here I cannot conceive--I think someone has made a great blunder in bringing us here…"; 11 January 1865: "…since Frank was killed, until now--we have had no commissioned officer with us most of the time, & when we did have, it was someone who knew nothing of the company business and cared less than he knew…"]