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Jun 13, 2014 - Jun 14, 2014
Lot of 4, including 3 letters from Lt. Selwyn E. Bickford to My Dear Friend Anderson, dated December 20, 1862 (6pp), February 2, 1863 (8pp) and April 24, 1863 (4pp) respectively, sent from Suffolk, VA. Accompanied by CDV of Bickford, autographed on verso, with Warren, Lowell, MA backmark.
Selwyn Bickford was a 29-year-old clerk and resident of Lowell, MA when he enlisted on August 26,1862 as a 1st Lieutenant into "G" Co of the Massachusetts 6th Infantry. On August 31, he was commissioned with a nine-month enlistment. He mustered out on June 3, 1863 at Lowell, MA.
The 6th Massachusetts Infantry was raised for a nine-month assignment (August 1862 to May 1863) at Camp Henry in Lowell, MA. The regiment went to Washington, DC, then on to Fort Monroe, and was finally engaged in the Blackwater region that winter. In April 1863, the 6th participated in the defense of Suffolk, VA, against General James Longstreet. The siege of Suffolk ran from April 11 to May 4. Afterward, the regiment left for Boston on May 26, arriving on the 29th. They proceeded to Lowell and were mustered out on June 3.
Bickford was very descriptive and provided a great deal of detailed information in his letters regarding the campaign, camp life, and the battles in which the 6th Massachusetts was engaged.
In the first letter, dated December 20, 1862, the regiment was stationed at Blackwater River and the camp was…full of German conscripts from Pennsylvania…and [they] are the greenest men I ever saw. Bickford describes his…first experience under fire. The regiment moved into battle and Bickford discovered that an acquaintance, Lieutenant Barr, had been killed…I saw him as he went by with his company, he looked toward me as he passed and nodded; it seemed not more than five minutes before he was brought along a corpse, it shocked me more than any thing else that happened that day…The first we knew, bang went a gun from a rebel battery and a shell exploded over our heads. They came thick and fast, and we were ordered to lie down flat on our faces.The pieces flew thick about us, both shell and solid shot, they had got our range perfectly. One piece came within a yard of me…our loss was five killed and eleven wounded. The letter continues to say that they had…started for Suffolk and got in at half past nine, having travelled over fifty five-five miles in less than two days.
In the second letter, dated February 2, 1863, Bickford engaged in dispensing advice about marital partners and stock investments but went on to say, The attack on this place has not yet taken place, but the rebels are about here rather thick. The regiment was…surprised by and order to be ready to march with three days rations at twelve o’clock [midnight]. It was not long until they came upon Rebel pickets and battle ensued: In front on both sides the batteries were firing, twelve guns on our side, and fifteen on the rebel. They had got our range, and they rained round shot, shell grape & canister upon us in terrible procession. Before we had been there five minutes a shell burst over us, killing a Lieutenant and two men and taking off the leg of one and the arm of another… I heard it sound “thug” as it struck and then heard the poor men groan…For three hours we lay and took that storm. The morning light came and Bickford reported: I saw sights too sickening to relate…Our entire loss is twenty six killed and seventy-six wounded . . . The more that I see of the horrors of war, the less taste I have for it.
In the final letter, dated April 24, 1863, Bickford described the Confederate assault of April 11 when…the advance force of the rebel army, under Gen. Longstreet came upon us driving in our pickets on the three main roads leading into the town. Immediately the scene about town was stirring in the extreme. The siege wore on and…the artillery of both sides fired volleys. The opposing armies were in such close proximity that…rebel campfires are distinctly visible . . . and we can plainly hear their band playing, when we are on our picket post. Bickford went on to say, Since the siege commenced we have been refreshed with the presence of Gen’s. Halleck, Dix, and Keyes among us… Gen. H. says that Longstreet will soon be reinforced by Gen D.H. Hill…ant that we shall catch it. Fortunately that was not the case, but on a more mundane note Bickford lamented that food supplies were tightening and they were down to hard bread and beef…and that is not variety enough for a man who has dined at Youngs.
Approximately one month later, Bickford returned home safely to Virginia, where lived until his death in 1887.
All letters are in very good condition with only minor staining. CDV with some light spotting, signature on verso has lightened a bit.
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