21st MISSOURI LETTER – PVT. MATTHEW SCOFIELD – 21st MISSOURI, PRE-RED RIVER CAMPAIGN WITH EXCELLENT COMBAT CONTENT (EX-COCO COLLECTION

21st MISSOURI LETTER – PVT. MATTHEW SCOFIELD – 21st MISSOURI, PRE-RED RIVER CAMPAIGN WITH EXCELLENT COMBAT CONTENT (EX-COCO COLLECTION

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Item Code: 1300-95

Matt’s residence was not recorded when he enlisted on 10/25/1861 as a Private.  He mustered in that same day into Company K of the 1st Missouri NE Home Guard, later to become an element of the 21st Missouri US Volunteer Infantry in 1862.

They were a hard-fought regiment, seeing action from Shiloh through Nashville and onto Fort Blakley.  Even so, they were kept in service for deep south occupation and military policing purposes near Mobile well into 1866.

This letter, written by Matthew from “Camp on the Red River at Alexandria (pronounced “Ellic”), Louisiana. March 23rd 1864” to his friend J.W. Lowe and relative, John Scofield.  Though his spelling choices are interesting enough to take slight poetic license for the sake of readability, he writes a very thrilling account of his time traveling down the Mississippi River to Vicksburg, “… it is with great pleasure that I now take my seat on a cracker box to write a few lines to let you know that I am still on the land of the living threw the goodness of God… about the 26th of Jan. we came down to Vicksburg and on our way down the Rebs fired on our boat and killed 2 of our Reg. and wounded 7 more, they was secreted in the brush and came.”

He goes on to detail some of the pivotal actions around Meridian; saying, “When we got to Vicksburg we started on an expedition to Meridian in the State of Miss. We started on the 2nd of Feb. and as we went out our troops had frequent skirmishes with the rebs but it was not all on one side there like it was when they bush whacked us on the boat.  We could work at it from both sides. There was artillery used on both sides, but the rebs would soon skedaddle, our force was strong and well managed.  The rebs kept in our front all the way out to Meridian. They hindered us more by burning bridges than by fiting (fighting). But we had pontoon bridges with us on our wagons.  Our men captured some prisoners and 2 pieces of artillery.  I saw them myself…”

He goes on to detail the sight of a dead Confederate in the corner of two fence lines, the variety of rations and foraged goods, the destruction of southern railroads – in which he took part, and seeing prisoners being marched down the street in Alexandria. Further mentions of fighting are noted, including seeing Fort DeRussey fall while watching from a transport and the hybrid nature of warfare in Louisiana’s unique terrain. He closes with a current event – his fellow soldiers bringing in 350 new prisoners and 4 pieces of captured artillery.

The letter is written in a nicely oxidized ink on blue, lined paper and is very readable.  One small piece of transparent tape is present over a separation of a folding line on the last page.  Otherwise, the letter is intact and in good physical condition. The paper is folded vertically in half, separating the writing into 4 pages in all.  2 vertical and horizontal creases are noted, with very minor crease separation at the lower vertical fold edges. When folded in half as intended, dimensions are 7.1” x 9.25”.

A fascinating letter from one of the more infamous and intriguing campaigns of the Civil War.  A prime candidate for collecting, further publishing, or research.  [cm][ph:L]

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