CIVIL WAR SOLDIER'S LETTER — 7TH RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS — POPLAR GROVE CHURCH, VIRGINIA — OCTOBER 23, 1864

CIVIL WAR SOLDIER'S LETTER — 7TH RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS — POPLAR GROVE CHURCH, VIRGINIA — OCTOBER 23, 1864

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Item Code: 141-200

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One-page autograph letter, signed, written in ink on blue-lined stationery, folded to fit its original mailing cover. Headed "Camp 7th R.I. Vol / Poplar Grove Church, Va. / Oct. 23, 1864" and addressed "Dear Parents." The writer, Geo. A. Spencer, acknowledges a recent letter from home and reports himself well. He describes the regiment cutting timber in front of the Union earthworks to open a clear field of fire, and notes that Confederate deserters coming into the Union lines are forwarded north, where they may find work with the army's quartermaster department. He asks whether a Mrs. Gladding has succeeded in collecting pay owed to a soldier named Jennings, noting that if she pursues it she stands to recover over two hundred dollars, sends his love to Mrs. Gladding and "the girls," and asks that Ed Daly be told to write, closing "Write soon as you get this letter from your son."

The letter is accompanied by its original mailing cover, franked with a 3-cent rose 1861–66 issue stamp tied by a Washington, D.C. duplex/circular datestamp, addressed in period hand to "Mr. Edward Spencer, Bristol, R.I." — the soldier's father. A later pencil notation, "10-23-64," appears in the upper left corner of the cover.

The 7th Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry served in the 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, through the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg. In late September and early October 1864 the regiment was engaged at the Battle of Poplar Springs Church (Peebles' Farm), after which it settled into camp near Poplar Grove Church for continued siege duty; that same month the depleted 4th Rhode Island Infantry was consolidated into the 7th following the muster-out of its original members. The letter's description of cutting timber to clear fields of fire in front of the works reflects the routine engineering labor of trench warfare outside Petersburg during this period.

CONDITION

Expected folds from mailing, scattered light foxing and staining, and mild soiling to the cover consistent with age and period handling. Text is complete and legible throughout.  [ss][ph:L]

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