SCARCE 56TH NEW YORK INFANTRY "TENTH LEGION" SOLDIER'S LETTER WRITTEN FROM MERIDIAN HILL, WASHINGTON, JANUARY 12, 1862, WITH ITS ORIGINAL FREE-FRANKED PATRIOTIC COVER — PVT. SMITH DENMAN; LATER CAPTURED AT COLD HARBOR AND DIED IN ANDERSVILLE PRISON

SCARCE 56TH NEW YORK INFANTRY

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Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 462-395

A four-page autograph letter signed, written on a handsome patriotic lettersheet printed expressly for the 56th New York Volunteer Infantry. The blue-printed vignette at the head shows a seated female Liberty figure holding a star-strewn national flag beside a spread eagle and shield, with the arms of the State of New York and its EXCELSIOR ribbon at lower left; banners above read NEW YORK and LOYAL TO THE UNION. The printed heading gives "56th Regiment, 10th LEGION." The copyright line across the top reads "Entered according to Act of Congress by Jno. G. Wells, cor. Park Row & Beekman St N.Y., J. R. Hawley, Agt. Cincinnati." Blue-ruled lettersheet, folded bifolium, written on all four pages in brown ink in a bold, well-formed hand, the signature finished with a large ornamental pen flourish. Sheet approximately 4 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches folded.

The writer has filled in the printed heading in his own hand — "Washington Head quarters for the 56th Regiment" — and dated the letter from "Meridian Hill," the camp ground on the heights north of the city where the regiment passed its first winter in the Defenses of Washington.

The content is exactly the sort of unvarnished camp letter collectors look for. Denman reports himself recovered from "A turn of the Neuroligy In My head," describes two inches of snow that went off and "left us an Ancle Dep in the Mud — this is the gredtest place for mud that I Ever did see," and then gives a genuinely useful description of the regiment's newly built winter quarters: the men have moved out of tents into barracks framed of boards nailed vertically with battens over the seams, government-issue stoves, bunks to sleep in, and plenty of dry pine wood to burn. He closes with the small domestic requests that carry these letters — a towel that his mother is to roll up in paper and send by mail, and a fine comb if she can manage one — and passes along to his father that firewood is selling for ten dollars a cord in Washington while the government pays eight, "that is A pretty good pice I think." He has also heard that his correspondent has married, and opens with his congratulations and the wish of a happy New Year to her and the rest of the family.

 

With the original mailing cover, printed at left with a full-color vignette of a young woman holding a large national flag over the motto "No North, No South, No East, No West." Addressed in the writer's hand to "Miss Jane E. Barnes, Greenfield, Ulster Co., N.Y." and struck at the right with a Washington, D.C. circular datestamp reading JAN 19. Approximately 5 1/2 x 3 inches.

The cover carries no postage adhesive and none was ever affixed. In its place, written boldly across the upper left of the address panel, is a manuscript free frank — the privilege exercised by members of Congress, who could send and receive mail without postage over their own signature. The frank is partly obscured by a heavy brown stain and the signature is not fully legible.

The circumstance is worth noting for the collector who wants to pursue it. Col. Charles H. Van Wyck, who raised and commanded the 56th New York, was at this very moment a sitting Republican congressman for New York's Tenth District — the district that gave the regiment its "Tenth Legion" name — holding his seat in the House while in the field with his men. Van Wyck's franked wartime covers are known to the philatelic market. We make no attribution here: the signature is too far gone under the stain for us to read it with confidence, and the cover is offered simply as a free-franked congressional cover carrying a soldier's letter out of the 56th New York's winter camp. It is sold as such and is worth an examination by anyone with Van Wyck franks at hand for comparison.

 

TRANSCRIPTION

Original spelling, capitalization and punctuation retained.

[Page 1]

"Washington Head quarters for the 56th Regiment / Jan 12th 1862 / Meridian Hill Jan 12th 1862

Dear Sire

I take my pen in hand to inform that I am well Now but I have had A turn of the Neuroligy In My head I was pretty Sick with it I suppose you is Maried I have heard So to that affect I wish you Much Joy and A happy New Years And to the"

[Page 2]

"rest of the family you tell Sarrah Emma that I would Like to hear from her we have had About two inches of snow but it went off pretty Soon And left us an Ancle Dep in the Mud this is the gredtest place for mud that I Ever did see We have Moved in our Baricks we have A Nice room the govermont furnis us with Stoves our Baricks Ar built of Bords the Bords Ar Nail On Strait up And Down And then flats Nailed over the seams"

[Page 3]

"And them Makes us pity Comfortable Quarters we have Bunks to sleep in We have plenty of dry pine wod to burn you Ask Mother if She will send me A towel tell her She Can rol it up in A paper and send it by Mail and A fine Come if she can You tell Farther that wood sells for ten dolars A Cord the Govermont pays Eight dolars that is A pretty good pice I think ple[a]se [answer] as soon A you Get"

[Page 4]"this Dont forget the towel this is All i have to say

Give My best respects to All who may in Quire Direct Same As before

Smith Denman"

 

Smith Denman, age 18, enlisted as a private at Sandburgh, New York, on August 27, 1861, and mustered into Company K, 56th New York Infantry, on October 10, 1861. He was discharged for disability on October 27, 1862, at Yorktown, Virginia, where the regiment was then stationed — a service record consistent with the poor health he touches on in this letter. Company K was recruited principally at Monticello, in Sullivan County, and Sandburgh lies a short distance away in the same county, close to the Ulster County line and to the Greenfield address on the cover.  Denman subsequently re-enlisted on July 22, 1863, and on Oct. 19, 1863 was mustered into the 5th Veteran Volunteers as a Private. Denman is listed as Missing in Action on June 2, 1864 at Cold Harbor; he was apparently captured and was later in Andersonville Prison.  He died there of disease on August 25, 1864 and is buried in Andersonville National Cemetery.

The 56th New York Volunteer Infantry was organized at Newburgh on October 15, 1861 and mustered into United States service on October 28 under Col. Charles H. Van Wyck. As originally raised the Legion was a combined-arms command of eleven infantry companies, two light batteries and two troops of cavalry; the batteries became the 7th and 8th New York Independent Batteries and the cavalry went to the 1st New York Mounted Rifles. The men came from Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties. The regiment left the state on November 7, 1861 and served in the Defenses of Washington in Casey's Division through the winter — the period of this letter — before moving to the Peninsula, where it fought at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Bottom's Bridge, Seven Pines and through the Seven Days. It later served at Yorktown and then in South Carolina, seeing action at Honey Hill and Dingle's Mill among others, and was not mustered out until October 17, 1865.

CONDITION

Letter: very good. Toning overall, heavy original mailing folds with light separation at one or two fold intersections, a small stain in the lower left margin of the second page, faint show-through of the ink. Ink strong and the text entirely legible throughout. Complete, all four pages present.

Cover: good, opened at the top for reading. Overall toning and light soiling, edge and corner wear, the printed vignette bright with strong color. A heavy brown stain across the upper left of the address panel obscures much of the manuscript frank. The Washington datestamp at right is bold and clear.    [ss][ph:L]

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