Beschreibung:

Lot of 4 Civil War letters written by Charles William Hobbs, Co. I, 13th New Hampshire Infantry, to his friend Louisa J. Richardson 1863-1864. Hobbs had enlisted in August of 1862 and left New Hampshire just two months later for service in defense of Washington, DC. The letters begin shortly after the regiment's subsequent attachment to the 3rd Brigade, 2nd division, 7th Corps, Department of Virginia, and in this capacity, Hobbs and his fellow soldiers participated in the Siege of Suffolk, the Battles of Bermuda Hundred and Cold Harbor, and, most notably, the Siege of Petersburg. Includes three of the original canceled postal covers. The earliest letter is written from the Columbian Hospital in Washington, DC on April 30, 1863. Hobbs provides no explanation for the hospitalization at this time, but later notes that he was in the "Washington Convalescent and Distribution Camp," a hospital camp formerly known as "Camp Misery" because of its poor maintenance and limited food supply. It was overhauled in February 1863, just prior to Hobb's stay, and was used as a distribution center to send men fit for field service back to their regiments. By September 15, Hobbs, too, has rejoined his regiment, now part of Getty's Division, at Camp Gilmore near Portsmouth. In this letter, Hobbs writes of his recent activities and the hard work he and his fellow soldiers endure: "I have been through Washington Convalescent and Distribution Camp, from there to Alexandria, then down the Potomac to Point Lookout where we left some of our boatload, thence down the Chesapeake Bay to Fortress Monroe where we went over to Norfolk, by the wreck of the Merrimac and rebel battery at Craney Island that so much was said about at the beginning of the war....We have to work like dogs all the time and live worse still." The end of October found Hobbs still at Camp Gilmore, where he describes the fun the soldiers have with the conscription substitutes: "We are having great times with our 'Subs.' They get drunk and get to fighting or some such 'devilry' every day and then they take 4 or 5 of them everyday and fasten logs of wood to their legs and they have to drag them till they get tired out. Yesterday they had one fellow with a barrel on for a coat and a log tied to each leg and he had to travel from 9 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon and if he hadn't been mightily tough it would have killed him. Most of them are so tough that they can't be killed." His final letter, written on July 13, 1864 "Near Petersburg," details Hobbs's experiences at the front line of the war, including how he spent the Fourth of July: "About dark on the night of the 3rd we went out to the front line and 3 companies of us...went out still farther into little holes large enough for one man to get into and watched the rebs all night, no sleep at all. One of their amusements was to throw shells at us, instead of throwing fireworks into the windows they tried to throw bombshells into our holes....The fireworks in the evening consisted of mortar shells which make quite pretty fireworks going but not so nice coming towards you." After the siege, the 13th New Hampshire participated in the Battle of Fair Oaks and occupied Richmond by the spring of 1865, distinguishing itself as the first regiment to bring its colors back into the reclaimed city. Hobbs was discharged on July 5, 1865. He returned to his hometown of Pelham, New Hampshire, where he married Sarah Abbie Jane Sleeper (1849-1925), with whom he had seven children. Louisa (1846-?), the recipient of his letters, married Winfield S. Hughes in 1878. Condition: Some fading to ink, with scattered foxing and creasing as expected.