Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR -- PENNSYLVANIA "BUCKTAILS"]. An extensive archive documenting the military career of Alanson Wiles, a member of the Company A, First Pennsylvania Rifles, one of the famous Pennsylvania Bucktail Regiments. A dynamic mix of military history, social comment, and humor, the archive comprises letters, an album with cartes-de-visites (Licoln, Grant, Meade, and others), and Wiles' G.A.R. kepi with Post 362 metal numerals on front. CONTENTS: Letters : 26 ALSs (including 8 envelopes), v.p., 21 June 1861-25 September 1864. Cartes-de-visite : a group of seven including: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, George Meade, Gouveneur Warren, John Reynolds, Robert Cox, and Alanson Wiles all bound in wartime picket album inscribed "L. Wiles". Kepi : Wiles's G.A.R. kepi with Post 362 metal insignia on front with sweatband, liner and chin strapp. Brass wreath for G.A.R. hat is loose and appears unused. An outstanding group of letters and personal effects from one of the best-known Civil War regiments, including letters that provide insight into the West Virginia Campaigns, the Peninsula, Fredericksburg, and the Wilderness-Cold Harbor Campaigns. Wiles wrote in his own language, giving a contemporary flavor to most of the letters. In his account of the Battle of Fredericksburg: "...(I can thank God for bringing me out safe for we lost pust [i.e. past] two thirds of our Regiment. In less than forty minutes our Division was put in the front same as usual. it is all cut to riblets, we lots 22,00 [sic] men out of the Division in this battle and gained nothing".