Hanscom, Alfred A. (fl. 1833-1865) Lizzie Wilkins and Annie
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08407 Author/Creator: Hanscom, Alfred A. (fl. 1833-1865) Place Written: Fort Slocum, Washington, D.C. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 8 June 1865 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope ; 21 x 13 cm. Order a Copy
Written by Hanscom as a private in Company L, 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment New Hampshire. Writes to his friends informing that they are waiting to be discharged soon, hopefully by June 11 or 12. States that he heard many Massachusetts troops have already been mustered out and that Governor John Andrew is in Washington trying to get all the troops home. Comments on General William T. Sherman's army, "Sherman's Army has been Camped all around us and a ruffer set you never saw - steal all they could get their hands on rob Hen roosts, gardens cut & tramp down beautiful grain fields & grass. burn up fences, fill up their canteens full of powder and fire them as also their guns, - yell and cut up all manner ... their officers could do nothing with them ... " States that Sherman's army hates Union General Winfield S. Hancock's army which he calls a "sad state of affairs." Also feels that Sherman, "... has not been well-treated I think by some of our leading Generals ... " Addressed from Head Quarters Harden's Division, Fort Slocum, D.C.
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