Description:

Civil War
Port Royal, SC, June 1, 1864
South Carolina Port Collector Writes to His Officer Friend in the Fight in Virginia During the Civil War
ALS

[CIVIL WAR.] John T. Gleason, Autograph Letter Signed, to Joshua B. Howell, June 1, 1864, Port Royal, South Carolina. 3 pp., 7.75" x 10". First page deeply toned; otherwise, very good.

In this heartfelt letter from June 1864, Collector of Customs John T. Gleason in Union-occupied Port Royal, South Carolina, writes to Colonel Joshua B. Howell of the 85th Pennsylvania with relief that he has learned that Howell is still living and commanding a brigade in the Army of the James in Virginia. The two correspondents had become friends when the 85th Pennsylvania was involved in the Siege of Charleston Harbor in the third quarter of 1863. Gleason had recently read of Howell's exploits in the disastrous Bermuda Hundred Campaign conducted by political general Benjamin F. Butler. Despite the overall failure of Butler's campaign, Howell's brigade had distinguished itself in reports from the final battle of the campaign—the Battle of Ware Bottom Church on May 20, 1864. After the Confederates drove the Union forces from their rifle pits, the following day, there was "a fierce and sanguinary struggle...to regain the rifle pits." At 4 p.m., headquarters at City Point, Virginia, received news that "Howell's Brigade occupied the right of the rifle pits."

Within just over five months, both the sender and the recipient of this letter were dead. Colonel Howell died in September from injuries he sustained when his horse reared and fell on him. Collector Gleason contracted typhoid fever in South Carolina and sailed to New York City to recover, but he died there in November.

Excerpts
"With what painful anxiety have I anticipated the news coming from the North as each succeeding sheet brought the sad intelligence that some well known friend had fallen in the terrible struggle to which our old and familiar friends of the 10th Army Corps have been exposed since leaving this department."

"The well known daring and energy of our friend the ‘gallant Colonel' whom 'tis now my privilege to address has constantly led me to fear that he too might have been an early victim to his fearlessness and numbered with the fallen, and my dear Sir you can hardly appreciate the relief to my Serious apprehensions and the gladdened joy experienced this day in perusing the latest intelligence from the battlefield under date of the 28th ulto where that short but comprehensive and significant paragraph appears,
"‘Howells Brigade holds the position' a volume in itself pregnant with success and safety."

John T. Gleason (1801-1864) was born in Maine. He married Watty Ann Sleeper (1816-1880). In 1841, he served as deputy collector of customs in Thomaston, Maine. He became a justice of the peace in Thomaston in 1832 and a notary public in 1843. In 1863, he began serving as a collector of customs at Port Royal, South Carolina. He died on November 10, 1864, in New York City of typhoid fever contracted at Port Royal.

Joshua B. Howell (1806-1864) was born in New Jersey into a family of veterans. His father had served in the War of 1812, and his grandfather had been a quartermaster during the Revolutionary War. He became an attorney and practiced in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. In 1861, he was commissioned as the colonel of the 85th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and served with the regiment throughout the war. They were part of the IV Corps during the Peninsula Campaign. After the Battle of Malvern Hill in July 1862, the 85th Pennsylvania was transferred to North Carolina as part of the XVIII Corps. Howell fought in the battles of Kinston, White Hall, and Goldsborough in December 1862. For the next six months, Howell commanded a brigade of the XVIII Corps on the coast of North Carolina. In July 1863, his brigade was transferred to the X Corps and took part in the siege of Charleston Harbor, where he was wounded in the head by an artillery shell. In 1864, Howell was transferred with the X Corps to the Army of the James and led his brigade during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign and the early stages of the Siege of Petersburg. He was severely injured when his horse fell on him in September 1864, and he died two days later. He was posthumously promoted to brigadier general.

We are proud to include items consigned by the Manuscript Society in this auction. These items come from the estate of well-known manuscript dealers Forest G. & Forest H. Sweet and Julia Sweet Newman. Forest G. Sweet was an early leader of the Manuscript Society as well as a rare book scholar. The proceeds from your purchase of these items will benefit the work of the Manuscript Society. You can learn more about them, and become a member of the Manuscript Society, at www.manuscript.org.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 7.75" x 10"
  • Medium: ALS

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