Kaaterskill Books

The Burning of Columbus & the Fight at New Madrid

[Civil War] Simmons, E.M.

[ALS] A Civil War Soldier Writes from the Ohio Encampment about The Burning of Columbus, Kentucky, the Journey to Union City, Ohio, to Humbolt Camp, and the Rumor of Fighting in New Madrid.

Humbolt Camp; Mount Sterling, OH: [1862]. [3] pp. Bifolium + pictorial envelope. 5.5 x 9 inches. Very good letter, folded, minor soiling, envelope about very good, moderate soiling and edge wear, verso split apart, contains a series of penciled-in numbers. Item #45189

March 10th, [1862]. First portion of letter is from E.M. Simmons to his brother, and second portion to A.W. Morgan. The pictorial envelope is addressed to Edwin Forbes of East Hartford, CT, with a engraved color portrait of Union General George B. McClellan, and was posted from Mount Sterling, Ohio, Mar. 12.

Simmons wrote: "We left Columbus the first day of this month and got her last Tuesday nite We walked to Union City and then got on the cars We stade at the [Moscow] the first nite and the 2 at Union City when we left Columbus some of our men Sat our houses on fire our officers [wouldn't] let us set this. When we left the town was burnt when our Soldiers left so I will drop the Subject..." Simmons later mentions the fighting taking place at New Madrid, at The Battle of Island Number Ten. "We have herd that the yankees was in 4 miles of Madrid and tha had fought ther a littel... I cant tell how long we will stay her I dont think that we will leve her without tha is a fite at Madrid this is a good place to Reinfors any way."

McClellan was designated the first commander of the Department of the Ohio, though he was reassigned and the Department disbanded the day this letter was posted.

The Battle at New Madrid ended the Confederates' hold on the bend in the Mississippi River that had been an excellent site to impede Union efforts to invade the South by the river.

Price: $250.00