[Civil War] Ross, Henry W.

A fine archive of autograph letters signed, documents relating to the Quartermasters Office, diary entries, account books, and manuscript copybooks (these last from an earlier period), various places in Maryland, Virginia, Mississippi, but mostly Baton Rouge and New Orleans Louisiana, 18 June 1861-14 August 1863



Ca. 50 autograph letters signed ("Henry"), various sizes of 8vo, 4to and folio, ca. 260 pages written, mostly to his uncle S.H. Rockwell, Holland Patent, Oneida County, New York, ca. 79 pages of diary entries on loose sheets, plus muster roll, shipping receipts, and 14 other documents, in mylar sleeves in a looseleaf notebook; a few fold- or edge-tears but generally in very good condition.



With:
Approximately 132 printed documents with manuscript accomplishment, or manuscript documents, consisting of lists of stores, statements of transfer of stores, receipts for delivery of munitions and supplies, monthly returns of public animals, ordnance office property returns, returns from the office of Commissary General of Subsistence, 3 account books, along with 3 student copybooks from 1805, 1812, and 1828 with arithmetic examples, calligraphic examples and transcribed poetry (especially by Joshua Marsden); a few with fold- or edge-tears but generally in very good condition. In a white patterned cardboard box.

Some fold tears and edge tears, a few stains, but generally in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The personal archive of Henry W. Ross who served as lieutenant and then captain in the 4th Wisconsin Volunteers and Cavalry. His service took him from Baltimore, by ship to New Orleans where he witnessed the taking of that city by Farragut, to Vicksburg where a siege was laid, and then back to New Orleans where he served in the Quartermaster's Office. He was discharged 30 August 1864.

Captain Ross writes in a lively and articulate style, reporting news, rumors, and stories of life in camp and in the city of New Orleans. (His descriptions of that city under the Union occupation are reminiscent of her tribulations after hurricaine Katrina.) The archive is rich with personal detail and humor, the following quotations providing only a small taste: (3 July 1861) "Two weeks in camp have given us a pretty good idea of the life, but the regular life of the active soldier in service, I suppose we know but little about yet ... The camp regulations are much more strict than the boys thought they would be and there is more deference paid to officers, yet, Wisconsin Boys - although rough & in many cases willful - are always ready to do the right thing, when they are approached like men & see the reason of an order ..." — (6 July 1861) "When we reached Baltimore the Police Marshall met us & requested the Major to have the guns uncapt - the Major (who was a little happy) told him he would be damned if he would, the Marshall said it was the Orders of General Dix, Major told him he did not care a God Dam for the Orders, Mr. Marshall said he would report him to the Gen. & started for a telegraph office, when our Capt. called him back & told him there was no loader in the guns & had not been for the last 12 hours, we all had quite a laugh at the expense of the Marshall & the Major." — (29 August 1861) "I have had the pleasure of seeing the Capital City. I was sent down there the other day on business, was very much disappointed in the City. In some respects it is quite beautiful, the streets are large and wide, there are some fine parks & beautiful trees, but the stores and private dwellings are quite small & old, some decaying & moss grown. The Capitol is splendid but is not as pictured out, the grounds are not as large & on the north side the ground is rough and strewn with all kinds of rubbish. The Dome is not finished nor part of the north end yet. The White House is smaller than I thought it & the grounds also, but very splendid ..." — (29 April 1862) "In the meantime Comodore Farigut[sic] sailed up to New Orleans & saw the Mayor, who surrendered the city, asking 18 hours to arrange his terms of surrender which was granted. The commander of the forts also seeing that they were completely surrounded & cut off & that the army was going to New Orleans independent of them surrendered unconditionally on the 28th inst. They had offered to surrender before if they could be allowed to march out with their whole force, their rebel flag floating etc. but they were not allowed the pleasure, fancy fighting not being the style down here." [continues with much detailed description of the advance up the river]. — (21 May 1862) "We are now in sight of Vicksburg, just across the river ... It is said that the enemy have very good fortifications here & our scouting parties confirm it ... A large part of the Fleet is here. The Comodore aboard the sloop of war "Brooklyn" ... Whether the plan will be to attack the city or make great demonstrations on it, I do not know, I rather think the latter, as we are out of our department & in that of Gen. Halleck. ... The distress on account of the scarcity of provisions in New Orleans is very great. General Butler has distributed large amounts of provisions to the poor of the city. In coming up the river ... we had not as large a quantity of provisions as was ordered to be taken ... so we have had to take provisions of the inhabitants along the river. We had to take them because the Rebels would not sell anything to the damed yankees. The man who is caught selling anything to us at Natches is hung. It is very hard for us to take provisions of these people for they are almost destitute of it. ... Millions of dollars worth of cotton has been destroyed, all has been burned as far up as we have come & the very next morning after we came here there was a great deal burned up in the city. They are the biggest fools ever heard of & many of them with sorrow own it along the river, when they see us pass them peacably & without plundering, and especially when we tell them that Gen. Butler is buying all he can get & paying the gold for it." — (26 October 1862) "even many strong anti-slavery men from New England look at the Institution differently than they used to - not that the evils of slavery are any less than they supposed ... but we are all getting better acquainted with the 'everlasting negro'."