Spring 2021 Catalogue

S p r i n g 2 0 2 1 5 “At Night The Wounded Are Taken In, And Cared For, The Dead Are Buried The Homes Are Desolated, The Hearts Are Broken And Time Moves On, How Long Oh God How Long” 3. BARTON, Clara. Autograph letter. WITH: Autograph letter signed. Point of Rocks, Virginia, 1864. Two leaves of lined paper, one measuring 8 by 10 inches, folded, and one measuring 8 by 5 inches; pp. 6. WITH: One leaf of lined paper, measuring 8 by 5 inches; pp. 2; with original autograph envelope. $13,000. Click for more info Rare autograph Clara Barton letter, written from the front during the Siege of Petersburg and containing vivid descriptions of military encounters and the sufferings of the soldiers she cared for, together with an autograph letter signed by Barton two weeks later to a physician she served with. In this riveting letter, “Angel of the Battlefield” Clara Barton describes recent events with the Army of the James under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler. Point of Rocks was a plantation near Chester, Virginia, that served as Butler’s headquarters. Barton, having proven her mettle, was placed in charge of the Army of the James’ hospitals. In May 1864, the Army of the Jameshadbeen repulsedby theConfederates at Bermuda Hundred, but by the first of July, it was a part of the Siege of Petersburg. Because of its proximity to the James and Appomattox rivers, Point of Rocks remained a vital transfer point for supplies and wounded soldiers. Barton describes a Confederate bombardment of the Eighteenth Corps under the command of General William Farrar Smith and the narrow escape of a portion of General Butler’s cavalry division under the German-American General August Kautz. She also offers poignant descriptions of the importance of donations from civilians to the morale of wounded men. The second letter was written to Dr. Martin S. Kittinger (the envelope is addressed to William, rather than Martin—possibly to allow for third-person delivery), who Barton first worked with at Hilton Head, South Carolina in 1863. Martin Kittinger rejoined her in 1864, when she served with the 10th Corps hospital and the Army of the James in Virginia. In October 1864, Kittinger brought Barton’s brother Stephen Barton to her at Bermuda Hundred and served as his physician. When Kittinger resigned his commission in January 1865, Barton wrote in her diary, “No one can truly take the place of an old and true friend like DK.” This letter discusses Civil War concerns such as wounded troops. Minor discoloration to one page, expected fold lines. Letters of Clara Barton written during the war are exceptionally scarce and very few are known besides these.