90
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(CIVIL WAR.) Mitchell, Marcus U.
Letters of a medicine hawker and
photographer working the Union camps in and around Washington.
29 long and
substantial Autograph Letters Signed to sister Sarah J. (Mitchell) Reynolds of Chester, NY;
mostly folio, various conditions, but generally complete and legible.
Vp, July 1862 to May 1863
[400/600]
Marcus U. Mitchell (1828-1897) was raised a farmer in Chestertown, NY, an Adirondack
Mountain town north of Glens Falls. In 1862 he left home to concoct and sell patent
medicines to soldiers based in Washington. This proved to be an ineffective plan: “There is a large
amount of dysentery here among soldiers & if they had to pay for medicines, we could sell large
quantities of it, but they have physicians free & the Gov. discourages anyone from getting
soldiers’ money.” In the same letter, he is impressed by the many photographer’s shops along
Pennsylvania Avenue: “There are three first-class photographers on this avenue. They will
compare favorably with the New York artists. In fact, one of them, Brady, is from New York” (3
August 1862). By late September, he had launched into the photography business himself,
crossing into the Union camps of northern Virginia with his “picture tent.”
In addition to discussing his entrepreneurial efforts, Mitchell also noticed the prostitutes: “There
are many fancy girls here, the trick house just opposite here . . . is filled with them. Sometimes
2 or 3 of them come in here and get some wine. They appear rather lady-like & are generally
handsome and young, dress finely and get much of the soldiers’ money” (10 August 1862).
This collection offers an unusual and colorful look at camp life from outside the military ranks.
91
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(CIVIL WAR.) Smith, Thomas Kilby.
Pair of reports on the Red River
campaign in Louisiana.
Manuscript letters as Brigadier General of a division of the 17th
Army Corps; 4 and 2 pages, various sizes; unsigned retained drafts with emendations and
minor wear.
Fort DeRussy, LA, 16 March and aboard the steamer Hastings, 5 April 1864
[800/1,200]
The Red River Campaign was a poorly executed Union campaign to capture Shreveport, LA
and separate Texas from the Confederacy. Thomas Kilby Smith (1820-1887) was one of the
few Union generals who came out of Red River with his reputation enhanced rather than
diminished. The earlier of these two reports describes his progress up the Red River from 10 to
16 March, culminating with the capture of Fort DeRussy near Marksville: “My command is
in occupation of the fort & will be engaged today & tomorrow in the demolition of the
casemates, bridges &c & finally the blowing up of the magazine.” The final version of this
report was published in The War of the Rebellion, pages XXXIV: 376-8, giving Major
General McPherson as the addressee.
The second report was written two weeks after the Red River Campaign’s formal conclusion.
Smith describes an action further north at Campti near Natchitoches, LA: “Through scouts,
negroes & the people of the country I learned that the enemy was two thousand strong & were
eight miles in advance & rapidly retreating in the direction on Shreveport. . . . The town of
Campti I found mostly destroyed by the cavalry.” This report, addressed to Captain John
Hough but prepared for General Andrew Jackson Smith, appears to be unpublished.
I...,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44 46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,...194