Autograph letter signed by James R. Dobbyn, Company C, 1st District of Columbia Cavalry. Great Bridges, 13 March 1864. 2 pages, 4to. 

James R. Dobbyn (1836 - 1912) was a carpenter in Washington, D.C., who enlisted on 1 June 1863 when four companies were formed in the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry under the command of Col. Lafayette Curry Baker for service in the defense of the Federal Capital. By November, they were transferred south to the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, where they were joined by eight companies raised in Augusta, Maine, by early 1864. Interestingly, his father, James Dobbyn (1806 - 1892), enslaved a woman named Elizabeth Bailey, but manumitted her in April 1862. 

Dobbyn, writing to his brother, most notably mentions fighting engaged by one of the all-Black cavalry regiments: "There was a skirmish near Suffolk the other day and the Negro cavalry caught fits, lost 30 of their brethren." 

A skirmish between Confederate Brigadier General Matthew Whitaker Ransom's forces and Black cavalrymen near Suffolk, Virginia, is recorded on 9 March 1864, reported by Ransom and U.S. Major General Benjamin Butler. Though the regiment is not specified in the sources found, it was almost certainly the 2nd United States Colored Cavalry. The regiment had been organized at Fortress Monroe in December 1863, and the skirmish was its first combat. Later, in 1864, it would join the Richmond Campaign, fighting in the Siege of Petersburg, seeing Action at Deep Bottom in both July and September, and fighting at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Darbytown Road. 

Dobbyn also writes home about the price of goods, making reference to General Benjamin Butler: "The price of everything is set by the Beast Butler as the rebels call him."

Dobbyn and his regiment would also join the Siege of Petersburg, including the assaults in June and the Battle of Ream's Station. He and the regiment would conclude the war in the Appomattox Campaign, witnessing the surrender of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.  

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