Autograph letter signed "T.F. Vaill" by Theodore F. Vaill, a private in the 19th Connecticut Infantry (later reorganized as the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery Regiment). "Camp near Alexandria [Virginia]." 16 October 1862. 8pp, approx. 2 7/8 x 4 3/4 in. A Union soldier's letter written shortly after Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Writing to his father in the early days of his lengthy war-time service, Vaill's letter is initially filled with news of his regiment's activity in Alexandria which included picketing and patrolling. He writes that Captain Edward F. Gold has been ill nearly since their arrival in the city and provides his father with a detailed hourly schedule of the regiment's activities from reveille to taps at the end of the day. The unusually small size of the paper is also explained: "I write my letters in a little blank book, & then tear out the leaves. It is much more convenient than any other way, as it requires no table, desk, or writing case." 

Notably, Vaill references the Union troops' reactions to the issuance approximately three weeks earlier of Lincoln's Preliminary Emancipation. On 22 September 1862, the Preliminary Emancipation was issued by President Lincoln, warning the Confederate states that were actively in rebellion that if they did not cease their rebellion and return to the Union by 1 January 1863, all enslaved people in those states would be declared permanently free. The Proclamation further gave the Confederate states 100 days to lay down their weapons. Lincoln had waited for a Union military victory as a precursor to issuing the decree, and so following the Union victory at Antietam on 17 September 1862 he seized the opportunity to put forth his pivotal proclamation. Vaill tells his father: "The Proclamation delights the entire army, with a few small exceptions & no officers have resigned, although the World & Herald [likely the New York Herald and the New York World] have repeatedly professed they would." Vaill's positive reaction to the Proclamation reflects the views of many Union soldiers, though in reality the overall reaction among Union troops was decidedly more mixed. Though some soldiers celebrated the shifting justification for the war from just about preservation of the Union to a more broad fight for the freedom of enslaved individuals, many soldiers particularly in the West and Midwest did not.

Theodore Frelinghuysen Vaill (1832–1875), of Litchfield, Connecticut, was the son of Rev. Herman Landon Vaill (1794–1870) and Flora Gold Vaill (1799–1883), and brother to at least seven surviving siblings. According to HDS, he enlisted on 13 August 1862 as a private in the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery, a regiment originally organized as the 19th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. Vaill rose steadily in rank, receiving promotions to sergeant major, first lieutenant, and adjutant by 5 March 1864. After garrison duty at Forts Worth, Williams, and Ellsworth in the defenses of Washington, D.C., the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery joined the Army of the Potomac in May 1864 and entered Grant’s Overland Campaign, serving in major engagements at Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Cedar Creek. Vaill was wounded at Petersburg on 25 March 1865 and was mustered out on 18 August 1865 at Fort Ethan Allen, Washington, D.C. After the war, he authored the History of the 2nd Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery, published in 1868, and later served as editor of the Winsted Herald.

An interesting letter which reflects the diverse reactions to Lincoln's important Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, and signals the Union Army's slow progression towards embracing emancipation and the inclusion of African American troops into the Union war effort.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate]  [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation Proclamation]