Autograph letter signed by Dr. Ptolemy O’Meara Edson, Company S, 1st Vermont Cavalry. On picket near Amissville, Virginia, 28 July 1865. 8 pages, 8vo.

Written by Dr. Ptolemy O’Meara Edson to his sister, this lengthy letter recounts his experiences and observations at the Battle of Gettysburg. In vivid detail, he describes the danger he faced while attempting to establish a field hospital in a local hotel under Confederate fire, writing: “The first rebel shell passed into the house opposite and exploded... The second knocked off the chimney to which one of my men had just fastened the new hospital flag... The third fell within ten feet of me while I was getting a bucket of water from the pump in the back yard... fortunately it did not explode. So it was for ten minutes when the Director sent me out to hunt a more secure place.” His account offers a striking firsthand glimpse of the chaos and peril faced by medical officers working near the front lines during one of the war’s most pivotal engagements.

Ptolemy O’Meara Edson enlisted as an assistant surgeon in November 1861 and was commissioned into the Field and Staff of the 1st Vermont Cavalry, serving in that capacity until April 1864, when he was discharged for promotion. He was then commissioned surgeon of the 17th Vermont Infantry and served with that regiment until his discharge in February 1865.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]