A letter home by Private John E. Bean, Co. E, 13th Massachusetts Infantry, with a relic of John Brown's gallows. Items include: 

1. Wood fragment from John Brown's gallows, with accompanying manuscript note by Bean: "I will send you a piece of the gallows that John Brown was hanged on". With cover illustrated with portrait of McClellan, red 3-cent stamp, and Nov. 1861 Hagerstown, Maryland cancel. 

2. Autograph letter signed by John E. Bean to his mother, Helen M. Bean. Camped near Front, Royal, Virginia, 13 June [1862]. 4 pages, 8vo.

John E. Bean writes home to his mother with praise for General Irwin McDowell, though he seems to be misinformed on some of the details of battles, claiming a Union victory at the First Battle of Bull Run. He also expounds the realities of falling sick while on the march: "When we are on the march there is nothing provided for the sick if a man is sick + falls out on the march he must one of the two chances for his life. 1st is to try + get on some of the teams on Artillery. Secondly to work his way to some house + run the risk of being killed or taken prisoner." 

3. Execution of John Brown at Charleston. Printed postcard. Harpers Ferry, West Virginia: W.L. Erwin, 1908. 

Bean had enlisted on 29 June 1861, shortly before he gathered his John Brown relic, mustering in as a private into Company E of the 13th Massachusetts Infantry. They operated in Maryland and the Shenandoah Valley, skirmishing frequently. Shortly after this letter was penned, the 13th fought at the Second Battle of Bull Run and was part of one of two brigades that McDowell personally led to Chinn Ridge. They were outnumbered and surrounded on three sides, but by delaying the Confederates, they allowed Pope's army to recover and form a defensive line on Henry Hill. They suffered heavy casualties. Then they faced the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam, where Bean was seriously injured, causing him to be discharged for disability. 

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