Autograph letter signed by Henry C. Merwin, Company G, 27th Connecticut Infantry. Near Falmouth, Massachusetts, 18 January 1863. 2 pages, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. With original cover with a “Due 3” stamp. Docketing to recto. Modern pencil scribbles to recto and verso. 

Lieutenant Colonel Henry C. Merwin wrote this letter to his mother and sister months before he was killed in action during the Battle of Gettysburg. Written shortly after the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg, he reports of his corps’ frosty reception to General Ambrose Burnside, who had been in command of the Army of the Potomac during the late defeat: “Our Army Corps was reviewed by Gen. Burnside yesterday. Very few of the Brigades cheered him & only one Regt. in our Brigade, that was the 14th Penn, new Regt. never in a  fight.” Their opinion was not likely to improve, as they embarked on the “Mud March” just two days later. 

Prior to joining the 27th Connecticut, Merwin originally mustered into Company G of the 2nd Connecticut Infantry, a 90-day regiment. As part of the 27th Connecticut, he served as lieutenant colonel during the Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the latter of which he was briefly captured as a prisoner of war. During the Battle of Gettysburg, the 27th Connecticut was stationed north of Little Round Top on 2 July 1863. They advanced to the  Wheatfield that evening, where Merwin was eventually killed in action. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Gettysburg, Little Round Top, Culp’s Hill, Pickett’s Charge, Devil’s Den] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] 

Envelope lacking left edge from original opening.