Autograph letter signed by G.H. Fisher. Antietam Creek, Maryland 27 September [1862]. 4 pages, 8vo.

WITH Enclosed Bank of the State of Georgia ten dollar note. Savannah, Georgia, 23 October 1849. Printed by Danforth, Spencer & Huffy of New York. Issued from the Augusta branch. Stamped "Paid 25 Pr. Ct. Gold" in blue to recto. Verso engraved in red.

G.H. Fisher writes home with his gruesome impressions of the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam: "We are encamped between the river and the centre of the Battle Ground an[d] close to it we was lucky enough not to be in the action. We was left in the rear to g[u]ard a railroad. We passed over the ground Saturday after the Battle. What I saw there I don't wish to see again but it was no more than I expected. They had been burying as fast as they could a man told me it would take a thousand a week to finish by the books. I should think it would and another week to bury the Horses. We are about half way between Sharpsburg and Antietam Creek."

He concludes his letter with a reference to the captured Confederate note which is included here: "But she will find in this a bill that was taken from the pocket of a Rebbel."

Given the mention that his regiment was detailed for railroad guard duty, it is almost certain that the author is George H. Fisher, who served in Company H of the 16th Maine, which indeed served in this capacity at the Battle of Antietam.

Fisher enlisted on 14 August 1862 as a Corporal. After the regiment was organized at Augusta, they joined the Maryland Campaign to repel the Confederate Invasion. At the Battle of South Mountain, they attacked the Confederates holding Turner's Pass to prevent a northward flank. As Fisher notes in this letter, at Antietam, they were detached as a railroad guard.

Later in 1862, they moved into Virginia and fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg. 1863 brought the infamous Mud March, the Chancellorsville Campaign, the Gettysburg Campaign, the Bristoe Campaign, the advance to Rappahannock, and the Mine Run Campaign.

The 16th Maine distinguished themselves at Gettysburg as part of the 1st Corps. They fought for nearly 3 hours in the fields north of the Chambersburg Pike but could not hold their position. They were ordered east and to "take that position and hold it at any cost". Fighting valiantly, they allowed 16,000 soldiers a chance to retreat. When their defeat seemed inevitable, they turned to saving their regimental colors.

Fisher was promoted twice, to Sergeant (1863) and again to First Sergeant (1864). He was also captured and confined as a prisoner of war in 1864, though a detailed record is incomplete.

An excellent letter and relic.

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