Autograph letter signed by William Tooley, Co. K, 123rd New York Infantry. [Paroled prisoners camp, Alexandria, Virginia], 28 May 1863. 3 pages, 8vo.

Though only signed William, we can positively identify the letter writer as the recipient thanks to the identified recipient: Eber Tooley, brother of William Tooley, who enlisted alongside his elder brother Horace into Company K of the 123rd New York Infantry on 19 August 1862.

William was taken as a prisoner of war during the Battle of Chancellorsville on 3 May 1863. He writes this letter home just a few weeks later with a report of his treatment: "They treated us as well as we expected they would but they had nothing for us to eat. We should have starved if we could have bought bread - one half of a small loaf of baker's bread - and about two ounces of meat was a day's ration."

During William's confinement, and just three days before this letter, his brother Horace was wounded in action on 25 May 1864. He died of his wounds a few weeks later near Dallas, Georgia, and was interred at Marietta National Cemetery (Plot A, 449). 

William was eventually released on parole and rejoined his regiment. Though the date is not known, it was likely not very long after this letter was penned. The 123rd New York Infantry joined Sherman's Atlanta Campaign in 1864 and fought in the Battle of Resaca, operations about Marietta, and the Siege of Atlanta. Tragically, William was killed in action at skirmish at Aiken's Creek, Virginia, on 10 April 1865, just days before the end of the war.

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

Begins in ink and transitions to pencil at the bottom of p. 1.