A DETAILED AND DRAMATIC EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF PICKETT'S CHARGE WRITTEN JUST 3 DAYS AFTER THE CLIMACTIC BATTLE 

At last about two o'clock, the fire of our batteries being purposely slackened, and the [artillery] pieces withdrawn a little, under shelter of the hill, the rebel infantry, they say 100,000 strong, which had been massed in front, prepared to charge....From the woods now came the rebel army in three lines of battle, stretching from right to left in front of our position. Gay with banners, and marching in perfect order, the three lines of grey coated thousands seemed capable of walking over the low stone wall, behind which sorely torn by tremendous shelling, our troops lay posted....On they came, with the fate of our nation resting behind that low line of breastworks, behind which silently and grimly, the Army of the Potomac, aware of its responsibilities, nothing daunted by the tremendous fire of artillery and firmly resolved to redeem its name, the Army of the Potomac lay waiting its old foe.

Autograph letter signed "Wm. E. Potter" by 2nd Lieut. William E. Potter, Co. K, New Jersey 12th Infantry, as lieutenant and ordnance officer for the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, II Corps of the Union Army of the Potomac. "On the march Taneytown Md." 6 July 1863. 4pp, approx. 7 3/4 x 10 in., in pencil on blue lined paper. Addressed to his father, James Boyd Potter, of Bridgeton, Cumberland County, New Jersey.

In August 1862 William Potter (1840-1896) answered Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand volunteers and enlisted in Co. K, 12th New Jersey Infantry. Commissioned as a second lieutenant, Potter served for several months in Maryland prior to his regiment joining the Army of the Potomac with assignment to the Third Brigade, Third Division, Second Army Corps. On 26 December 1862, Potter was detached from his regiment and appointed ordnance officer of the division, a capacity in which he served during the campaigns of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Potter and the 3rd Division served under Brigadier General Alexander Hayes, enduring heavy fighting and playing a key role on Cemetery Ridge including repelling Pickett's Charge.

Writing to his father just days after the crucial third day of fighting at Gettysburg, Potter inks a gripping letter detailing Pickett's Charge and its bloody aftermath. Though today's readers will almost undoubtedly know the outcome of the Confederate charge and its devastating consequences, Potter's recitation of events has an urgency and immediacy that is exceptionally engrossing. He begins by telling this father that as he sent his previous letter on the morning of July 3rd from the field of Battle at Gettysburg, the "most terrible conflict of the week" was just opening: "The enemy opened when [sic] our lines from right to left, with one hundred and fifty guns, and our replies, served to make the most deafening and destructive cannonade known in a field fight perhaps in history. From ten o'clock A.M., until nightfall the roar was continuous. The fire of one hundred and ten guns centred upon the batteries and troops of our Corps., which held a most commanding position, in the centre of our line upon the heights of Gettysburg." Later, Potter continues, describing the oncoming the Confederate charge and the merciless fire Union soldiers rained upon them: "At five hundred yards the artillery again ran up on the hill and opened with shrapnel, and at 300 yrds. with canister, but on they came....The fences broke their line at the turnpike road, and just here, at a range of one hundred yards the infantry opened with a crash that sealed the fate of the invading Army. The first line went down at once, the second line advanced with fixed bayonets, but wavered, stopped, commenced firing and their fate was sealed. On came the third line, some of it, as far as the last fence, but few of them lived to return. Four times, they formed and returned and four times were shot down like sheep. At last, broken and routed, the whole Army turned and fled. Then mounting the breastwork, the old Army of the Potomac, sent up cheer after cheer, for the greatest victory it had ever won."

The aftermath of the bloody battle is recounted with the same detail. "The carnage of the rebel Army was almost incredible," Potter writes. "I walked over the field after the battle, and the wildest imagination could scarcely paint the scene. Along the turnpike road, the enemys dead lay in piles, and where fences stopped their advance, whole lines lay just as they were shot down...." He continues discussing the roles of the 12th NJ and the Division during the battle including the capture of prisoners and enemy colors, and the collection of rebel arms from the field of battle. Describing his role, he writes, in part: "It is hardly material to speak of personal risks when I have escaped all. I was much more exposed than at Chancellorsville. I took my train to the front twice in the fight of July 3rd along a road exposed for more than half a ile to the fire of the enemy. I never experienced such shelling." Despite the harrowing nature of the battle from which he has just emerged, Potter ends his letter with firm resolve to continue the fight: "The enemy are defeated and the Army of the Potomac, including your humble servant, though tired, hungry, wet for six days, without a change of clothing, are after them, burning with impatience to fight them again. Warm love to all. Your affectionate son, Wm E Potter Lt & Ord Off." 

Accompanied by an undated manuscript transcription in ink of Potter's original letter. 6pp, black ink fingerprints at top left of page 1 and top and side of page 4. Later ink notation at top of page 1 "W E Potter letter - Battle of Gettysburgh."  Pencil notation bottom of page 6 "Battle of Gettysburgh / Dated Taneytown July 6 / 63." Interestingly, this letter appears to have a notation from William E. Potter amending his original statement regarding the numbers of rebel infantry being "100,000 strong." A small "x" is inserted after this statement with a corresponding "x" in the margin below alongside a note and Potter's initials: "The charging column was Longstreet's Corps, about 20,000 strong. - WEP." 

Potter served through the remainder of the war in various field and staff positions. He was wounded at Wilderness on 6 May 1864 and on 11 April 1865, he conducted the several corps of Lee's army into position for the formal surrender of their arms and colors. He was subsequently detailed with five other officers to deliver the colors surrendered by Lee's army to the Secretary of War at Washington, the only New Jersey officer present for this occasion. Potter received the brevet of Major United States Volunteers. After the war he practiced law and was active with veteran's organizations. Potter later was a delegate to the Republic National Convention at Chicago in 1868 and 1876, was elected an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati of New Jersey.

With its incredible sense of storytelling and high level of articulation, this letter is one of the most superb Gettysburg accounts ever to come to market. Combined with the fact it was written so soon after the battle by an officer who experienced the battle firsthand, this extraordinary letter represents a pinnacle of collecting for any Civil War collector.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Battle of Gettysburg, Gettysburg, Gettysburg Campaign] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]

Expected creasing and toning given age.