Letter from Augustus Hesse, Hospitall [sic], Reserve Artillery on the Baltimore Turnpike rear, five m[i]l[es] of Gettysburg, Pa., to Deborah Weston, July 7th, 1863

Item Information

Title:
Letter from Augustus Hesse, Hospitall [sic], Reserve Artillery on the Baltimore Turnpike rear, five m[i]l[es] of Gettysburg, Pa., to Deborah Weston, July 7th, 1863
Author:
Hesse, Augustus, d. 1867
Addressee:
Weston, Deborah, b. 1814
Date:
July 7, 1863
Format:
Letters/Correspondence
Manuscripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Anti-Slavery Collection
Subjects:
Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century
Women abolitionists--Massachusetts--Boston--19th century--Correspondence
Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863
Antislavery movements--United States
Women abolitionists--United States
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Weston, Deborah, b. 1814
Hesse, Augustus, d. 1867
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Extent:
1 leaf (2 p.) ; 12 x 7 5/8 in.
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/qz20tx05z
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
Hospitall [sic], Reserve Artillery on the Baltimore Turnpike rear, five m[i]l[es] of Gettysburg, Pa
Language:
English
Notes:
Holograph.
Augustus Hesse wants to tell Mrs. Weston and all of them about the great battle near Gettysburg. Hesse's battery was all cut up. He said: "I felt so bad that I could crye [sic] seeing our Horses all shot down we had so splendit [sic] Horses." He recounts the events: "The Reserve Artillery was called for---our Battery the 9th Mass. went in high Spirits. ...The Battle line was in a Shape of a Horse Shoe. We on the extreme left." He describes the rebel advance under Longstreet and how "they fought like Tigers." The infantry gave way, but the 9th Mass. Battery showed their brains and nerves. Just when the rebels rushed on the guns, the Battery had no more ammunition left, and they were outflanked. Hesse reports that "the Order was now giving [given] to leave---but where were our Horses?" Hesse explains what happened to him since the time he was shot: "My last two Horses got shot down as I had limbered up---they had me Prisoner---but they got to work trying to get the guns of[f] so I run to the other side [of] the house. My shirt & Pants was all over with blood and I got weak and dropped down." Hesse was carried by ambulance to the third corps hospital. He tells of lying in the woods the first two days. The doctors were busy taking off legs and arms. The hospital looked like a butcher shop.
Identifier:
3133555
Call #:
Ms.A.9.2 v.31, p.72
Barcode:
39999066784412
mq8390362