Lot
66 
Eagle with Flag "Wrapt in its Folds Our Whole Country", patriotic design with verse below and Bloom & Smith imprint at left, on cover to Vermontville, Mich., manuscript "Z Chandler, MC" Michigan Senator free frank and partial "Washington, D.C., Jul 30, 186"1 cds, with original enclosure on illustrated "United States Capitol" view letter sheet, datelined "Headquarters 3rd Regt., Mich. Camp Blair Co K., Arlington Heights, Sunday Jul 28th, 1861" from soldier after retreating from Manassas and the First Battle of Bull Run with letter in part…"We have been on the march for more than a week & I am completely worn out…we here had two hard battles& what is worse had to retreat both times but we sent some of the rebels to their long homes. I would give you a description of the fight but every paper if full & they will give a better one than I can by writing.", mention bullets flying around like hailstones and…"I hope that I shall never get so hard hearted as to kill a man after he is wounded as they did.", Very Fine.Estimate $750 - 1,000.
The First Battle of Bull Run, fought on July 21, 1861, marked the first major battle of the American Civil War, where a largely untrained Union army under General Irvin McDowell was defeated by Confederate forces led by P.G.T. Beauregard, resulting in a Confederate victory and a chaotic retreat of Union troops, revealing that the war would be much longer and bloodier than initially anticipated; this battle is also notable for the emergence of Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson who earned his nickname during the fighting on Henry House Hill.