Lot
2608 
Confederacy, 117th New York Infantry Soldier Letter. Datelined "Head. 117 Regt. N.Y., Camp Folly Island, April the 4th, 1864" and reads, "I received your letter which came to hand the 30. It found me well and hope when these few lines reach you they will find you enjoying the same health. We have very fine weather here now. John has left the island. I think he has gone to Beaufort to the General Hospital. John is bad off. I hope he can get home before he comes back to the regiment. Brooks and myself have been fixing our tent today. We have done more hard work today than we have done before in two months. I feel as if I have been sawing lumber out at Anderson's new mill all day. I think that the Rebs are trying to kick up a muss tonight. They are shelling our men that is on Black Island, but when they get through then our turn comes. Perhaps they don't think about that just now. Charles Gifford ain't come yet. We expect a lot of new recruits on the next mail boat. I hope they will come before long for the sooner we get them broken in the sooner we will have it easier. I would like to see Alf Barker just for fun to hear what he has to say about the war. I can't think of any more to write so no more this time." written by Charles Hevener, Very Fine. Estimate $75 - 100.
Charles Hevener (also known as Herner) was 21 years old, when he enlisted on Aug. 11, 1862, as a private, and was mustered into Co. I, 117th New York Infantry. He died on Oct. 25, 1864, in the hospital at Jones Landing, Va.
The 117th New York Infantry, was recruited in Oneida County, N.Y., in the summer of 1862. Camp Daggett, where this letter was written from, was named after their Colonel Rufus Daggett. The regiment saw action at Suffolk, Va., and in the 1863 Peninsula campaign. Ordered to the Department of the South, they took part in the siege of Fort Wagner and the operations around Charleston Harbor. In April 1864, they were ordered to Virginia where they joined the Army of the James and were engaged at Swift Creek, Drewry's Bluff, Bermuda Hundred, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, where they were present at the Mine Explosion, fought gallantly in the battle of Fort Harrison, and were heavily engaged on the Darbytown Road. They were then sent to North Carolina where they participated in General Terry's 1865 Carolina campaign. The regiment fought with conspicuous gallantry in the final assault on Fort Fisher, and also saw action at Cape Fear River, Fort Anderson, and Wilmington.
Realized: $110