(2) CIVIL WAR SOLDIER LETTERS NEW JERSEY 9 INF & 3 CAV

Very interesting lot of (2) 1863-64 Union Civil War soldier's letters (5-1/2 pp. text) from John Bamford, 9th New Jersey Infantry & 3rd New Jersey Cavalry Regiments, to his daughter, Miss Emma F. Bamford, Gloucester City, Camden County, New Jersey with (1) original stamped postal cover addressed to her. Apparently he was a widower with several children at home. The letters read, in part, as follows" [As Quarter Master Sergeant, Field & Staff, 9th New Jersey Infantry Regiment: Headquarters Department of Virginia & North Carolina, Newport News VA, Jan 6 1863] "I am well at present ... I hope you will continue on going to school this winter and learn all you can, for now is your chance. You must pay all your attention to your study now and give up your childish play and so forth, for you are getting to be a big girl now, and big girls in your school will begin to talk about and say you are dumb and won't learn and that won't be very nice for you to hear. You say you would like to have some money for Christmas. Well in this letter I will send you 5 dollars [no longer present]. Two fifty for you and two fifty for Susan for spending on Christmas. I wrote to Susan last week and put 20 dollars in it and sent Ed a letter yesterday ... It is very cold here now and freezing ... [signed] John Bamford." [Bamford writes as a 2nd LT, Company "H," 3rd New Jersey Cavalry: Camp near Black Water,Va. Jul 9 1864] "You speak of me changing my clothing. Well I can tell you since I lost my valise and everything that I had, the way is dear when I have a chance to take them off and have them washed and as soon as they are dried put them on again. This is the way I do, for I have not got anything, only what I have got on my back, for we are not allowed any transportation whatever. [His unit was on picket duty near City Point VA at this time:] We have met with quite a loss on the 5th of this month. LT Burtsell went out on a shooting party with Comp. "F" of our Regt. and was killed. He, with CAPT McClung, took the advance and they had not got more than four miles, before they run across a party of guerillas, where they had a fight and was killed instantly with two other men of Comp. "F." The day before I went on the same road with only eight men on a shooting party and run across a party of guerillas of eight and drove them, capturing [a] horse cart, and some provisionals and the returned to camp. So you can see that I was very lucky in getting out as I did. They stripped [the body of] LT Burtsell of his coat, pants, shoes, and even the rings on his fingers. and left him right dead. He was shot in the middle of the road. After driving the Rebs about a half mile, they [the Yankees] came across the body of LT Burtsell and fetch him in camp. Here was quiet for a time for a while. Our boys wanted to go back and give the Rebels another fight, but the Major thought it not advisable, so they did not go. LT Burtsell's body was embalmed and sent home yesterday. Now Emma, I hope that you are going to school by this time ... I want you to go to school and learn to be a good scholar and I will pay whatever the expense may be. Our duty is very hard for me at present, for we are all the time on duty on the outside post. I hope the people that has so much to say about me getting marked will tend to their own business and not tend to mine. For were I [to] get married I will tell you, so you need not believe anything ... you hear. I wrote to you in my last letter about losing my horse, saddle and bridle and all of my clothing, except what I have got on my back. So you see that I have got very little to carry with me ... [signed] John Bamford ..." John Bamford enlisted on Oct 8 1861 as a Quarter Master Sergeant, being mustered on the same day into Field & Staff, 9th New Jersey Infantry Regiment. On Dec 19 1863, he was discharged for promotion, and commissioned into Company "H," 3rd New Jersey Cavalry as a 2nd Lieut. Bamford was promoted to 1st Lieut on Jul 21 1864 and Quartermaster on Nov 1 1864. He was mustered out on Aug 1 1865 at Washington DC. During his service in the 9th New Jersey, he saw action at the battles of Roanoke Island, New Berne and Fort Macon. While serving in the 3rd New Jersey Cavalry, he was present at the battles of, or action at, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna River, Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, Jerusalem Plank Road, the Mine Explosion at Petersburg, Summit Point, Winchester, Tom's Brook ("Woodstock Races"), Cedar Creek, Waynesboro, Dinwiddie Court House, Five Forks, Fall of Petersburg, Namozuine Church, Sailor's Creek and Appomattox Court House, when Confederate GEN Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army. On May 23 1865 QM Bamford's unit was present at the Grand Review, celebrating the end of the Civil War, at Washington DC. Our brief research file, including regimental histories, is included. Letters are in very good condition, stamped cover is worn and a bit soiled. *** We have been in the paper Americana business since 1953 and are members of both the Manuscript and Ephemera Societies as well as numerous other collector organizations.