CAWTHORNE, Charles (?)

Excellent Civil War Letter from a Union Soldier in West Virginia

Three page Autograph Letter Signed ("Charls Cathorne") on patriotic letterhead, dated 8 April 1862 (and continued on 18 April), from "Randof County, verchinnia" (now West Virginia). Folded as mailed, a little wear at the folds, very good. Cawthorne, a barely literate Union soldier, recounts his experiences in the western part of Virginia during the first year of the war (Cawthorne's spelling and capitalization retained): "My Dear friends i take my Optunity to rite to you that i am Well and hope that this few lines may fine you in the same state of good helt and all the rest of my friends And Further i tel you that iam in the servis and like it Well so far and the times is geting Better Now in this plase the secesion is geting a fraid here in this plase they are leaving verchinnia We had a good Many fites seines i haf inlisted in servis We had A fite on rich Mountain and Wipt them and We had A fite on Cheat Mountain and Wipt them Out Of the plase And We had a fite On Alleyginnia Mountain and We had to retreat the first time but the second time We taken the plase and kept the plase and further i tel you that we had a good many fites since..." Cawthorne recounts several other encounters, and relates a list of prisoners and supplies captured. He ends with a lament that "This is a very Cold plase here the mountains is high..." The opposing armies sat out the winter in the frigid mountains, and about the time of this letter the Confederate Army abandoned the western part of Virginia for the Shenandoah Valley.

[BTC #299291]