“Four Weeks After Gettysburg” / SOLD

Description

“Four Weeks After Gettysburg” 

 

The letter is written on patriotic Civil War stationery featuring a bold red and blue illustration of Columbia holding the American flag, with “118th Regt., Co. E, U.S.” incorporated into the design. The imagery reflects strong Union symbolism and pride, typical of wartime correspondence from Federal soldiers. 

 

William P. Zane resided in Philadelphia and enlisted August 11, 1862, in Company E, 118th Pennsylvania Infantry — the famed “Corn Exchange Regiment.” By the date of this letter (August 1, 1863), the regiment had just endured the brutal fighting at Gettysburg only four weeks prior, particularly suffering heavy losses in the Wheatfield on July 2. 

 

Zane would later be captured at Cold Harbor on June 2, 1864, and died of disease as a prisoner of war at Andersonville, Georgia, October 23, 1864. He is buried in Andersonville National Cemetery, Grave 11,327. 

 

This letter is especially poignant given his later fate — a soldier expressing optimism after Gettysburg, unaware that within a year he would endure captivity and perish in one of the war’s most notorious prisons. 

 

 

Inventory Number: GET 549