Farmer and soldier from Virginia (1831-1918), he became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the war, serving most notably at the Battle of Five Forks. Civil War–dated ALS, six pages on two adjoining lightly-lined sheets [a crossed letter, with both sides of the first sheet containing vertical and horizontal writing], 5 x 8, December 22, 1862. Letter to his sister-in-law. In part: “Since I joined this command we have very little to do, but are constantly moving about, starving out both men and horses as ‘rapidly’ as possible…my Regiment is the largest in the Division & is nearly equal to the Brigade before I joined it & need I tell you the best in the service, less you should think me vain. But I am proud of it, & would rather command it on detached service than a Brigade here. Stuart issued a circular asking that a subscription be taken up in his division for the benefit of the suffering poor of Fredericksburg, & in an hour I had in my tent $2037—we will see what regiment will do more in the whole army. Many of my men are poor, but they are generous & brave…We were not in the fight at Fredericksburg. My Regt was on the Right Flank & under fire all day. Had one man wounded from their sharpshooters.—I am still in hopes the Sect of War will give my Regt. a place where it will be more agreeable to us all—I like Genl. Lee very well, he is certainly a gentleman & a good officer but would greatly prefer being on detached service than to be cramped & starved to death. I am sorry not to be able to give you my account of the fight at Fredericksburg, we could only see a small portion of their Army during the Fight there, the casualties was [sic] terrible & their loss heavier than in any fight I have seen—they have completely riddled the town…Rumor says Burnside has been superseded & Hooker in command.—They are much demoralized and I do not believe will fight as hard again—but the Powers that be think differently.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope and a modern typed transcript. At the time of writing, Munford was leading the 2nd Virginia Cavalry in Fitzhugh Lee’s brigade but, as he mentions in the letter, saw little action at Fredericksburg. Despite his poor view of the action, his assessment of Union casualties was correct—it was one of the most lopsided battles of the Civil War, with the Confederate Army inflicting over 12,000 casualties while suffering just over 5,000. In addition to its superb content, this is an especially interesting example of a ‘crossed’ letter, a technique employed due to the scarcity of paper at the time. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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