[Civil War] Abram Edward Kipp

75 autograph letters, mostly signed ("Abram Kipp," plus 1 signed "DW Churchill"), 282 pages written, various sizes but mostly 8vo, 65 of which are accompanied by addressed and stamped envelopes, various places including Camp Nevin, KY, Chattanooga, TN, Camp Wood, KY, Bowling Green, KY, Franklin, TN, Pulaski, TN, Cave Springs, AL, Murfreesboro, TN, Deckerd Station, TN, Lookout Mountain, TN, etc., 25 October 1861 - 20 November 1865, to his mother Eliza Bawn, Allegheny Township, PA; formerly folded, most written in pencil with some fading, fold tears, some stains, a few browned, 3 with a few lines cut away. Laid into a folio album.

formerly folded, most written in pencil with some fading, fold tears, some stains, a few browned, 3 with a few lines cut away.
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A fine collection of war letterswritten by a soldier in the 78th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, describing the hardships, hunger, sickness, desertion, and hatred for the Copperheads (Southern sympathizers in the North), all but two written to his mother (the remaining two to his sister).

Kipp did not want his mother to know how difficult it was to serve in the Army of the Cumberland, and he tried to tell her no more than she asked. While Kipp's company was on picket duty (4 February 1862), a dozen rebel soldiers came to their line under a flag of truce: "They carried letters and importuned that the Yankees get them out for mailing. They were surrounded and could not get mail out." The rebels stayed all afternoon and talked with the Yankees, exchanging jokes and stories. The letters are filled with personal highlights of this sort, as well as details of troop movements and battles.

The 78th Regiment served until October 1864. After the war, Kipp went into oil and gas drilling (1 letter dated 2 November 1865 was written in Oil City, PA).

Extracts from the letters were published in articles by Edward Osheskie in two local newspapers, The Valley Daily News (Tarentum, PA) and The Daily Dispatch (New Kensington, PA) from 11 April - 25 May 1961. These articles were reprinted in a book entitled Civil War Echoes: A Series of Articles based on Letters of Pvt. Abram E. Kipp (no date), a photocopy of which is included in the lot.