(CIVIL WAR--MARYLAND.) Union soldier's letter with map of the Potomac on verso. Autograph Letter Signed as "Alfred" [Attwood?] to parents and sisters. One page, 9¾ x 7¾ inches, plus manuscript map on verso; full horizontal separation at fold, failed cello tape repair with staining. With typed transcript of the letter. Camp Seneca Mills, MD, 29 September 1861 This soldier, writing home to his parents from garrison duty in rural Maryland, added a full-page map on the verso of his letter, sketching the Potomac River from Harpers Ferry to Washington. The Maryland side includes several towns and forts, including Camp Seneca Mills near Darnestown, with the encampment of the "34th Reg't" noted as part of General Banks's division. Other features on the map are the Great and Little Falls of the Potomac, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, Sugarloaf Mountain, and Virginia's Alexandria & Loudoun Railroad.
The 34th New York Infantry, presumably our soldier's regiment, was stationed at Seneca Mills, MD in September 1861. The only Alfred we find on the regiment's rolls is 1st Lieutenant Alfred T. Attwood (1832-1924) of Moravia, NY--a town mentioned in this letter.