Fascinating Civil War Officer’s letter written by Col. Andrew Thomas McReynolds. McReynolds, a native of Ireland, emigrated to Michigan 1833. During the Mexican War, McReynolds served as a captain in the 3rd US Dragoons and was breveted a Major for gallant and meritorious service at Contreras and Churubusco, where he was wounded in action. When the Civil War erupted, McReynolds was personally commissioned a Colonel in the U.S. Regular Army by Abraham Lincoln. He accordingly recruited men for the “Lincoln Cavalry” which eventually mustered into the service as the 1st New York Cavalry Regiment at New York City. 

McReynolds wrote this letter to his wife Mary during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign of 1862, when he was stationed “Just 11 miles from Richmond.” McReynolds seems optimistic about Union success, and boasts that he will soon be drawing supplies from the Confederate capitol. A busy regiment throughout their service, the Colonel describes being “kept in the saddle day and night," and relates grim news of a recent skirmish:

“I regret to say, lost two men yesterday afternoon. Sergeant [George W.] Cummings from Muskegon, I think, one of my best men, was shot through the heart, pierced with 2 balls, and shocking to think of, the fiends inhuman form, cut off one ear after his death. His body is now in camp and will be decently buried this afternoon.”

The 1st New York Cavalry participated in nearly 230 battles and skirmishes during its service, seeing its most intense action in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. McReynolds resigned due to health in late 1864. The letter itself is boldly written in ink and is in excellent condition, with only the original folds lines noted.



[Civil War, Union, Confederate]