Autograph letter signed by George A. Spencer (1844-1914), Co. I, 7th Rhode Island Infantry. Camp 7, R.I. Vo., Alexandria, Virginia, 20 & 21 May 1865. 4 pages, 8vo, 5 x 8 in. With original magenta pink envelope with Alexandria post stamp and red 3-cent stamp. WITH Enclosed CDV portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Unmarked. "Abraham Lincoln" written to mount verso.

George writes home with a souvenir which is remarkably still enclosed with the letter: "I will send you a picture Lincoln in this letter. It is a first rate picture of him. It looks exactly him." He also includes an amusing assessment of one of the officers: "Lt. [James F. Merrill who drills us is a regular piss pot. He talks like an old maid and we laugh at him and that makes him mad." He continues: "The colonel hates him like poison and so do all the rest of the officers. He is what we call a dead beat - that is, he stayed away until all the fighting was over and now he is trying to put on airs over us, but he can't come it." He adds a new note on the last page, the next day on the 21st with a brief report of the weather and a "report here...that we will go home right after the review."

George Spencer of Smithfield, Rhode Island enlisted on 16 August 1862 as a private with Company I of the 7th Rhode Island Infantry. During the Battle of Fredericksburg, he was reported missing, however it was revealed that he had been taken prisoner. He was held for several weeks before "he was released on parole and ordered to Annapolis to await exchange. He returned to duty in the spring of 1863, but as the Seventh was then on duty in Kentucky, Spencer and several other Seventh soldiers performed garrison duty in the defenses of Washington, and he was present in the city during the Gettysburg Campaign. He joined the Seventh Rhode Island in Kentucky in the fall of 1863, performing garrison duty at Point Burnside, and was present throughout the Overland Campaign of 1864." (Rob Grandchamp. "They have just brought one more of our Regt dead." Rhode Island Roots).

Condition: Old folds, minor light spotting to envelope.

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